Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/323

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PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF SYDNEY.
299

enough in those days to permit no scarcity of names for the streets. Here and there we saw some wooden buildings dating from the early days of the colony; and there is an old hospital, and also an ancient church which has pews such as we find in the churches of England one or two hundred years old.

"St. James's Church, the one just mentioned, is old and uncomfortable, but the cathedral is just the reverse. The public buildings of Sydney would take several or many pages for their description, and the account would run the risk of being tedious before reaching the end. When we remembered the age of the colony they surprised us by their magnificence. The Government buildings in Macquarie Street, the Post-office in George Street, the Town-hall, the University,
AVENUE IN THE BOTANICAL GARDENS
the Crown Lands Office, and several other edifices would well adorn cities of much greater age than Sydney, and yet some of the residents complain that their buildings are not sufficiently grand for their wishes, and suggest the demolition of some of these structures to make way for finer ones. St. Andrew's Cathedral was begun in 1819, and has been three times pulled down and re-erected!

"We can't say much in favor of the street-railways, or tramways, of Sydney, most of which have steam locomotives to draw the cars. Two cars are coupled together and drawn by a noisy, puffing engine, stopping at every other block to receive or discharge passengers. Accidents are said to be frequent, but of course the managers of the tram-ways always declare that the fault is due to the carelessness of the victims. They have flagmen at some of the more dangerous crossings, but in spite of them somebody is occasionally run over. Strangers are especially liable to injury from this cause, as they are often unaware that locomotives are allowed in the principal streets.