Australasia: Eight Lectures Prepared for the Visual Instruction Committee of the Colonial OfficeSargent, A. J. (Arthur John)
History
Australasia: Eight Lectures Prepared for the Visual Instruction Committee of the Colonial Office
Sargent, A. J. (Arthur John)
Australasia -- Description and travel
Partly owing to the separation of the port from the city, partly 1
owing to the slower and more even growth of South Australia,
Adelaide seems quieter and less crowded than Melbourne or
Sydney, and its inhabitants consider it to be the model capital
of Eastern Australia. King William Street, which we see here, 2
with the statue of Colonel Light, the founder of the city, in
the foreground, does not look in the least commercial. We get
the same impression as we walk along the tree-clad banks of the 3
little Torrens River, or cross it by the City Bridge. We miss
the wharves and warehouses and steam cranes, and might almost 4
imagine that we were on a backwater of the Upper Thames. The
main streets, too, of the city remind us rather of the West End 5
than of the City of London; while even the post-office stands
in an open space with trees. In fact, the whole city, with its 6
wide streets, its parks and gardens, gives the impression of 7
spaciousness. If we make our way, however, to the railway station
we shall see that Adelaide is not by any means without trade.
Here are collected the products of all the country round; but as
this is purely agricultural, and Adelaide is not the only outlet,
there is not the rush of business which we saw at Melbourne.
[Illustration: SOUTH AUSTRALIA: OROGRAPHICAL.
_By permission of the Diagram Co._]
Here is a general view which will give us some idea of the 8
position of the city. It lies on a plain; a few miles away to the
east the view is shut in by a long, low ridge. If we climb this
ridge and look back towards the city, we have in sight a large
part of the original South Australia.
South Australia of to-day is a somewhat difficult country to 9
analyse; but the ridge on which we are standing may give us the
key to the whole. If we follow the heights northwards, we shall
find that they disappear, hundreds of miles away, in the country
south-east of Lake Eyre. South of Adelaide they curve round and
end in Kangaroo Island, which stretches across the mouth of the
Gulf of St. Vincent. These heights are really the edge of a
plateau, and the plateau slopes gently away from the sea towards
the basin of the Murray. The Murray, at the great bend, turns
sharply southwards and reaches its outlet in Lake Alexandrina
just beyond the southern end of the highlands.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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