Sydney, Sunday morning, July 17/98.
Very windy morning, cold & gloomy. A change was brewing yesterday.
Yesterday morning, I went into the city by tram at 11 o’clock, got off at the station section & went to see the “Cyclorama”. This is a very large representation of Jerusalem & its surroundings as it was at the time of the Crucifixion. The grand painting is in circular form & viewed from a central gallery, the distance from which is 50 feet, but you imagine it quite close. On the picture is Jerusalem with its walls & many gates, Herod’s Palace, the Temple, the Pretorium &c. &c. [then?] without the walls the mount & thereon are representations of the crucifixion, Christ & the malefactors with the commotion below the cross, & the immediate surroundings a really wonderful & appal[l]ing sight. Then the great crowds coming in from the villages beyond to the Passover, roads clearly defined leading to the many places of interest around about Jerusalem, Hezekiah’s Well just outside the walls, Lepers’ Cave, caravans travelling, shepherds watching flocks, women carrying water from wells. The mountains round about Jerusalem, & every where you gaze beyond it represents a distance of 25 miles. What a beautiful picture to gaze upon. At intervals a lecture describing the situations & historical events associated with them. On the hill of Calvary are the soldiers & they are casting lots for the garments of Christ, Mary weeping at the foot of the cross whilst Joseph & Nicodemus is looking on, others filled with amazement & with outstretched arms at the coming darkness & around is commotion & streams of men & women going in & out through the gates in the great, magnificent walls, & on these walls & roofs of houses are many people all gazing at the scene of crucifixion, whilst down in the beautiful valley [5:69] with its many winding paths leading to far away places, you see crowds coming towards Jerusalem, some on camels, some on donkeys, & the varied garments of oriental colour gives such a richness to the scene that fixes & quite entrances the eye & mind. I feel grieved I can’t do a tithe of justice to the work. At 3 & 8 p.m., music accompanies the lecture. I was there at noon & the effect by shaded noonday light (no sun) was exquisite. It is an American production & took a number of artists 2 years to execute. Its dimensions are great, the circle, I’ve forgotten how many feet, some hundreds, the depth is 50 feet on canvas, but the foreground is natural rock & soil, with here & there tents illustrating itinerant oriental life. I could talk for a long while about it, but feel unable to transmit it to paper.
It was now 12:30 & I had appointed to meet Mr. W. at 1:20 in the Strand, so I got a tram where I had left it near the station & got to King St. I went to Harrington’s & got a spool for my Kodak, & then to the Strand where we soon met & had dinner. The Paramatta steamer did not leave the jetty at foot of King St. (cable tram here) till 3. I took the opportunity of the interval to go to the hairdressers & enjoyed the operation. We got the boat & went up as far as Ryde, calling at several piers en route, such as, Tennyson, Putney, Mortlake &c. &c., & between Putney & Mortlake is the great boat racing course, & in the water, some yards from the shore, which indicates the starting point, is a marble monument with a broken marble column erected to the memory of Searl, the great boat champion, who had won the championship against Hanlen. I have faint recollections of the names. Never being interested in these like contests, I had not stored my memory, however, this Searl had died at Colombo on his way [5:70] home from some contest, hence the memoriam.
What lovely scenery up the Paramatta, nothing so varied & pretty, so far as river scenery goes, have I ever seen. The pretty townships & summer residences that dot the coasts on either side & the little bays & creeks & charity institutes here & there. One, the Thos. Walker Convalescent Hospital, is a very large, beautiful building situate[d] on a projecting point, has a jetty its own & pretty grounds around. Walkers were the donors & it’s endowed by them entirely. They were originally “squatters” & one of the family, Miss Walker, who lives in London, still holds a “station” up country here, sheep & cattle.
The afternoon was fine, very calm & clear, & we got back at 5:35, quite late enough to be on the water. The sun set soon after 5, & it comes in dark & cold then. We could have gone right up to Paramatta, only 25 minutes from Ryde, but the scenery gets poorer, tho’ still pretty, but the land is low. Besides, it would have been too late for return. We could have trained it back from Paramatta but as I had been there twice we preferred returning by water. We also passed the “Sobraon” Reformatory Ship[1] laid in one of the pretty bays, going up, & all the boys were ashore on an island having rare sports. We passed very close (here I must make a note, the big 4 master to which I previously referred as having suffered disastrously in a storm, coal laden. Yesterday while going to Neutral Bay, we passed her close astern & her name is “Crown of India” of Liverpool. This I record for a memo.). We got a tram readily for Dulwich Hill & got home at 6:45. By the way, I called at the NSW Civil Service Co-operation association & asked Willie Stoddart to come to Lewisham St. this afternoon & tea with us. I got to his place just before 1 o’clock, as they close at that hour on Saturdays, as do all places of business in the city. He is coming so we hope to have a pleasant chat. Mr. & Mrs. W. were anxious he should come & begged I would invite him. This gave me much pleasure you [5:71] may be sure. It is so very windy & cold. We have decided not to go to Phillip St. Presbyterian Church, fully an hour’s journey, so we are going to Mr. Whitfield’s Church, close at hand the, PM.[2]
[1] A nautical school ship, for underpriviledged boys found by the courts to be destitute or for other reasons requiring a “disciplined environment.” Boys were trained in trade or maritime skills.
[2] Primitive Methodist.