BOTANY BAY.
Botany Bay Square, said by Mr. Wright[165] to have been designed by Provost Murray, lies to the extreme north, and behind the northern buildings of Library Square. It was built in 1812, and is a cold and somewhat neglected-looking quadrangle without any architectural pretensions. It encloses just one statute acre and a-half of ground, with some grass in the centre, fenced in by a poor railing, and planted with the scarlet flowering hawthorn. Were the buildings covered with ivy, the square enlivened with trim green sward and flowering shrubs, and the present railing removed, Botany Bay would still be a long way behind picturesque Port Philip. But its name would be somewhat better justified than it is at present.