London exhibition of Australian art holds up a mirror to our nation The first terra's, lawns and grottos, with distinct plantations of the tallest and most stately trees I ever saw in any nobleman's grounds in England, cannot excel in beauty those w'h nature now presented to our view. The singing of the various birds amongst the trees, and the flight of the numerous parraquets, lorrequets and cockatoos and macaws, make all around appear like in enchantment; the stupendous rocks from the summit of the hills and down to the water's edge hanging over in a most awful manner from above, and form'g the most commodious quays by the water beggar'd all description. THE excitement and wonder expressed in the January 26, 1788, diary entry of Arthur Bowes Smyth, surgeon of the convict transport ship Lady Penrhyn, is as palpable today as the moment his eyes fell for the first time on Port Jackson, before anchoring in Sydney Cove.