e contributed to render the
town of Sydney, the principal seat of the government, a picturesque and
pleasing object to strangers, as well as tended to the infinite
accommodation of all the inhabitants) Lieutenant Kent, the commander of
the _Supply_, had, at a very great expense, built a handsome, large,
and commodious mansion-house, on a spot of ground which he held on lease
in the front of the cove, forming a principal and striking object from
the water. This house, on that officer's departure for England in the
_Buffalo_, was purchased for an orphan school.

Nothing has been said in this account of the public labour, of preparing
the government ground annually for seed and cropping it, or of gathering
the harvest when ripe. But these must be taken into the account, as well
as threshing the corn for delivery, and unloading the store ships on
their arrival; which latter work must always be completed within a
limited time, pursuant to their charters. It has been said before, that
it was impossible to obtain a fair day's work from the convicts when
employed for the public: the weather frequently interfered with outdoor
business, and occasioned much to be done a second time. Under all these
disadvantages, and with a turbulent, refractory body of prisoners, we are
warranted in saying, on thus summing up the whole of the public labour
during the last four years, that more could not have been performed; and
it is rather matter of wonder that so much had been obtained with such
means.

The following is a statement of the ground granted and leased to
individuals by the different persons who were thereto authorised, from
the 22nd of February 1792, the date of the first, to the 25th of
September 1800, the date of the last grant.

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Granted by: Phillip Grose Paterson Hunter Total
DISTRICTS WHERE GRANTED
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At Parramatta 460 845 100 741 2,146
At Toongabbie - 420 160 4,734 5,314
At Sydney - 349 80 40 469
At the Northern Boundary Farms 370 80 125 150 725
At the Ponds 660 200 20 80 960
At Prospect Hill 810 275 - 835 1,920
At the Eastern Farms 450 170 190 1,516 2,326
At the Field of Mars 5