Period Two (1851–1900) witnessed dramatic boons, booms and busts. Sydney’s population surged from 50,000 to 480,000, driven by the gold rushes and the emergence of a fully fledged economy. Growth increased food demand, transforming agricultural and food systems alongside increasing mechanisation and transportation infrastructures. The period saw food processing and distribution advances supported by railways, refrigeration and new technologies and the establishment of national parks on lands unsuited to agriculture. Acclimatisation societies imported flora and fauna accommodating and solidifying British tastes, while catalysing dramatic ecological and landscape transformations. Despite challenges such as the 1890s depression and pests and diseases, agriculture diversified and expanded. Market gardening thrived, while formal institutions such as the Hawkesbury Agricultural College emerged. The era also marked a shift from illustrations to photography, reducing prior artistic licence commonplace in landscape depictions and increasing the accuracy of information across the 11 typologies inputted into the Map Database.