Sydney's Macquarie Towns

In 1857, one traveller reported, “the poor horses were tried to the utmost by the deep ruts...and hollows of mud. A large load of hay was capsized in the centre of the road and by the side of a hill, a dray full of grain had also upset.”

Chain gang at work

The road to Windsor and beyond is steeped in history, and it echoes, as other Sydney roads do, with a convict’s cries. “Many a tear did I shed”, wrote one, “when contemplating upon my hard fate.” And hard it was. In summer heat or winter sleet, the men of the road gang shuffled along, dragging their clanking leg-irons, cutting and hauling sandstone, sweating in their stained yellow uniforms. Travellers did their best to avert their eyes. “The thought of how awful a crime had led to this disgraceful punishment made me positively dread passing a band of the miserable wretches,” one lady wrote, reaching, no doubt, for a perfumed handkerchief.

Governor Macquarie was in charge of the colony in these early years and it was he who was instrumental in putting Windsor and its neighbour Richmond on the map—which is why they are known today as the Macquarie Towns. In 1794, the first 22 settlers arrived in the Hawkesbury Valley area to plant seed and farm their 30 acres and help feed the growing little community in Sydney Town. But getting here was difficult, through dense bushland, so by 1828, over twelve hundred men toiled in the gangs to connect the Port Jackson settlement to the new agricultural hinterland and then, via the mountain barrier which had been crossed in 1813, to the western plains. The area in and around Windsor, to the northwest and almost in the blue barrier’s shadow, became, quite literally, the colony’s first frontier and many local families can trace their origins back to this pioneering era. It’s an hour’s drive from Sydney today, but in those days, it was a 16-hour trip by wagon, costing seven shillings and six pence, with an overnight stopover at Kelly’s (now Kellyville). Later, a faster passenger service was introduced; 4-horse coaches left Windsor each morning at 5am, arriving in Sydney at 10am, with four changes of horses along the way. But the journey could still be a problem. In 1857, one traveller reported, “the poor horses were tried to the utmost by the deep ruts...and hollows of mud. A large load of hay was capsized in the centre of the road and by the side of a hill, a dray full of grain had also upset.” The arrival of a railway made all the difference, cutting the time for the trip to just two hours.

Fortunately, Francis Greenway was not among those convicts sweating it out on the roads. By this time he was free and making a name for himself as an architect in the new colony. The glorious Georgian buildings that can be seen in Sydney today, like Hyde Park Barracks, are Greenway creations, and so, too, is the great church he designed for the settlers in Windsor. St. Matthew’s Church (1817-1820) is still in use today and in its churchyard lie 26 First Fleeters. A walk around this churchyard is a sometimes poignant and always evocative experience, for here you can see, engraved on stone, the birth of a nation. In fact, many of the churches in this area reflect the tranquillity (and perils) of another age. Beyond St. Matthew’s, you’ll discover Ebenezer Church, the oldest church building in the country, built of stone by local settlers in 1809; St Matthew’s Roman Catholic Church, Windsor, completed in 1840; St Peter’s Church of England, Richmond; St. John’s, Wilberforce and St. James, Pitt Town; St. Andrew’s Uniting Church in Richmond and more. In some, small churchyards provide eloquent testimony to the lives of the local gentry (and occasionally, rogues) who have long since gone to their rewards.

St Matthew's Windsor; a pioneer's grave in the churchyard

Here in Windsor, there’s much to see. Start in Thompson Square (Andrew Thompson was a convict and later a magistrate—his was the very first grave in St Matthew’s churchyard) and visit the Museum and Information Centre. The museum houses a fine collection of militaria and the Information Centre has local records. Next to old Windsor Court House, which has many historic associations. Mary Reibey, transported to New South Wales in her youth for horse stealing and later freed to become a property developer of considerable affluence in the Sydney Rocks area, was found guilty here, in 1817, of an assault on one of her debtors!

Windsor Courthouse; John Tebbutt

Close to the court house you’ll find John Tebbutt’s Observatory, which you can visit —and you can eat here at Tebbutt’s VII restaurant. Tebbutt lived his whole life in the Hawkesbury district. He was born on the 25th May 1834 in Windsor and was educated by local parsons. During his lifetime, John Tebbutt became one of the world’s most accomplished amateur astronomers. A gentleman farmer by occupation, astronomy was his passion—and for nearly sixty years he continued a remarkable astronomical career at his observatories at Windsor. He discovered the Great Comet of 1861 and Comet Tebbutt of 1881, observed the Transit of Venus in 1894 and conducted many meteorological observations. Two of his observatories built in 1879 and 1894 were built to house his telescopes and journals and both still stand on the Tebbutt property, adjacant to the house where he lived, which he built in 1845, surrounded by his fields and close to the confluence of South Creek and the Hawkesbury River. Tebbutt was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in London in 1873 for his contribution to astronomy. During his life he published numerous booklets, reports and journals and kept rainfall and flood level statistics. He died on the 29th November 1916, aged 82 and was buried in St. Matthew's churchyard. To honour his many achievements, the International Astronomical Union renamed a lunar crater on the moon in 1973 and for a time he appeared on the Aussie $100 note.

Floods were often a problem in the area

And always, close to the action, is the river. Once an important route for transporting produce to market in eighteenth-century Sydney (the trading boats used to dock at the wharf below Thompson Square) the wide Hawkesbury meanders past the town and has been a source of pleasure—and occasional flood terror— since the early settlers arrived. The river was central to the lives of settlers in Windsor, Richmond and other villages here. It flows past Richmond, too, which is just to the north of Windsor, and, like Windsor, a Macquarie Town with many historic old buildings abd it is surrounded by farms and horse studs. Richmond Air Base is here; the original airfield was at Ham Common, now Clarendon, where, in 1912, a Parramatta dentist, Bill Hart, opened a flying school. This school was subsequently taken over by the NSW Department of Technical Education in 1916 to train pilots for WWI and the location shifted to the present Richmond site in 1923. On the periphery of the region you’ll find St Albans and Wiseman’s Ferry. The Settlers Arms Inn at St Albans, built in 1842 has been restored as a popular drinking hole and is once again attracting visitors. Northeast of Windsor is Ebenezer; its Uniting Church has been serving Presbyterians since 1809 and is still holding services every Sunday at 8am. On the same grounds is the Schoolmaster’s House built in 1817 which is now beautifully preserved as a museum. Pitt Town and Wilberforce are close by, the latter being named a Macquarie Town in 1810. The village here has the oldest timber cottage in Australia still standing on its original site— Rose Cottage, built in 1811—and the old Tizzana winery is also worth a visit. Built in 1887, this superb sandstone building is a local treasure.

The river at Windsor; the river at Wisemans Ferry

The best way to conclude your visit to the Macquarie Towns in the Hawkesbury Valley? Maybe a visit to Wisemans Ferry, on the region’s outer limits. In 1817, Solomon Wiseman constructed his residence, Cobham Hall, now the Wisemans Ferry Inn. He later established what is today the oldest operating ferry service in Australia to supply provisions to the convict workers on
the Great North Road. Solomon was notoriously harsh with the convicts in his employ but he was also a man of vision, lobbying the government for a road through the area that would link Sydney with the Hunter Valley. The road was built and a ferry joined the two sections together. Wiseman was given exclusive rights to ferry passengers across the river. Thus Wisemans cable ferry was born and Solomon operated it until the government bought him out in 1831. It is the oldest ferry service in Australia.