... and our fathers that begat us ...

The balcony of the second incarnation of Macquarie Lighthouse which replaced the original in the 1880s

Eight of us oldie-nutters have spent a day a week for the last month walking in the footsteps of Governor Lachlan Macquarie who governed this colony from 1810 until recalled to 'answer questions' in 1822. For our final walk, we caught a ferry out to Watsons Bay and tried to envisage the harbour as it looked to the early settlers.


Macquarie was the first 'army' Governor and had to clean up a bit of a social mess. He got a few noses out of joint by treating all men equal once they had served their time. He utilised any known skills whether the person was male or female, convict, emancipist or exclusive. This got him off-side with some powerful people (read John MacArthur).


To clean up the mess left by the NSW Regiment who 'marched' on rum, Macquarie brought out his own 73rd Regiment of Foot. To my embarrassment, I have walked past this monument sooo many times. It's the original obelisk placed there in 1811, when the 73rd finished the track from town out to the South Head Signal Station. In 1814 Macquarie got his convict architect, Francis Greenway, to design him a gracious light-house to serve the colony from South Head.

We owe these two blokes heaps.