This small piece of land on the corner of Bridge and Loftus Streets has a number of significant remnants of the past a couple of which are in previous posts.
Macquarie Place was the first planned town square in colonial Sydney. It was formalised by Governor Lachlan Macquarie when he erected an obelisk in 1818 to mark the place from which all public roads in the colony were measured. The obelisk was designed by Francis Greenway and built by Edward Cureton a convict stonemason, from sandstone quarried around Sydney Cove.
It is the oldest surviving public monument in Australia.
This obelisk still remains as a marker and starting point for The Great North Walk.
Another item on display from the early history of the colony is the cannon and plinth from the HMS Sirius which was wrecked off the coast of Norfolk Island in 1790.
The captain of the Sirius at the time was John Hunter who then went on to become governor of the colony from 1795 - 1800.
The cannon was used as the signal gun on South Head from 1810 and joined the anchor in 1907.
A few weeks ago I took myself on a walk around the Harbour and Rocks area of Sydney photographing sites that have a connection to my interest in history.
Macquarie Place is one place where there are a number of connections to the history of European settlement in Sydney.
This is one, the anchor from the First Fleet ship HMS Sirius salvaged in 1905 from the 1790 wreck on Norfolk Island and erected in the park in 1907.
