Great North Road - National Engineering Landmark #25 Wisemans Ferry, New South Wales, Australia
By MavEtJu on 09-Oct-15. Waypoint GA7529

Cache Details

Difficulty:
Terrain:
Type:	Virtual
Container:	Virtual
Coordinates:	S33° 22.416' E150° 59.077' (WGS 84)
	56H 312513E 6305480N (UTM)
Elevation:	53 m
Local Government Area:	Hawkesbury City

Map

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Description

Great North Road - National Engineering Landmark #25

The Great North Road was constructed between 1826 and 1836 to connect Sydney to the rapidly developing Hunter Valley area. It was constructed using convict labour, the majority in chain gangs, under the supervision of colonial engineers, including Lieutenant Percy Simpson.

The text on the plaque is as follows:

This road was built between 1826 and 1836 to connect early Sydney to the rapidly developing Hunter Valley region. It is over 240 kilometres long and was constructed by convict labour under the supervision of colonial engineers. Lieutenant Percy Simpson was responsible for the Devines Hill section. It illustrates efforts to apply methods emerging from the road building revolution in Europe to the harsh environment of the new colony. The Great North Road was part of Governor Darling's vision of a fine, permanent and all-encompassing road system.

DEDICATED BY THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS, AUSTRALIA AND THE NSW NATIONAL PARKS AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 2001

When logging this virtual, please add a photo of yourself or your GPSr at the plaque.

For more information, please see the nomination PDF at the Heritage Register at the Engineers Australia website: Link

Logs

17-Nov-24

Team737

We had a great walk up here today. We were mainly here for the old GC caches and then the trig - then noted the GA virtuals as a bonus. Saying that - we've made some serious detours for Engineering markers - our favourite GA virts....
At 35 degrees, we ended up rationing water (again!) but enjoyed the walk a lot. I've always wondered why on earth did the early settlers bash their way to the Hunter from all the way out here??

Rated: for Overall Experience

14-Jun-21

GLISS!

Geocaching takes me to very interesting places. Tftc

05-Aug-20

Outdoornut22

Was waiting for some friends to show up at Wisemans ferry and thought it was a good opportunity to go and see the trail and log a few caches. So much history here.

Rated: for Overall Experience

03-Jan-19

HansJJ

It was a hot New Year’s Day and I went on a drive to complete roadside trigs & caches & also this 1. I enjoy completing these National Engineering Landmarks, it really shows us all the talents of the people that build them in that era. Great North Road - When I was young with my uncle which was involved in the 4wd clubs this road was travelled and the many off shoots that it has. Being so close to Sydney I guess as the popularity of 4wd’s came in it became more travelled and is was shut to the public. So in the early days ( Layland brothers era) this was travelled and maintained by the 4wd clubs of the greater Sydney era. So yes it was great to return and complete this National Engineering land mark. Thanks for bringing me here today.

Rated: for Overall Experience

30-Sep-18

Wilbert67

Two big caching days in a row to find some specific caches in the Hornsby and North Sydney area. Great weather and reasonable traffic made for an excellent day! Great walk into history here.
TFTC Wilbert67

05-Aug-18

squirebarney

Staying at Del Rio with our caravan club. Came out today to have a look around.
Visited this Great North Road many years ago. The extra work that has gone into this tourist attraction since then is very good.
Only walked up as far as the cache today, but should do the rest again sometime.

Thanks

Rated: for Overall Experience

03-Apr-18

Joolay

Found with Kittykatch on the way home from the Morisset Geomuster. We decided to come back via Wisemans Ferry and follow the Hawkesbury.
Kittycatch has uploaded the photo from the walk up there. Amazing history and loved the cutouts. Very Happy

Rated: for Overall Experience

03-Apr-18

Kittykatch

Joolay and I decided to take the road to see where the Hawkesbury River ran and so ended up here before crossing the river into Wiseman's Ferry. Lovely to see the work that has been done to retain and share the history of this area. Many thanks for the cache

Rated: for Overall Experience

02-Apr-18

Crew 153

We were in the area to find the old cache nearby and I noticed that we would be walking past this marker so I stopped for the photo.

Such a great historic area. I wish we had more time to explore the road.

24-Mar-18

Grahame Cookie

On my way home from a duo of CITO Events at Hawkesbury I stopped and walked on up and took a photo of the sign.

Rated: for Overall Experience

07-Aug-17

crash2079

#104
I've found a few of these engineering landmarks recently. Was here around a month ago to grab a 2 Dogs cache but hadn't realised this virtual was here. Returned today for the obligatory selfie. Still in awe of the achievements of man and beast prior to the introduction of modern machinery. This is a very informative walk that I highly recommend.

Rated: for Overall Experience

26-Dec-16

teamMerlin

Visit the site not so long ago in the search of an Old School Cache. Now that the Great North Road is on the World Heritage Register it is great to see all of the interpretive panels along the walk. Well worth the visit.

Rated: for Overall Experience

13-Feb-16

Tyreless

I went for a lengthy walk up the Old Great North Road today and found the plaque at the start of the walk. The buttressed retaining walls are amazing as is the number of culverts. A couple of kms further up the trail are other interesting bits and pieces such as the remains of a wooden guardrail that may have been from convict times and some remnants of the cobblestone that used to surface the entire road.

Rated: for Overall Experience

31-Dec-15

Team Canary

I had been up here a few months ago, so this was an easy find.

TFTC.

18-Oct-15

Team MavEtJu

Thanks for the full coordinates Shifter Brains!

Funny note: If you throw that coordinates in Google Earth and go to street view, you will see be able to see it. You will also see parts of the Google-car!

17-Oct-15

Shifter Brains

S33° 22.416' E150° 59.077'

Found while researching information on a National Parks Discovery tour. The posted co-ords are for the gate to Devines Hill. The plaque is located at S33 22.416 E150 59.077.