Macquarie PierPrint Page

The plaque commemorates the site of the Maquarie Pier Foundation Stone which was laid by Governor Macquarie in 1818. Built to connect Coal Island or Nobbys Head with the mainland, Macquarie Pier was designed to provide a safer passageway for coal ships coming into Newcastle Harbour that would often get caught on Stockton’s perilous oyster banks.

The plaque was unveiled by Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, Governor of New South Wales at a ceremony at the Nobbys Surf Life Saving Club on the 4 August 2010 at 4 pm.  The occasion was kindly sponsored and organised by the Fort Scratchley Historical Society, The Newcastle Port Corporation, The University of Newcastle’s Coal River Working Party and the City of Newcastle.

The Coal River Working Party assembled an archaeological ‘Time Team’ team with the professional expertise drawn across Government, Business and community to re-discover the Macquarie Pier Foundation Stone.

Governor Lachlan Macquarie laid the foundation stone for the Newcastle breakwater, named in his honour by Commandant Captain James Wallis as “Macquarie Pier” on the 5th August 1818 at 4 pm. Where exactly the foundation stone was laid is not known, many believe it was lost, but a survey map drawn by the A.A. Company surveyor John Armstrong in 1830 may be able to identify the stone's present location.

During the Macquarie 2010 celebrations, celebrating the period of Lachlan Macquarie’s term as Governor of New South Wales, the University of Newcastle began a quest, on behalf of the people of Newcastle and the Nation,  to find the original beginnings of the Macquarie Pier. A commemorative dedication plaque was designed by Auchmuty Library designer Danylo Motyka, and financed by the Institution of Surveyors (Hunter manning Group) and Emeritus Professor John Fryer, and was unveiled and laid in the walkway near the site, by Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, Governor of New South Wales.

Location

Details

Dedication