Governor Macquarie CampsitePrint Page

The memorial commemorates the spot where Governor Macquarie and his party camped on their way to Bathurst and named the place Springwood. The tablet was erected in 1938 and unveiled on the 25th February 1939.

The site was named by Governor Macquarie in 1815 while inspecting the road built over the mountains by William Cox and his convict labourers. Macquarie noted a `pretty wooded Plain near a Spring of very good fresh Water` and named it `Spring-Wood`. The Macquarie Memorial, erected at Springwood in 1938 by the Royal Australian Historical Society, celebrates this event as the naming of the first town in the Blue Mountains, although it must be remembered that Macquarie was actually naming a locality as there was no settlement at that time. William Cox built a military depot here in 1816.

On Saturday last members of the Royal Australian Historical Society visited Springwood at the invitation of the Blue Mountain Shire Council and the Springwood Development League to unveil a tablet commemorative of the visit of Governor Macquarie on April 26 and 27, 1815, en route to the Bathurst district. The road from Emu Plains to Bathurst had just been completed prior to Macquarle's visit, and the Governor decided upon a leisurely tour to inspect the new district. He was accompanied by Mrs. Macquarie, Captain Antill, Sir John Jamison, J. T. Campbell (Colonial Secretory), William Cox, John Oxley, Dr. Redfern, G. W. Evans, Lieutenant Watts, and J. W. Lewin (artist). Records of the journey were kept both by the Governor and Captain Antill, and they show that at 3 o'clock on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 26, they established their first mountain camp in an extensive forest. They dined at 4.30, and settled there for the night. On the morning of the 27th the Governor and his wife and a few others of the party visited the spring, a half-mile distant, from which they had received their supply of water. Antill wrote: "From this spring and the surrounding forest the Governor gave the name of Springwood to this station. We did not leave this place till 12 o'clock."

The inscription reads: "Governor Macquarie and his party camped here on their way to Bathurst on April 27. 1815, and named the place 'Springwood.' William Cox erected here a military depot early in 1816. R.A.H.S., 1938." Mr. W. L. Havard, in a letter, disputes its accuracy. He states that at the time specified Bathurst was not in existence; that the camp was made on April 26; that Macquarie, and not "Macquarie and his party," named the place "Spring Wood"; and that the reference to the military depot "is merely 'a shot in the dark'."
The Sydney Morning Herald, 4th March 1939.

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