Old Government House and Domain and Australian Convict Sites

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Old Government House and Domain

   Few buildings in Australia can claim to be as old as this one. Old Government House sits in Parramatta Park, on a rise above the Parramatta River, and was begun in 1799 under Governor Hunter. It is the oldest surviving public building in the country, a plain, graceful Georgian house where successive governors lived and worked, including Lachlan Macquarie, who added to the estate. It forms part of the UNESCO listing of Australian Convict Sites, which recognises how the penal colony shaped the nation.

   Read the complete Old Government House and Domain write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Old Government House and Domain is where the day begins. Next is Sydney Opera House.

2. 2. Sydney Opera House

   The Opera House is the thing that every visitor to Sydney photographs, and it is also a good story about stubbornness and talent. The Danish architect Jørn Utzon won an international competition in 1957 with a design of white sail-like shells rising from the point of land called Bennelong Point. The engineering was so difficult that the building took sixteen years instead of the planned four, costs soared, and a change of government and a dispute with the authorities led Utzon to resign and leave Australia in 1966. He never saw the finished building in person. It opened in 1973, and its tiled shells, covered in thousands of glossy cream and white tiles, have become a symbol of the whole country.

   Read the complete Sydney Opera House write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Sydney Opera House comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Australian Convict Sites.

3. 3. Australian Convict Sites

   North of Sydney, where the Hawkesbury River winds between sandstone cliffs and forested ridges, there is a road that convicts built by hand. The Old Great North Road, begun in the 1820s, was meant to link Sydney with the Hunter Valley, and it was cut and paved by gangs of prisoners working with picks, hammers and iron bars, often in chains. It runs for over two hundred kilometres, and several sections survive, with walls of fitted sandstone, culverts, drains and cuttings that still look neat after two centuries. Together with other sites it is part of the UNESCO-listed Australian Convict Sites, which record the transportation of about 160,000 men, women and children from Britain.

   Read the complete Australian Convict Sites write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 105 km into the recorded legs you reach Australian Convict Sites. Next is back through Sydney Opera House.

4. 4. back through Sydney Opera House

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Sydney Opera House write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Sydney Opera House, late in the day. Next is Old Government House and Domain.

5. 5. Old Government House and Domain

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Old Government House and Domain write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Old Government House and Domain. That is the ride.