A NEW map and app have been launched to guide drivers on a tour of Port Macquarie’s history – from colonial settlement through to the mid-1900s.
Created by the Port Macquarie Museum, the Historic Places Guide features iconic landmarks and hidden gems and complements the existing Heritage Walk, which focuses on convict-era sites around the CBD.
There are 12 locations in the brochure for the driving tour – all within eight-kilometres of the town centre.
The accompanying app provides context through historic images and audio-commentary.
“The combination of the brochure and [free] iziTRAVEL app creates an innovative way to engage with and experience our town’s heritage,” Museum Curator Debbie Sommers said.
The map starts at Gaol Point and continues to places such as The Flagstaff, Tuppenny Road, Tacking Point Lighthouse, Roto House, the Historic Cemetery, Kooloonbung Creek Dam and Douglas Vale Vineyard.
Called Guruk by its traditional owners the Birpai people, the area now known as Port Macquarie was one of Australia’s first convict settlements.
State archives show that Governor Lachlan Macquarie, after whom the explorer John Oxley named the future labor camp in 1818, believed it was “sufficiently isolated to make it ideal as a place of punishment for convicts of the worst character… especially those convicted of crimes after their arrival in the colony.”
The penal settlement was established in 1821 and, at its peak, was home to around 1500 convicts.
By 1847, free settlers and pastoralists had discovered better uses for Port Macquarie, so the remaining convicts were shipped out, leaving behind remnants of a military outpost that are now stops on the self-guided tours.
“We have an amazing range of historic places, all within a short drive of the CBD, and each of them offering a unique visitor experience,” said Janette Hyde, President of the Greater Port Macquarie Tourism Association.
The Historic Places Guide is available from the Port Macquarie Museum in Clarence Street and from tourist information locations and select accommodation providers.
It has been developed with the support of Create NSW’s Cultural Grants Program, a devolved funding program administered by the Royal Australian Historical Society on behalf of the NSW Government.
The app can be accessed at izi.travel/en/71e5-port-macquarie-historic-places/en.
By Sue STEPHENSON
