Mrs Macquarie's Chair (also known as Lady Macquarie's Chair) is an exposed

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

rock cut into the shape of a bench, on a peninsula in

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

. It was hand carved by convicts in 1810, for

Elizabeth Macquarie Elizabeth Macquarie (; 1778–1835) was the second wife of Lachlan Macquarie, who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821. She played a significant role in the establishment of the colony and is recognised in the naming of many A ...

, the wife of Major-General Lachlan Macquarie,

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the ...

. The peninsula itself was known to the

Gadigal The Cadigal, also spelled as Gadigal and Caddiegal, are a group of Indigenous people whose traditional lands are located in Gadi, on Eora country, the location of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Gadigal originally inhabited the area that ...

as Yurong Point, and is now widely known as Mrs Macquarie's Point, and is part of The Domain, near the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Description

Mrs Macquarie was the wife of Major-General Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821. Folklore has it that she used to sit on the rock and watch for ships from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

sailing into the harbour. She was known to visit the area and sit enjoying the panoramic views of the harbour. Above the chair is a stone inscription referring to Mrs Macquarie's Road. That road was built between 1813 and 1818, and ran from the original Government House (now the

Museum of Sydney The Museum of Sydney is a historical collection and exhibit, built on the ruins of the house of New South Wales' first Governor, Arthur Phillip, on the present-day corner of Phillip and Bridge Street, Sydney. Description The original house, ...

) to Mrs Macquarie's Point. It was built on the instruction of Governor Macquarie for the benefit of his wife. There is no remaining evidence of the original road, other than a culvert over which the road ran—the

Macquarie Culvert The Macquarie Culvert is a double brick culvert under the original Mrs Macquarie's Road (also known as Lady Macquarie's Road) in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia. The culvert was probably built at the same time as the original roa ...

. The stone inscription reads as follows. :Be it thus Recorded that the Road :Round the inside of the Government Domain Called :M^rs. Macquarie's road :So named by the Governor on account of her having Originally :Planned it Measuring 3 Miles, and 377 Yards :Was finally Completed on the 13th Day ofJune 1816 The peninsula sits between the Garden Island peninsula to the east and

Bennelong Point Bennelong Point, a former island in Sydney Harbour, is a headland that, since the 1970s is the location of the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. History Bennelong Point is known to the local Gadigal people of the Eora ...

(where the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

resides) to the west. The chair itself faces north-east towards

Fort Denison Fort Denison, part of the Sydney Harbour National Park, is a protected national park that is a heritage-listed former penal site and defensive facility occupying a small island located north-east of the Royal Botanic Garden and approximat ...

and the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...

. The area around it on Mrs Macquarie's Point is a popular lookout position for the view to the north-west of the Sydney Opera House and

Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The view of the bridg ...

References

{{Sydney landmarks Benches (furniture) Monuments and memorials in Sydney Monuments and memorials to women Women in Australia Buildings and structures completed in 1810 Landmarks in Sydney

Description

See also

References