Location: Butler’s Paddock, Liddleton Station, Jenolan Caves Road, Hartley, Sunday 26th April 2015. Entry off the Jenolan Caves Road, 4 kms from the Great Western Highway Junction main proceedings commence 2pm sharp.
On Saturday 29th April1815, Governor Macquarie with his wife Elizabeth and a party of some fifty gentlemen, servants and soldiers descended Mt York and travelled across the Hartley Valley to what is today Glenroy, on the Jenolan Caves Road. They camped on the delightful river flat at the junction of the Cox’s River and the River Lett and had a day at leisure on the Sunday. Prior to exploring the country around their campsite, on the Sunday morning Macquarie recorded ‘After breakfast I had Divine Service performed’.
On 26th April 2015, the Hartley District Progress Association, in conjunction with the Macquarie Society, will commemorate Governor Macquarie’s visit and his holding of the first Christian service performed west of the Blue Mountains. The event will be held in Butler’s paddock, overlooking Cox’s Road on which the Macquaries’ made their way to Bathurst, the valley campsite where this first service was held and Mt Blaxland, the end point of Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth’s 1813 crossing.
The 73rd Regiment of Foot Re-enactment Group; a group reliving the times of Macquarie’s 73’d Foot Regiment, brought to Australia to replace the discredited New South Wales Corps (the so called Rum Corps), will be joining us on the day. This will be the group’s last official event before proceeding overseas to participate in the bicentenary re-enactment of the Battle of Waterloo in June this year.
Program
From 11.00 am Inspect the 73’d Regiment of Foot camp complete with a replica of Macquarie’s original tent. Kids can meet the soldiers and their servants and learn more about life in the army or as a convict in Macquarie’s time.
12.30-1.30 lunch. Grab a sausage sizzle run by members of the Hartley Bush Fire Brigade
1.30 Dame Marie Bashir and Sir Nicholas Shehadie arrive to a volley of muskets and inspect 73’d Foot Regiment encampment.
2.00 Formal Welcomes
2.10 2015 Macquarie Oration, Professor The Honourable Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO, Governor of New South Wales 2001- 2014, Patron of the Macquarie Society and renowned Macquarie Scholar, will deliver the 2015 Macquarie Oration.
2.30 Divine Service Celebration, Reverend Tim Mciver, Anglican Minister of StJohn’s Hartley, will celebrate Divine Service from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (1662) that would have been used in 1815; a commemorative service such as Macquarie would have had delivered.
3.10 Afternoon Tea. Join the official party for afternoon tea and then see them off with a guard of honour and final volley of muskets.
YOU MUST BOOK FOR THIS EVENT
Call Lithgow Visitors Information Centre Events Booking Service to book your attendance on 1300 760 276
Entry will be by gold coin donation on the day for everyone over school age. Proceeds will go to the Hartley District Progress Association’s Western Crossings Trust to help defray the costs of the day.
Please ensure you have appropriate clothing for this open air event, particularly if inclement weather is forecast. As a large attendance is expected, you may want to bring a camp chair or rug.
We acknowledge with gratitude, the generous support of Macquarie Bank, the State Library of NSW, The Hy-Tec Group, Lithgow City Council, John lbottson and Dick and Yvonne Austen in our delivery of this event.
Photo: Macquarie’s Camp at Bathurst by John William Lewin 1815. State Library of NSW.
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