Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2020L01339:front:0:p14
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to the site was via a walking track which was approximately in the same location as the present Old South Head Road. In 1803 surgeon John Harris offered to construct a road 15 feet wide for 100 pounds. By 1811 the eight miles of road and 11 bridges of Old South Head Road was completed. It terminated at the Signal Station with a walking track leading down to Watsons Bay.

Figure 6 – View of the first Macquarie Lighthouse in 1829
The lighthouse tower was essentially completed by December 1817 when Macquarie wrote to Lord Bathurst, the British Secretary of State to inform him of the 'Very Elegant and Strong Stone Tower and Light House' erected at South Head. At this time the lantern was yet to be completed as they were waiting for the arrival of the plate glass from England. Bathurst responded favourably to Macquarie despite the fact that work on the lighthouse had commenced without obtaining official approval from Britain.
On 16 December 1817, the Governor and Mrs Macquarie and a party of their friends went to inspect the tower. On the same day, before breakfast, Francis Greenway received his emancipation papers at the Lighthouse.

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Figure 7 – Phases of Development

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The first Macquarie Lighthouse (1816 - 1878)
Following the end of the Napoleonic war in 1815, many more convicts were sent to New South Wales, with over 1000 arriving in 1818. The impending arrival of ships transporting convicts and an increase in the volume of shipping led to the commencement of a series of building projects in Sydney.

Governor Macquarie gave instructions that a lighthouse, the first in Australia, be constructed at the entrance to Port Jackson on South Head. Francis Greenway was appointed as architect and Captain John Gill as supervisor. Numerous people criticised the appropriateness of the site because of its distance 2 miles from the actual opening into the harbour. Greenway suggested North Head as an appropriate location, but this was dismissed by Governor Macquarie as being too remote. The foundation stone was laid on the 11th July 1816.

The lighthouse sat in an area compounded by four stone retaining walls with originally two corner lodges intended for the 'keepers of the Signals'. The construction of the tower was probably one of the most difficult constructions undertaken in the colony to date. The colony had a shortage of quality building materials and skilled labour which despite the skills of Greenway and Gill, proved to make the construction very difficult. In addition, Greenway and Gill often disagreed on best methods of construction leading to design and