This is one of the 16 remaining sandstone milestones along the Great Western Highway between Parramatta and Penrith.
Mile markers in NSW were placed as part of Governor Macquarie's upgrade and creation of turnpike roads in the early 1800's.
Edward Cureton is credited with making the first milestones in the colony in 1814, when he was paid 40 pounds 10 shillings for 54 milestones.
By 1816, milestones were laid along the Parramatta, Liverpool and South Head roads. To show that vandalism is not a new phenomenon, as a result of local Vandals regularly defacing the Roman Numerals, a public notice was printed in the
26th October 1816 edition of the "Sydney Gazette" warning that anyone caught breaking, defacing or injuring the milestones along the "New Roads" would be prosecuted.
It appears the milestones along the Parramatta and Liverpool Roads fell into disrepair as the "Sydney Gazette" of September 1846 records that tenders were called "for such number of milestones as may be required for erection on the Parramatta and Liverpool Roads". The contract was to include the "lettering and placing in such positions on the Parramatta and Liverpool Roads as may be
pointed out by the Surveyor in charge of roads." The tender of Michael McCormack was accepted and the work executed.
I selected this one for this waymark as it is a surviving example of Michael McCormak's 1846 series and is possibly in its original location, being on a median strip and not on the side of the (now) dual carriageway. It is the fourth in the sequence of Sydney to Penrith Milestones (they start at Parramatta) and marks the location 18 miles from the Macquarie Obelisk. It is a single sandstone block with a square plan, a trapezoidal section and a chamfered top. It is 750mm high, and tapers from 420mm at the base to 370mm at the top. Inscribed on two sides with the words "SYDNEY XVIII" on the northern (yes, the northern, look at the gallery)face and "PENRITH XV" on the eastern face.