The Orientation Table is mounted at an angle on the metal fence of the Lookout, and identifies the following features:
- Doctors Nose Mountain Nature Reserve
- Doctors Nose
- Wallangarra (Qld)
- Mt Norman 1267m Girraween National Park (Qld)
- Bald Rock 1277m Bald Rock National Park
- Boonoo Boonoo National Park
- Tenterfield Railway Station
- Woollooi Woollooini Aboriginal Place 1100m
- Currys Gap State Conservation Area
The sign has the following text:
Mt Mackenzie Lookout
"You are 1298 metres (4258 feet) above sea level looking east across the valley of the Tenterfield Creek … and looking at a slice of history.
"Woollooi Woollooini has for generations been a place of spiritual power for Bundjalung Aboriginal people. For them it is a place where the spirit of Woollooi Woollooini, a tribal clever man lives today.
"When European settlers first came to this area. Tenterfield Station was taken up around 1840 and it covered most of the country in front of you. Scottish born Robert R. Mackenzie - after whom this mountain is named - took up Tenterfield Station for Stuart A. Donaldson. Robert Mackenzie later moved to Queensland where in 1859 he became its first Colonial Treasurer and its Premier in 1867.
"The Doctors nose is where station hands found some long lost sheep, right under the nose of the stations manager, Doctor Roland Trail. After 1850, granite stones from here were hauled by bullock teams and horse teams to build the post office, gaol, school and court house in the new township of Tenterfield.
"Early Tenterfield only had links to the south, on an overland route that is now part of the Bruxner Highway. Until the 1870's all wool from this area's sheep stations was carried east over the ranges by hundreds of bullock teams, then shipped from the Clarence River ports of Lawrence and Grafton.
"What is now the Mount Lindsay Road was part of the first overland connection between Sydney and Brisbane. From the 1850's Cobb and Co Coaches carried mail and passengers between Tenterfield and Warwick, over the difficult Boonoo Boonoo tableland. From 1948 most transport followed the New England Highway through easier country to Wallangarra and Brisbane.
"The Great Northern Railway came through Currys Gap to Tenterfield i 1886 linking this area to the port of Newcastle. Being speedy and unaffected by floods, the railway soon became the main long-distance transport for people and goods. In 1888 this rail was connected to Queensland, even though the different track sizes meant everything had to be transferred from one train to another at the bustling border town of Wallangarra.
"The State Border passes to your left through Wallangarra. Here, from the 1880's the separate British colonies of Queensland and New South Wales argued over trade, customs and transport differences. However they realised that all six colonies should cooperate, especially to defend the continent. Tenterfield played its part i joining these colonies into the federation of Australia in 1901.
"The rugged and beautiful range country in the distance wasn't able to sustain farming. Today several world class national parks protect the area's wildlife and each has many scenic delights that we hope you'll discover."
Address: Mt Mackenzie Lookout, Mt Mackenzie Lookout Road, Tenterfield, NSW, 2372, Australia
Visited: 1123, Monday, 28 January, 2019