Macquarie lavished attention on the colony’s major buildings, but he was also a practical man. He authorised the construction of roads, bridges, drains, wharves and a lighthouse, all of which were necessary to support the movement of goods and people, and to underpin the improvement of trade and agriculture within the colony.

The most famous of these public works was the road that connected Sydney to Bathurst, following the route pioneered by Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson across the Blue Mountains.