Obelisk and Compass Point Pathways, Macquarie Place Park

The tiny triangle of greenery that is Macquarie Place Park was once the lower corner of a garden used to grow the produce for the Governor's table. Facing the Governor's wharf, it was from this spot that Governor Macquarie first measured distances within the colony of New South Wales in 1818 and commissioned Francis Greenway to design and build a sandstone obelisk to record those distances.
Constructed by Sydney's foremost master Stonemason, Edward Cureton, at a cost of £85, its carefully hand carved letters and numerals reflect the limits of the little colony at that time, recording the mileages to Bathurst, Windsor, Parramatta, South Head and North Head of Botany Bay. Greenway's original plan had the obelisk sited in he middle of the park - not off to one side as it now is - with pathways setting out the north, south, east and west axes, somewhat like a compass.
Commissioner Bigge, sent from England to review Macquarie's governorship of the colony following complaints, arrived in Sydney as the obelisk was nearing completion and included it among his list of Macquarie's alleged financial extravagances. Macquarie's justifiably indignant response described it as a "little unadorned obelisk ... and rendered at a trifling expense."
Though Bigge had arrived too late to stop the obelisk's erection, he stopped the construction of the gardens and pathways which were never completed. Today the obelisk still stands in Macquarie Place Park, but off to one side, pride of place being granted to an anchor and cannon from the first fleet flagship, HMS Sirius.
UBD Map D Ref C 10