Macquarie Visions, a free public event celebrating in immersive light displays, the 200th anniversary and story of two visionary leaders, Governor Lachlan Macquarie and his wife Elizabeth.

Lachlan Macquarie becomes the 5th Governor of New South Wales on 01 January 1810

Taking approximately one hour, the walk starts with a dazzling light spectacle at St Mary’s Cathedral and moves onto installations at Hyde Park Barracks Museum, The Mint, Parliament House, The State Library of New South Wales, The Royal Botanic Garden’s Palace Garden Gate and Sydney Conservatorium of Music, with special features including the spectacular Downer Macquarie Arch and the stunning illumination of the Opera House sails fulfilling the amazing Vivid Light experience.

Sydney Morning Herald     21st May , 2010   by Nick Galvin

In a windowless upstairs room of a unit in a light-industrial estate in Lane Cove, a small group of designers is staring intently at the screens of their Apple computers. The atmosphere of deep concentration is broken only by mouse clicks as they painstakingly “paint” vivid colours and designs on to some of Sydney’s most significant buildings.

Their task is to give historic Macquarie Street a very 21st-century makeover, temporarily turning seven landmark buildings, including Parliament House, St Mary’s Cathedral and The Mint, into living canvases telling part of the story of Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie and early life in the colony.

After many dedicated hours, the designs on those screens will be projected on to building facades using massive industrial projectors.

Some 300,000 people are expected to walk the route down Macquarie Street over the course of the four-week event, stopping at each of the buildings for up to 10 minutes. Families in particular are being encouraged to take a look.

The event follows on from last year’s Smart Light Sydney Light Walk, which featured 25 light sculptures in the city. Its success took organisers by surprise.

This year’s event, part of Vivid Sydney, is called Macquarie Visions and its director, Anthony Bastic, says it will push the boundaries of architectural projection further than has been seen in Australia.

“The events we have had to date in Australia have just been light projections, which is great but what I wanted to do was take the concept to a different level and actually tell stories,” he says. “I thought it would be a more interesting way of telling the story of two very visionary people so we’re not just having a boring old history lesson but see these two come to life.

“I’ve always liked Macquarie Street as the ceremonial street of Sydney. It’s a great space that a lot of people don’t use.”

The concept of large-scale projections on to historic buildings originated in France in the early 1950s, where the process was christened “son et lumiere” (sound and light). The shows remained popular in Europe and further afield, using chateaux, churches, castles – even the pyramids at Giza in Egypt.

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peter milne / electric canvas company

Peter Milne, the director of Electric Canvas, which is producing Macquarie Visions, says the Sydney show will extend the concept. “The son et lumiere technique that has been so popular in Europe for many years usually uses one building to tell a particular story,” he says.

“It is less usual to have a streetscape involved. We have a wonderful opportunity with Macquarie Street being the ceremonial axis of the city.”

Bastic researched the lives of the Macquaries in minute detail before coming up with the concept of the hour-long walk down Macquarie Street. The more he learnt about the contribution of the fifth governor of NSW and his wife to the critical early days of the colony, the more impressed he became.

“I thought these two people needed to be celebrated and more people need to know about them. We tend to just skim our history – we know a little bit about things but not enough in depth. I thought it would be great to tell that story in a way that is fun and engaging but is also technologically savvy.

“Then I thought it would be interesting to take different facets of [Lachlan] Macquarie’s life and achievements and explain the story on the different buildings we have.”

The walk begins at St Mary’s Cathedral. Macquarie laid the foundation stone for the cathedral in 1821 and the presentation there, Designing the Nation, will highlight his role in urban design and hundreds of public buildings.

“It’s a great starting point for people because they are able to get a quick overview of the Macquaries’ role in building the foundation stones of what has become Australia,” Bastic says. “I think he was an incredible leader and a great visionary. When the Macquaries arrived the colony was not in good shape. People were starving.”

As well as bringing order to the nascent settlement, Macquarie was also a firm believer in giving convicts a second chance. This is celebrated in the presentation at the Hyde Park Barracks called Fair Go.

At the entrance to the Botanic Gardens there will be a tribute to Elizabeth Macquarie’s passion for botany; the Macquaries’ political, social and economic contributions are celebrated elsewhere.

Nick Tory from The Electric Canvas is one of the artists charged with bringing Bastic’s visions to life. It takes between three and four weeks to produce a nine-minute presentation. “We have to trace out every single shape and part of the building,” Tory says.

“That takes about a week and a half and then our artworkers have to render and colour and add content to all of those shapes. It is a really fiddly process. You really need to love detail and be obsessive about getting it right.”

A small error made by a designer in tracing the building’s outline will become glaringly obvious when projected on to the facade, sometimes from hundreds of metres, so starting with a totally accurate image of the building is critical.

“We take a photographic survey of the building, which is accurate from the perspective of the projector,” Tory says. “In theory, once we project it back on the building all those elements that we trace out fall in the right place.”

The image will match the building exactly only if the projector is placed in the right spot. The projectors used will be a mixture of older French-made PIGI film-strip projectors and more modern digital devices. The margin for error in placement of the massive projectors can be as little as the diameter of a 10¢ coin. “If you don’t get the right angle and the right position it simply doesn’t fit and there is no optical or electronic adjustment that can be done,” Milne says. “It has to be right first time.”

It’s also vital the projectors don’t move during the performances. “We have to be very specific about how rigid the scaffolding towers are,” he says. “The tiniest bit of movement is a lot – especially on longer throws.”

On top of the technical intricacies of lining up the massive images, designing with light brings its own artistic challenges. “You can’t be subtle in your use of colour,” Tory says. “You have to be relatively bold. You’ve got to be mindful of a lot of different factors. ”

There is also a balance to be found between the startling “eye candy” moments that viewers used to firework presentations expect and the subtler demands of telling a serious story through images.

Then there is the challenge of making all the images tie in with the intricate architecture of the facades.

“We are using the architecture to inform the story,” Milne says. “The challenge though is how to tell the story on an ornate building. Take St Mary’s . . . there is very little flat, uninterrupted surface so we have to use certain techniques to make sure the message is not distorted.”

Everything always comes back to the architecture for Milne, who adds that they are “absolutely not” using the facades merely as screens.

“I’m of the belief if you look after the architecture first then tell the story, you will be awakening people to the beauties of the building at the same time,” he says.

“In our experience, even when we are just doing decorative architectural projects with no particular theme, people who walk past these buildings every day rediscover them.”

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St Mary’s Cathedral

Designing the Nation

The Macquarie Visions experience will begin with a dazzling light spectacle at St Mary’s Cathedral, a building for which Lachlan Macquarie himself laid the foundation stone in 1821.

Macquarie was the first military Governor of NSW and unlike his predecessors, who were all naval men, he had experience in urban planning and land management. Indeed Mrs Macquarie arrived with architectural and design journals that indicated her interest and subsequent influence on much of the urban design in the colony.

In his 11-year tenure as Governor, Macquarie instigated hundreds of major building projects leading to the foundation of churches, schools, hospitals, roads, towns, banks and agricultural developments.

As images of the twinkling night sky turn to the flames of candles, bonfires and skyrockets that greeted the Macquaries on their arrival into Sydney town on January 1, 1810, the Cathedral facade starts its story.

In the evening the town was very finely illuminated with a number of bonfires – The King’s ships were also beautifully illuminated and then a great number of sky rockets.

At this display you will see the very foundation stones of much of Sydney town reflected, the designation of streets, parks and gardens, the design of the cultural, architectural and town planning landscape, the engagement of the aboriginal inhabitants, the second chance given to convicts, the laying of the foundation stone for the cathedral and the civilising designs for a new nation that emerges from Macquarie’s vision.

Viewed from Cathedral Square, this nightly spectacle titled Designing the Nation promises to entertain and amaze audiences and provide a truly impressive starting point to undertake the journey that is Macquarie Visions.

Hyde Park Barracks Museum

Fair Go

An electrified timeline of Governor Macquarie’s achievements scrolls on the walls of Hyde Park Barracks Museum reflecting hundreds of projects and achievements in a stunning tribute to a man regarded by many as the originator of the Australian value of the ‘Fair-Go’.

The Governor and his wife Elizabeth instilled a feeling of hope in the inhabitants of the new colony and along with it, the belief that an opportunity existed for a second chance at life.

“It has been My Invariable Opinion…that, Once a Convict has become Free Man, either by Servitude, Free Pardon, or Emancipation, he should in All Respects be Considered on a footing with every other Man in the Colony, according to his Rank in Life and Character. In Short, that no Retrospect Should in any Case be had to his having been a Convict.” – Lachlan Macquarie to Lord Bathurst, 28 June 1813

Macquarie was a committed and courageous emancipator. His predecessor Bligh provided 2 pardons in his term as Governor. Macquarie delivered 366 pardons, 1,365 conditional pardons and 2,319 tickets of leave.

Macquarie initiated programs that once completed, offered convicts freedom and a chance to start over.

Francis Greenway, transported for forgery 1814, appointed Government Architect 1816 – the chief architect of Macquarie Street

Michael Massey Robinson, transported for blackmail 1798, appointed first Poet Laureate 1810.

“Australia! whilst met on this festive occasion, To yield thee our tribute of commemoration, We see with fond pride thy advancement to fame, And the pages of history honor thy name.”   – Australian, Sydney, 3 February 1825

Margaret Catchpole, transported for horse stealing 1801, became store keeper, nurse and diarist of the colony.

George Howe, transported for Shoplifting1800 and became known as the “Father of Australian Literature” and publisher of Sydney Gazette and first books of the Colony.

These were some of the many former convicts who made invaluable contributions to the growth of NSW under Macquarie.

The Macquaries’ together championed merit and established the rule of law, whilst their program of some 265 public works in just 11 years, created the foundations of civil society and prosperity for the colony.

They also advanced the lives of those in need, establishing and supporting charitable institutions such as The Benevolent Society, The Female and Male Orphan School, The Castle Hill Asylum and the Native Farm at Port Jackson.

Macquarie attempted in his words to improve the position of the Aboriginal people in the settlement, and acknowledged their disadvantage and dispossession:

‘With this Anxiety to make one Experiment so interesting to the Feelings of Humanity, and to endeavour to ascertain how far the Condition of the Natives may be improved by the Application of such Means as are within his Power, His Excellency feels that he is making an Acknowledgement to which they are in some Degree entitled, when it is considered that the British Settlement in this Country, though necessarily excluding the Natives from many of the natural Advantages they had previously derived from the animal and other Productions of this Part of the Territory, has never met with any serious or determined Hostility from them, but rather a Disposition to submit peaceably to such Establishments as were necessarily made on the Part of the British Government on the Formation of this Settlement.’  – Public Notice, December 1814

The Mint

Governor Macquarie introduced coinage to Australia, forever changing the lives of its inhabitants. Macquarie Visions will explore both this landmark achievement and the great ‘Common Wealth’ of our rich and rare nation in this display at The Mint.

When Macquarie began his tenure as Governor of NSW, rum was the prevailing currency of the colony. He not only introduced coinage, but also overcame an acute currency shortage by purchasing Spanish silver dollars, punching out the centres and creating two new coins – the ‘Holey Dollar’ and the Dump. This innovative move doubled the number of coins in circulation and increased their total worth by 25 per cent.

To facilitate trade and commerce, Macquarie also established the Bank of New South Wales (now Westpac) in 1817 and Elizabeth Macquarie was among its first shareholders.

The bank suffered the taunts of Macquarie’s political enemies, mainly free settlers, who did not agree with his reformist practice of placing emancipist convicts in positions of authority. Bank Director William Redfern had been transported to Australia for his role in the mutiny of the North Sea Fleet at the Nore anchorage in 1797, while fellow Director D’arcy Wentworth was tried four times, although acquitted, for highway robbery.

Many other ex-convicts were shareholders, such as Mary Reibey, who was transported at the age of 13 for being caught stealing horses dressed up as a boy, and went on to raise to the heights of respectability as a significant colonial businesswoman. You see her almost daily as she appears on the Australian $20 bill.

The Bank of New South Wales was thus nicknamed disparagingly by some as ‘the convicts’ bank’. Although with the support of the farmers, merchants, shopkeepers, mariners, soap-boilers, tanners, butchers, bakers, gardeners, cedar-gatherers and craft builders of the colony, it also acquired the more popular title of ‘the people’s bank’.

The ‘Common Wealth’ display looks at the economic and natural wealth that has been discovered, exploited and developed in Australia since the early accomplishments of Macquarie, from the gold rush to riding the sheep’s back, the farming and diamond exports to the mineral and mining booms of recent times.

News of Assistant Surveyor George William Evans’ discovery of the NSW interior eventually reaches London: The accounts of the country in the interior are highly gratifying, and the discovery of extensive and luxuriant pastures, with a river of magnitude, can hardly fail to be most beneficial to the settlement. –  – The Times, London, 8th November 1814

NSW Parliament House

Advance Australia

Elizabeth Macquarie described her husband as the “Father of Australia”. Macquarie was the first Governor to refer officially to Australia by name in 1817, endorsing the name suggested by Matthew Flinders.

Upon arrival in Australia, Macquarie himself wrote: “I found the colony barely emerging from infantile imbecility and suffering the most severe privations and disabilities; the country was impenetrable beyond forty miles from Sydney: agriculture was languishing; commerce in its early dawn and revenue unknown. The population was threatened with acute famine; the public buildings in a state of dilapidation and the few roads formerly built almost impassable.”

Macquarie was instrumental in the building of the nation’s first, desperately needed hospital. In the absence of any funding form the British Government, he struck a deal with a local business consortium to trade rum to build what is today NSW Parliament House. The ‘Rum Hospital’ as it was known, is a great symbol of his ingenuity to find a solution and advance Australia.

Today, members of the NSW Parliament meet in this famous building to undertake their duties to provide better roads, transport, infrastructure, hospitals, schools, parks and gardens, and better manage the environment and water resources. In every one of these areas and more, Governor Macquarie and his wife left indelible foundations and legacies for Australia that are worthy of celebration.

At this display enjoy the insights of notable Australians who will narrate in projections the stories of visionary projects that have Advanced Australia.

The very design of Macquarie’s own ceremonial street was conceived with his architect Francis Greenway.

‘The observations made by the Commissioner and others, upon the explanation of those plans were…I should make…a city superior in architectural beauty to London…The Commissioner thought with them that I was too grand in my notions of building for this infant colony.’

Francis Greenway quoted in The Australian, 1825

Former NSW Parliamentarian and 2009 biographer of William Charles Wentworth, (published by Allen & Unwin) Andrew Tink will speak to you about the building of the Rum Hospital – part of which is now used by the NSW Parliament.

Whereas His Excellency the Governor…hath deemed it expedient that a general hospital should be erected in the town of Sydney in conformity to a plan… hereunto annexed… Garnham Blaxcell, Alexander Riley and D’ Arcy Wentworth…agree… to erect [the] hospital in consideration whereof [they] shall be allowed…to purchase or to import into this colony the quantity of forty-five thousand gallons of spirits…And during the existence of this contract, His Excellency will grant no further permission for the importation of spirits other than such quantities as the said contracting parties may import….
”

– Extracts from the Hospital Contract, 6 November 1810

It was in 1815 when Francis Greenway proposed to build a bridge from the northern to the southern shore of the harbour. Our narrator will tell the story of Premier Jack Lang who opened the bridge amid controversy and determined leadership to create this giant employment stimulus during the depression. Some 1400 men worked over eight years to build the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a project that ensured a new future for the city.

State Library of New South Wales

Words on the Street

Elizabeth Macquarie was instrumental in highlighting the importance of literature in the early colony and Elizabeth’s many letters and journals, elaborating on her incredible experience in Australia, are held at The State Library of New South Wales along with other letters of her contemporaries. Words on the Street will make poignant use of these priceless documents to showcase a flavour of Australia from 1810 through the personal words of people of the time.

The library is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and is home to many Macquarie items and artefacts. Using this priceless original content the library’s facade will be transformed into a larger-than-life, ever-changing publication.

Some examples are here;

“first inhabitants of the new world”  – Elizabeth Macquarie’s journal of her voyage to Sydney aboard the Dromedary, December 1809 –  .. in the morning a Seal was seen, and some land Birds; being the first inhabitants of the new world who came to pay their compliments to us…

“This is the wickedest place I ever was in all my life” – Letter from Margaret Catchpole to Mrs Cobbold 21 January 1802

“Deluded people emigrate to America” –  The Times, London 27 November 1818 –  As may be naturally expected, the inhabitants of this increasingly interesting territory look with regret to the eagerness with which such numbers of deluded people emigrate to America, without turning their views towards their countrymen in the luxuriant and fine climates of New South Wales and Van Dieman’s land.

“The Common people’s children” – Letter from Reverend Samuel Marsden, 4 March 1816 – I am happy to say the Schools are going on well, I do not think there is any portion of the globe where the Common people’s children are so well instructed as they are here …

“You know we must have our fire” – J.H. Clark, Field Sports &c. of the Native Inhabitants of New South Wales, 1813 – A respectable settler, in the neighbourhood of Parramatta, early one morning observed a chief, of the name of Harry, and several of his tribe, passing with their fire rather too near his stacks of corn; the settler went to them, and remonstrated on the impropriety, saying, the fire might easily…cause the destruction of his property. The chief calmly replied, “You know we must have our fire; the country is ours, you must take care of your corn.”

“This will be the beginning of the commerce in this new World.” – Letter from Reverend Richard Johnson, 26 November 1811 – By the Admiral Gambier I have sent to England 4,000 to 5,000 lbs of wool. This will be the beginning of the commerce of this new World. Many think nothing of these things now. They cannot see any advantage to be derived to them, their children, or this settlement by improving the fleeces of our Sheep. But I anticipate immense National wealth to spring from this source of Commerce in time.

Royal Botanic Gardens

Palace Garden Gate

Growing plants and exquisite light projections will greet audiences at the Macquarie Street entrance to the Royal Botanic Gardens at the Palace Garden Gate as part of an inventive installation designed to literally bring to life Elizabeth Macquarie’s passion for all things botanical.

Mrs Macquarie loved landscapes and, as an amateur watercolourist, she carried painting materials on her tours of the colony to sketch and capture the beauty of Australia’s unique scenery.

She also liked to share her passions and is said to have brought iris bulbs with her on tours as gifts for settlers. Today, many NSW communities still boast flourishing iris plants distributed by Elizabeth’s own hand.

With the help of Elizabeth Macarthur, she also pioneered hay-making in the colony and designed farms and gardens. Mrs Macquarie’s Road and the Royal Botanic Gardens itself were developed under her direction.

A frequent place of resort for Elizabeth, the Royal Botanic Gardens owes much of its efficiency to her patronage and is a fitting backdrop for one of the more intimate light showcases of Macquarie Visions.

“Liberal to excess in the purchase and labour of procuring native and exotic plants, fruit trees, shrubs, etc, she exhibited equal liberality in their dispersion and distribution.”

The display also references the market garden developed at Farm Cove which provided produce as the Governor’s kitchen garden.

Macquarie declared a part of his Governors Domain a Botanic Garden in 1816 when Mrs Macquaries Rd was also built through it. The Macquaries also put the wall up to protect it, much of which still exists today

Sydney Conservatorium of Music

Pastimes

The Macquaries’ created a social life for Sydney at all levels of society, instigating annual fairs and hosting balls, instigating workers public holidays for commemoration, appointing the first Poet Laureate, founding parks and gardens, even sports fields and the first horse race for the enjoyment of the populace.

First ‘Australia Day’ celebrated 26 January 1818

Government and General Orders

…Labourers in the immediate Service of Government be exempted from Work on Monday next, in Honor of the memorable Occasion; and that each of them receive an extra Allowance of One Pound of Fresh Meat as a Donation from Government…

– Sydney Gazette, 24 January 1818.

This display will also reflect on the broader cultural life the Macquaries’ introduced to Australia in art and music, including a soundscape created by Sydney Conservatorium of Music sound producer Jonathan Palmer using Mrs Macquarie’s own Cello (property of the Museum of Sydney, on the site of the first Government House) that has been restored thanks to the Balnaves Foundation for this anniversary year.

Elizabeth Macquarie was instrumental in highlighting the importance of literature in the early colony. By the end of the Macquaries’ reign one fifth of the colony’s revenue was being spent on education.

Kangaroo, Kangaroo!

Thou Spirit of Australia,

That redeems from utter failure,

From perfect desolation,

And warrants the creation

Of this fifth part of the Earth…

– Michael Massey Robinson appointed first Poet Laureate in 1810

Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie were passionate about horses and they commissioned convict architect, Francis Greenway to design the extravagant stables for Government House. This neo-gothic style building would eventually become the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

In a lively and fun showcase at the Conservatorium of Music, Macquarie Visions will bring to life the heady days of the early horse races and showcase the excitement and fashion of today’s racing world in a dazzling installation.

Governor Macquarie introduced horse racing to Sydney in what is now Hyde Park in 1810. With few social activities available in Sydney, Macquarie began a new era in Australian popular culture when he approved the establishment of an annual racing carnival. He saw the racecourse as a perfect neutral meeting place for colonists of all classes: military, convict, emancipist and immigrant.

On Monday 15 October, crowds gathered on the Sydney Racecourse on new public land which the Governor named Hyde Park. The race program lasted three days and D’Arcy Wentworth’s horse, Gig, ridden by his son, William Charles Wentworth, won the three mile race on the first day, marking the beginning of the Wentworth’s strong involvement in the Sydney racing scene.

On the second day of racing, Mrs Macquarie presented the Ladies’ Cup, valued at 50 guineas, to Captain Ritchie for the win by his grey gelding, Chance – the fastest horse over two miles.

The business of the meeting could not fail of diffusing a universal glow of satisfaction – the celebration of the first liberal amusement instituted in the Colony, and in the presence of its Patron and Founder.

– Sydney Gazette 20 October, 1810

And their family pastimes did not differ so greatly from Sydneysiders of today, celebrating on our magnificent Sydney Harbour. On young Lachlan Macquarie junior’s 6th birthday in 1820 his proud father records in his journal;

At Half past 8 O’Clock in the morning, Lachlan, being dressed as a Highlander for the first time in a Suit of Tartan and Bonnet, proceeded with a number of his juvenile friends on a water Excursion in the Govt. Barge, attended by his own little Cutter, together, with three Boats full of the Natives…

The Fleet rowed slowly from Port Lachlan…round Garden Island, and from thence to the beautiful little Bay.. next to Woolloomooloo Bay, and which on this occasion I christened “Elizabeth Bay” in Honor of Mrs. Macquarie…

The Downer Macquarie Arch

This arch symbolises perhaps the greatest of Macquarie’s achievements in visioning the future of Australia, representing Macquarie’s road over the Blue Mountains.

In a terrain that remains often inhospitable even today, Macquarie charged his engineer William Cox, with a team of convicts, to build a road in an unknown territory. They achieved this remarkable feat, of over 100 miles, in just six months and won their freedom under his emancipation program.

The road opened up the agricultural plains to Bathurst whereby settlement and trade developed for the colony. The development of towns and interior exploration were a hallmark of Macquarie’s vision.

Macquarie saw the road as one of his most important projects to improve the viability of Australia to develop commerce, trade and civilisation.

The multiple conduits in the Downer Macquarie Arch reference the major road projects Macquarie commissioned to link Sydney to the new settlements he developed in his blueprint for “improving a new country”.

The plynths upon which the arches rest on Macquarie Street will identify the “Macquarie Towns” he planned. They are:

•Liverpool, proclaimed 7 Nov 1810

•District of Airds, proclaimed 22 Nov 1810

•Castlereagh, proclaimed 6 Dec 1810

•Pitt Town, proclaimed 6 Dec 1810

•Richmond, proclaimed 6 Dec 1810

•Wilberforce, proclaimed 6 Dec 1810

•Windsor, proclaimed 6 Dec 1810

•Bathurst, proclaimed 7 May 1815

•Campbelltown, proclaimed 1 Dec 1820

•Port Macquarie, proclaimed 6 Nov 1821

Governor Lachlan Macquarie and his wife Elizabeth were two of Australia’s most influential and visionary leaders, building vast public works including schools, roads, bridges, hospitals and orchestrating the colonisation of land across the country.

Two centuries on, Downer shares and maintains Governor Macquarie’s vision, working in partnership with communities across the globe to build towns, cities and nations through the provision of critical infrastructure services designed to enhance standards of living.

Through our contribution to the infrastructure, energy and resources sectors, providing comprehensive engineering, design, construction, maintenance and management services, we strive to leave a strong and sustainable legacy our communities will be proud of for many centuries to come.

The Downer Macquarie Arch is built with the assistance of New South Wales Public Works and has been designed by Sydney architect Joe Snell, himself a convict descendant.

EnergyAustralia Macquarie Lighthouses along Macquarie Street

In 1816 Governor Macquarie commissioned Australia’s first lighthouse at South Head to guide the ships to his fledgling colony and the emerging trading town of Sydney.

He was so impressed with the lighthouse design by convict architect Francis Greenway that he granted his freedom. Greenway went on to build many impressive Sydney buildings with the Governor and became Government Architect.

The 2010 Macquarie Visions lighthouses are powered by EnergyAustralia to provide a guide to your Vivid Sydney experience.

The EnergyAustralia Macquarie Lighthouses were designed by Sydney architect Joe Snell, a convict descendant.