Old Great North Road

You can almost hear the picks striking the blocks and leg irons clinking as you walk up spectacular Devines Hill where hundreds of convicts worked to construct the massive nine metre tall buttresses that form the Old Great North Road.

The Old Great North Road was part of a network of ‘Great Roads’ that was designed to mirror the Great Roads of England. The layout of the site reflects the use of convict road gangs to punish re-offending convicts and revive the fear of transportation while expanding and linking settlements.

Produced by Sarah Abad

The Old Great North Road

Built by male convicts, the Old Great North Road site includes a five kilometre section called Finchs Line (the original route up the escarpment that was abandoned in 1829) and a 1.8km spectacular section known as Devines Hill commenced in 1830. These are part of the Great North Road, that was 250 kilometres long connecting Sydney to the Hunter Valley. By 1836 the whole road was abandoned due to the isolation of the road and the advent of steam ship travel.

Convict Road Works

Today we can walk in convict footsteps and admire the towering nine metre high buttresses and walls, the detailed sandstone block work, the curved walls, Hangmans Rock and the culverts built to drain the water off the surface of the road. This magnificent engineering feat still stands almost untouched. On Devines Hill, you can see the triangular shaped jumper bar marks and pick marks where the convicts quarried the rocks and shaped the stone blocks that form the retaining walls. Remains of the convict built stockade are visible where the convicts were camped overnight in freezing temperatures with only one blanket.

Convict Graffiti

If the overseer wasn’t watching, some of the convicts picked graffiti into the sandstone. The convicts of the No. 25 Road Party marked their presence and work on Finchs Line. Seen in many places along the road, graffiti was used as a form of resistance against their plight and as a mark of pride in their work.