Port Macquarie, New South Wales

Port Macquarie
New South Wales

Clockwise from top. Entrance to Kooloonbung Creek, Town Beach, and intersection of Clarence & Horton Streets

Port Macquarie

Location in New South Wales

Coordinates

31°26′S 152°54′E / 31.433°S 152.900°ECoordinates: 31°26′S 152°54′E / 31.433°S 152.900°E

Population

45,341 (2015)

Postcode(s)

2444

Elevation

5 m (16 ft)

Location

400 km (249 mi) from Sydney
510 km (317 mi) from Brisbane
19 km (12 mi) from Wauchope

LGA(s)

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council

Macquarie

Mean max temp	Mean min temp	Annual rainfall
23.6 °C ^{74 °F}	12.7 °C ^{55 °F}	1,436.2 mm ^{56.5 in}

Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about 390 km (242 mi) north of Sydney, and 570 km (354 mi) south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea coast, at the mouth of the Hastings River, and at the eastern end of the Oxley Highway (B56). The town with its suburbs had a population of 45,341 in June 2015.

The site of Port Macquarie was first visited by Europeans in 1818 when John Oxley reached the Pacific Ocean from the interior, after his journey to explore inland New South Wales. He named the location after the Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie.

Oxley noted that 'the port abounds with fish, the sharks were larger and more numerous than I have ever before observed. The forest hills and rising grounds abounded with large kangaroos and the marshes afford shelter and support to innumerable wild fowl. Independent of the Hastings River, the area is generally well watered, there is a fine spring at the very entrance to the Port'.

In 1821, Port Macquarie was founded as a penal settlement, replacing Newcastle as the destination for convicts who had committed secondary crimes in New South Wales. Newcastle, which had fulfilled this role for the previous two decades, had lost the features required for a place for dumping irredeemable criminals, that being isolation, which was lost as the Hunter Region was opened up to farmers, and large amounts of hard labour, which had diminished as the cedar in the area ran out and the settlement grew in size. Port Macquarie, however, with its thick bush, tough terrain and local aborigines that were keen to return escaping prisoners in return for tobacco and blankets, provided large amounts of both isolation and hard labour to keep the criminals in control. Under its first commandant, Francis Allman, who was fond of flogging, the settlement became a hell, where the convicts had limited liberties, especially in regard to being in possession of letters and writing papers, which could get a convict up to 100 lashes.

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Wikipedia