Port Macquarie was established in 1821 after John Oxley in October 1818 followed the Hastings River from the mountains and came across this idyllic port which he proclaimed to be a “paradise of great significance and potential”.
Port Macquarie was initially used as a place of secondary punishment, to receive convicts who had transgressed the law a second time after transportation to the Colony. Port's convict population peaked in 1825, but was then progressively run down until 1830 when the Hastings Valley was opened up to free settlement.
Each cache in the series will contain a 3 digit code that needs to be noted down to be able to work out the co-ords for the 9th and final cache of the series.
The Cemetery
This is the second burying ground in Port Macquarie, the first being at Allman's Hill at the eastern end of Clarence Street.
Nearly 1500 soldiers, convicts and settlers were buried here with the first burial being that of Eliza Murphy in 1824.
Among the noteworthy persons interred here were members of the Innes family; Major James Crummer, Police Magistrate; Rev John Cross, Colonial Chaplain; John Verge, Colonial Architect; William Wilson, Superintendent of convicts.
The cemetery officially closed in 1886 though further burials were reported after this date.
The cemetery is classified by the National Trust of Australia (NSW) and now forms part of Kooloonburg Creek Nature Park, an area of 52 hectares of natural bushland.
The nature park was designed by John Wrigley on the initiative of the Port Macquarie Conservation Society which was granted a Bi-centennial grant toward the development of the Park. The Park was developed to preserve an area of natural bushland and has walking tracks and boardwalks where visitors can enjoy the beauty of the area and its various eco-systems and an arboretum containing labelled trees endemic to the Hastings Valley.
The cache
The cache has been placed on the edge of the cemetery and in the bush as it needed to be at least 161 metres away from D.C. Port.