Portrait of William Cox

William Cox first arrived in the Colony of New South Wales in 1800. Appointed Magistrate of Hawkesbury in 1810, he oversaw and spearheaded the construction of bridges and creation of frontier roads in the Blue Mountains. Cox’s River and Cox’s Pass were named after him by Governor Lachlan Macquarie.

Cox is most famous for building the first road over the Blue Mountains from Sydney to Bathurst in 1814, shortly after the fist crossing made by Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth. This was an extraordinary achievement with Cox building a road of over 160km in less than a year with a crew of only some 35 men.