men who assisted Cox such as Thomas Hobby, Richard Lewis, John Tighe and Samuel Ayres. The crossing of the Blue Mountains, the surveying of a route to Bathurst and the building of Cox's Road were significant events in the period of Macquarie's governorship. Governor Macquarie's view of the importance of the road is demonstrated by his reports to Earl Bathurst, the British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, and by his journey to the Bathurst Plains immediately after its construction, where he proclaimed the site for the Bathurst township. William Cox's achievement using a small group of convict men in a short period of time and with no loss of life caused by road-making or other substantial difficulties, was reflective of his reputation as a more humane employer and magistrate than many of his contemporaries. The leadership qualities, vision and skill he showed constructing the road would also be evident in later government contracts won by Cox for other public works . The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales. The surviving precincts of Cox's Road have state technical significance for their ability to demonstrate simple, pre 1820s road building techniques. Improvement of the 1814 route throughout the 1820s also provide important evidence of later road building techniques and demonstrates the ongoing use of this key route to the interior, before it was superseded by the new Great Western Road laid out by Sir Thomas Mitchell in the 1830s. The Linden - Tollgate Drive/Railway Parade Precinct of Cox's Road is one of the more intact surviving sections of the 1814 road. It extends for over beside and overlapping with an unsurfaced access road along the top of the ridge. From the ridge there are extensive views on both sides of the road which conform with those described by early travellers, giving a sense of the experience of the early nineteenth-century road even though the surrounding area has been recently subdivided and developed for residential house blocks. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. Cox's Road and its remnants are demonstrated as having social significance at a state level by the substantial interest in identifying and promoting Cox's Road for cultural tourism and education, and celebrating the bicentenary