were six men preparing material for the bridge across the Fish River, and the rest were presumably completing the road towards it. In early January the road party continued to draw and split logs and were building piers for the bridge which was finished on 5 January 1815. Cox described the Fish River bridge as follows: The Fish River area was another steep obstacle on the Bathurst Road which was commented upon by many for travellers who found the Fish River Hill ascent on the west side particularly difficult. In April 1817 botanist Allan Cunningham described the journey over the Clarence Hilly Range to the Fish River as "severe and oppressive to our horses, the whole being sharp lofty hills and narrow boggy valleys, alternately", but he also reported that alterations were being made to improve the gradient. Cunningham's Journal for 3 August 1817 described this section as follows: On the west side of the Fish River the climb up the steep Fish River Hill (elevation ) was remarked upon by numerous travellers as difficult. In 1827 William Dumaresq called it "the worst hill from Sydney to Bathurst". He also noted that the old bridge had been washed away so it was necessary to ford the river and also mentioned that a convict road party was stationed there, presumably carrying out improvements to the Bathurst Road. Description William Cox had been instructed by Governor Macquarie only to open a rough cart road, so that the new lands found in the western plains would be symbolically open. The road from Emu Ford to Bathurst, a distance of was completed in only six months. Macquarie's instructions specified that the road should be at least wide in order that two carts would be able to pass each other, and that the timber should be cleared on each side so that the road corridor was wide. Stumps were to be grubbed out and any holes should be filled in. The surviving physical evidence shows relatively few locations where the extant road conforms with the dimensions specified in the instructions. Cut Hill Road, which is a part of the 1814 Cox's Road which has been resurfaced and upgraded as a local road, ends at Pitt's Corner where it joins Jerrys Meadows Road about south of Sodwalls. A reserved Crown Road identified as the Old Bathurst Road, continues west towards the Fish River and again, the