or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales. Surviving remnants of Cox's Road have state historical significance as physical evidence of the first road constructed across the Blue Mountains from Emu Plains to the Bathurst Plains (1814-15). Constructed in 1814-15 Cox's Road is one of the earliest Colonial-era road-lines surviving in Australia. The 1814 road is tangible evidence of the development of the colony at Sydney and of the expansion of white settlement into western NSW. The road symbolises the occupation of the country and Governor Macquarie's aspirations for the eventual opening of the interior to European settlement after the discovery of the Western plains by G W Evans in 1814. In this respect the 1814-1815 Cox's Road has considerable symbolic significance as an official public work which laid the foundations for future development. Cox's Road is linked with the foundation of Bathurst, the first inland settlement in NSW, which was proclaimed by Governor Macquarie on 7 May 1815 after his journey along the road. Historically, Cox's Pass at Mount York became heavily imbued with symbolic cultural meaning commencing with the lavish praise given by Governor Macquarie in 1815 and then through the series of traveller's accounts and artworks which featured the Pass in subsequent years. This was further exemplified in the extravagant rhetoric about explorers, visionary Governors, road-builders and pioneers during the "First Crossing" Centenary Celebrations held at Mount York in 1913 which was partially repeated in recent Bicentennial commemorations in May 2013. The place has a strong or special association with a person, or group of persons, of importance of cultural or natural history of New South Wales's history. The surviving remnants of Cox's Road have state significance for their close association with Governor Lachlan Macquarie who commissioned the building of the road into the interior, and with the magistrate and ex-army officer Captain William Cox, who supervised the building of the road. The road is also associated with the convicts who laboured on the road to obtain their liberty, and with the officers and 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,