completed dirt track was wide by long, built between 18 July 1814 to 14 January 1815 using five free men, 30 convict labourers and eight soldiers. Macquarie surveyed the finished road in April 1815 by driving his carriage along it from Sydney to Bathurst. He commended Cox and stated that the project would have taken three years if it had been done under a contract. As a reward Cox was awarded of land near Bathurst. The road became known as Cox's Road and over time much of it has been bypassed in favour of easier grades. Family Rebecca Cox died in 1819, having borne five sons. In 1821, Cox married Anna Blachford, by whom he had another three sons and a daughter. Their son Alfred Cox was a large landholder in New Zealand and a member of the House of Representatives. Another son, Edward Cox, was a pastoralist who served on the New South Wales Legislative Council. The BBC One television programme Who Do You Think You Are?, which aired on 30 August 2010, traced the ancestry of Australian soap and pop star Jason Donovan through his mother Sue Menlove's side of the family back to William Cox. See also Cox's Road and Early Deviations - Linden, Linden Precinct Cox's Road and Early Deviations - Woodford, Old Bathurst Road Precinct Cox's Road and Early Deviations - Woodford, Appian Way Precinct Cox's Road and Early Deviations - Mount York, Cox's Pass Precinct Cox's Road and Early Deviations - Hartley, Clarence Hilly Range and Mount Blaxland Precinct Cox's Road and Early Deviations - Sodwalls, Fish River Descent Precinct References External links Local Family History Links, Penrith City Council (links to Cox of Dorset; also see Rebecca & Anna) Memoirs of William Cox, J.P. Historical Records of Australia, ser. I, vols IV, VI to IX Memoirs of Joseph Holt Project Gutenberg ebooks 1764 births 1837 deaths English emigrants to colonial Australia 68th Regiment of Foot officers People from Wimborne Minster People educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Wimborne Minster