Ross: Wool History and 186 Stone Motifs

Ross’s history comes to life through tangible traces: a bridge carved with pictorial motifs, the history of the Ross Female Factory and wool exhibitions. There are also churches, the history of the quarry and nature art on the Macquarie River. The themes range from architecture and convict history to wool crafts and a nature art project featuring native wildlife. For planning your trip, this overview helps you identify different areas of interest: you can get to know Ross through its buildings, exhibitions and history of work.

Bridge and Female Factory: History in Stone and Time

Ross Bridge was completed in 1836. Its stone arches are carved with 186 pictorial motifs. The bridge therefore offers two distinct points of interest: its construction and its sculptural decoration. Ross Factory is Australia’s best-preserved archaeological site of a female convict station.

The Ross Female Factory was built in the early 1840s as a probation station. Female convicts were imprisoned there from 1847 to 1854. An exhibition on the site’s history is housed in the Overseer’s Cottage at the Ross Female Factory, including a model of the Female Factory as it stood in 1851. The different dates distinguish the station’s construction from the period when female convicts were imprisoned there.

Wool History on Display

The Wool and Heritage Galleries at the Wool Museum and History Museum in Ross display numerous artefacts, images and documents. The wool exhibition adds a reconstructed shearing shed to these materials: freshly shorn wool lies spread out on the sorting table, and the scene also includes a manual wool press. Written and visual records are thus presented alongside a faithfully recreated working environment. This offers a different thematic focus from Ross Bridge: here, the focus is on wool history and the reconstructed scene, rather than the carved stone motifs.

Churches and Quarry History

Churches are also among Ross’s cultural landmarks. St John’s Anglican Church (Church of England) is one of three churches in Ross. The Uniting Church in Ross opened in 1885. While St John’s is one of the town’s churches, the Uniting Church adds a specific opening year to the town’s history.

Information panels at the entrance to Ross Historic Quarry explain colonial quarrying methods, tools and the crafts practised there. From the top of Ross Historic Quarry, there are views over the village and surrounding farmland. The site therefore focuses both on the history of quarrying and on views of the village and farmland.

Nature Art on the Macquarie River

The Species Hotel sculptures are located on the banks of the Macquarie River in Ross. They are designed to attract native wildlife to nest boxes. This sets them apart from the historical exhibitions: their distinctive feature is the combination of nature art with a purpose centred on native wildlife.

Discover More Destinations

Discover more destinations: Winkleigh, George Town, Wynyard, Buckland, St Marys, Austins Ferry, Weldborough, Beaconsfield.

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