William Lawson statue

Public Art: William Lawson statue

Sculptor: ©

Description:

Date unveiled: c1891

Location: The statue of William Lawson is located in a niche on the Bent Street facade of the Department of Lands Building, Bridge Street, Sydney, Australia.

So who was William Lawson? : William Lawson (1774-1850) was a pastoralist and explorer who helped in the discovery of a passage through the Blue Mountains in Australia.

Lawson was born in Middlesex, England to Scottish parents. He journeyed to Australia in 1800 as an ensign with the  New South Wales Corps. In 1808 he was granted the land of 500 acres he named Veteran Hill and built himself a mansion.

A few years later, in 1813, he teamed up with Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth on an expedition to look for more pastoral land This journey would take them across the Blue Mountains. For his efforts Lawson was granted a further 1,000 acres which made him one of the largest landholders in Australia at the time.

In 1819 Governor Lachlan Macquarie appointed him commander of the Bathurst settlement. During his four years in the position he continued exploring and made it as far as Mudgee.

William Lawson died in his beloved mansion at Veteran Hall on the 16th of June, 1850.

William Lawson Trivia

Following Lawson’s death in 1850 his mansion and property at Veteran Hall was acquired by the Metropolitan Water Board and most of the granted property is now submerged by the waters of Prospect reservoir. The house was demolished in 1926.

The town of Lawson in the Blue Mountains is named after him.