Sydney to Brisbane

Part of a drywall along the Great North Road, built by convicts from sandstone blasted from the mountain rock.

Carvings in the rockface along the Great North Road by the convicts who built it. The carvings date from around 1829, during the construction of the road.

The fertile Hunter Valley, the destination of the Great North Road, is now known as Wine Country for its high proportion of vineyards.

A section of the preserved Great North Road. Only 43km of the original road remain like this, while the rest of the route has been turned into highway and residential streets.

The stone embankment holds the road up against the steep mountain face.

The gutters of the sophisticated drainage system that kept the road from washing away.

Convicts had to blast through the mountain rock to construct the road. This rock face still has marks from the gunpowder explosions.

The drainage system included culverts, stone 'pipes' under the road to divert rain water away.

One of the few original bridges that remain along the Great North Road. There were 33 bridges along the length of the original road.

The ridges of Yengo National Park were obstacles for the convicts building the Great North Road in New South Wales.

c. 1920 - The Great North Road starts in urban Sydney, winding through its suburbs until it meets the Hawkesbury River. From here, the road stretches into the bush, through the Dharug National Park.

Narrabeen sandstone is the oldest kind of rock in the region, some of which convicts blasted through to create the Great North Road.

Mount Yengo with eucalyptus forests in the foreground. Over 90 species of eucalypt exist in the region.

A koala feasting on eucalyptus leaves. The high proportion of eucalypt trees in the Greater Blue Mountains makes it a popular home for koalas.

Hawkesbury sandstone, the darker rock at the bottom, is the most prolific in the region, created from silt from the Hawkesbury River.

The steep cliffs of the Greater Blue Moutains are home to an abundance of plant and animal life.

The jagged, forested ridges of the Greater Blue Mountains region that the Great North Road cuts through.

The blue haze over the mountains is caused by light-reflecting particles of oil emitted by the eucalypt trees into the air.

1806 - John Eyre's painting of Sydney Cove, the oldest convict settlement in Sydney.

c.1870 - From the 1800s, convicts were issued with a uniform to identify them from non-convicts. They were shackled in leg-irons when put to work.

1792 - Robert Sayer's depiction of women mourning their lovers who are being transported to Australia. Some convicts were able to send for their families from home, who would live with them.

Basic living conditions meant that many convicts slept in hammocks, such as these.

Hyde Park Barracks, built in 1820, was home to 600 convicts at any one time.

c.1894 - A convict chain gang removing a felled tree under the watchful eyes of their overseers.

Sydney's convict history is still apparent: the imposing entrance to the Hyde Park Barracks contrasts with the city's modern glass buildings.

Cockatoo Island was used as a prison for convicts between 1839 and 1869, and is now a World Heritage Site.

c.1800 - Robert Dodd's painting of the Lady Juliana: the ship Mary Wade, one of Australia's founding mothers, was transported on with the Second Fleet.

Australia's convict history is commemorated on the $20 note, with an image of Mary Reibey, a convict transported to Sydney, who became a successful business woman after completing her sentence.

Sydney's Cockatoo Island was an imperial prison. Its first two docks were built entirely by convicts.

c.1890 - A convict ship arriving at the docks of Cockatoo Island, Sydney.

c.1800 - A group of convicts in chains going to work on the Great North Road.