Residents of the 300-person hamlet, south of Goulburn, are using Macquarie's visit 190 years ago as the latest weapon in their case against the Upper Lachlan Shire Council's proposal to replace a dilapidated timber bridge over Collector Creek.

The proposed bridge, made up of concrete box culverts, will involve lowering a 200-metre stretch of Collector Road around the site where Macquarie camped on October 27, 1820.

''We would like to see a bridge that is worthy of the history and the heritage of Lachlan Macquarie,'' said Frank Ross, the resident leading the charge against the proposed bridge.

Macquarie ruled over NSW from 1810 to 1821, during which time he improved public works to help cope with the growing number of convicts sent to the colony.

His visit to the site was documented in his travel journal, when he refers to being ''encamped at 3pm on a very pretty plain, near a freshwater creek, distant about nine miles from the north-west extremity of the lake [Lake George]''.

The argument over history follows earlier claims by the group that the new bridge will endanger nearby houses, and a proposed culvert underneath to allow water flow will upset the stream's ecology.

Residents have appealed to the Planning Minister, Tony Kelly, to suspend the project until an independent assessment can be carried out. The disruption to the heritage value was played down by the NSW Heritage Office, which visited the site last week and found ''the change to the level of the paved road surfaces to the new crossing will be negligible''.

The Upper Lachlan Shire mayor, John Shaw, said the council had to dismantle the bridge because of safety concerns.

''We've done a lot of repairs to it over the years, but those repairs just aren't good enough, so the bridge has to go,'' he said.

''We either save the bridge and close the road, which gives no access from that area of the shire, or we … dismantle the bridge and put in something else.''

The council began dismantling the bridge on Tuesday, but plans for its replacement have not been finalised.