NORTHWARD from Mittagong, the Old Hume Highway joins the Hume Freeway. Almost immediately on the left there is an exit ramp.

At the top of the ramp you may turn left or right.

If you turn left you are on Church Avenue which takes you to Colo Vale, and to the start of Wilson Drive, which proceeds north to Hill Top, Balmoral and Buxton, and on to Picton.

If you turn right at the exit ramp, you enter the small village of Alpine and join a section of the Old Hume Highway which winds down Forest Hill and heads north to Yerrinbool, Yanderra and on to Bargo.

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These two corridors of settlement form the Wingecarribee Shire's northern villages. They both came into existence as early transport routes. The east arm through Alpine has existed from the 1830s, being the route of the Southern Road (renamed Hume Highway in 1926). The west arm was the original line of the Southern Railway which opened from Picton to Nattai (Mittagong) in 1867.

As related in a previous series, the villages of Balmoral and Hill Top grew alongside railway stations and prospered until 1919, when the Picton-Mittagong section of line was re-routed through Bargo.

The original line was retained as a local service until 1975.

A history of the Shire's northern villages continues here, this time focusing on the 'Little Forest' area, being from present-day Colo Vale to Yerrinbool.

THE first road south from Picton was a cart track cleared by convict labour in 1819 with Dr Charles Throsby in charge and supervised by Joseph Wild.

It crossed the Bargo River, proceeded through the thickly wooded Bargo Brush and Little Forest areas to the Mittagong Range, crossing on the eastern side and passing down to Bong Bong at the Wingecarribee River.

It then proceeded through Sutton Forest and on to Goulburn.

In order to avoid the steep Mittagong Range, Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell proposed that a deviation veer west at Little Forest. Built in the early 1830s, this new line wound up Forest Hill, turned south-west and proceeded through present-day Mittagong to a new crossing of the Wingecarribee River, where the town of Berrima was established.

Several miles further on, this new line of road met up at The Crossroads with the earlier south road.

Settlement grew along the new section of road, particularly at Nattai (later named Mittagong) where the FitzRoy Ironworks was established. Taverns and inns flourished as horse, coach and wagon traffic increased through the district.

In order to reach Nattai, south-bound travellers had first to venture through the Bargo Brush which was looked upon with dread. One of many descriptions state that "it was no uncommon thing to see the whole way dotted with vehicles of every description, from the gig and spring cart to the bullock dray, all stuck fast in the numerous sloughs, filled with mud, which looked most treacherously level, deceiving even the wary." This stretch became the haunt of escaped convicts and bushrangers.

Cobb & Co coaches, introduced in the 1850s, covered up to 40 miles a day and ran in all weathers, but passengers still had to climb out and walk up hills.

Once through the Bargo Brush, travellers reached Cannabaygal's Plains (today's Yerrinbool) named after a local Aboriginal leader.

They then entered Little Forest and came to John Keighran's tavern, no doubt a most welcome sight.

Built in 1831, it was a small, comfortable sandstone inn with shingled roof and stables. Keighran, an Australian-born 'currency lad' was both proprietor and licensee until 1845 when he moved to Campbelltown.

He became very wealthy, owning many properties.

Thomas Loseby took over the tavern licence, having moved from the Kentish Arms near Berrima.

From 1848 there were several successive licensees and the tavern was renamed the Bargo Inn.

George Martin ran it from 1857 until 1865 when he moved to his own premises, the Union Inn, further up Forest Hill.

He also built Forest Lodge, a sandstone family home with gabled roof extending across the front elevation as a verandah.

This building survives today.

By 1870, traffic had severely declined on the Southern Road. The much anticipated Great Southern Railway had opened to Mittagong in 1867 and to Goulburn in 1869.

John Keighran's once busy inn was demolished in 1870 and by then George Martin had closed his Union Inn and transferred to the Nattai Hotel in Mittagong.

The focus of the district's northern settlements shifted to the railway line, where a station opened at Colo Vale and a private village took shape.

To be continued

This article compiled by PHILIP MORTON is sourced from the archives of Berrima District Historical & Family History Society, Bowral Rd, Mittagong. Phone 4872 2169. Email bdhsarchives@gmail.comWeb: berrimadistricthistoricalsociety.org.au

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