This series of articles provides an overview of the south road, renamed the Hume Highway in 1928, that brought mixed blessings to the district until eventually by-passed in 1992.

After his arrival in 1810, Governor Macquarie saw roads as vital to colonial prosperity. In 1814 there were frantic calls for land further out as the near-coastal settlement, hemmed in geographically, suffered from drought and insect plagues.

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It was 17-year-old Hamilton Hume who opened a way to the south. He and his younger brother John were both born in the colony and had become accustomed to the bush around their home on the fringe of settlement at Appin. They decided to trek southwards in the spring of 1814, taking with them a young Aboriginal friend named Dual. On foot, they chopped their way with light axes through the inhospitable Bargo Brush until they reached the fertile Wingecarribee River area, called Toom-Boong (Bong Bong) by the Aboriginals, where mobs of kangaroos grazed on pasture superior to anything in the Sydney area.

Prior to that, a small band of explorers led by John Wilson had made their way on foot in 1798 to the junction of the Wingecarribee and Wollondilly Rivers and further south as far as Mount Towrang. Their report of fine grazing country was ignored and forgotten, the colony not being ready to expand at that time.

The Hume brothers, who inadvertently followed roughly the same track as the earlier explorers, rediscovered the forgotten fine open country. Both exploring parties were receptive to Aboriginal guidance and respectful of traditional ways, thus the track proceeded along the boundary line between two Aboriginal areas: that of the inland Gundungurra people and of the coastal Wodi Wodi people.

When the Humes returned home with their report of the rich, grassy lands in the volcanic highland country there was immediate interest and prominent settlers John Oxley and Dr Charles Throsby moved cattle into the area.

In 1817, with Hume as guide, Throsby took an exploring party to Bong Bong and undertook further explorations, including a journey west to Bathurst. For this he was granted 1000 acres at Bong Bong.

In early 1818 Macquarie instructed Surveyor James Meehan to lead an expedition party, including Hume and Throsby, to the south in the hope of finding an overland route through to the south coast. After reaching the Shoalhaven River that was in flood and could not be crossed, they split into two parties. One, led by Throsby, proceeded north back to Meryla Pass from which they descended into Kangaroo Valley and to the coast, but this route only ever served as a bridle track. The other party with Meehan and Hume ventured southwest and discovered Lake Bathurst and the district that was later named Argyle County by Macquarie, where Goulburn was established.

In 1919 Macquarie instructed Throbsy to build a cart road to the south. With Joseph Wilde as overseer, eleven convicts, being well-treated, finished the road within eight months.

It followed Hume's bush track that crossed the Bargo River, passed through the Bargo Brush, climbed over the eastern side of the Mittagong Range and proceeded to the Wingecarribee River at Bong Bong. From there it followed a section of Meehan's line through Sutton Forest and then headed west through present-day Canyonleigh where it turned southwest and proceeded to the Cookbundoon Ranges.

IN the 1830s a new line through the district, marked by Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell, was built. It deviated from the first road at Little Forest (now Catherine's Hill) and turned westward to avoid the Mittagong Range. It crossed the Wingecarribee River at Berrima, where a town was laid out, and progressed south to Paddys River and on to Goulburn.

This new line formed part of the road progressively put through from Sydney to Albury that was proclaimed the Great Southern Road in 1858 and that linked with a road to Melbourne.

The entire route was renamed the Hume Highway in 1928, being for Hamilton Hume who had become a legendary figure. In 1824, with Hovell and others, he had proceeded further southward through unexplored country to cross the Murray River and reach the Victorian coast. The success of this venture was due to his instinctive exploration skills and his route to a considerable degree became the line of the Hume Highway.

The Wingecarribee Shire can be proud that it was Hamilton Hume's first trek that opened up the local district.

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.com. Web: berrimadistricthistoricalsociety.org.au

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