Great Southern Road - Bong
Bong.
The Main Roads Management Act of June 1858 declared the Great
Southern Road, from near Sydney through Goulburn and Gundagai to
Albury, as one of the three main roads in the colony. Today we know
it as the Hume Highway, named after Hamilton Hume the travelling
partner of William Hovell on their overland journey from Appin
(near Campbelltown) to Port Phillip and return in 1824.
Over the years the road has seen many realignments, some minor
and some major with entire towns being bypassed. So I thought that
I would do a series of caches based on the old sections of the
Great Sothern Road. This cache celebrates one of the very earliest
stretches of the road.
The township of Bong Bong is long gone, but it was once a very
important part of the early history of NSW. Under instructions from
Governor Lachlan Macquarie, the Old Argyle Road, leading south from
the Cumberland Plain, was commenced in 1819, providing access to
the newly settled land south of Camden to Bong Bong, Sutton Forest
and beyond. This was to be the first road south for the colony of
NSW.
The village developed as the first centre for law and order in
the Southern Highlands, with a row of government buildings erected
between 1822 and 1832, close to the Old Argyle Road where the road
curved westwards to cross the river by the causeway, evidence of
which can still be seen today.
Park at the start co-ordinates and follow the path to GZ. Just
before you leave the path you will find a small sign explaining
about the original causeway...
