| |
MAPS, DOCUMENTS
& VIDEOS: Click to go to... |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
Trailflix: Old Great North Road - Trail Area History |
|
Old Great North Road History Introduction
Modern Australia was founded as a convict settlement. Banished from their homeland, these men and women found themselves in a totally new environment - harsh, hot, dry and decidedly less fertile than the land they left behind. For many, the new colony provided an opportunity to become enterprising individuals who laid the foundation for a great nation. As the settlement grew, convicts were sent to build infrastructure such as roads and bridges and to open new industries. The Convict Trail is a monument to these former felons, and a tribute to their work. Between 1804 and 1822 convicts who committed another crime after arriving in the Colony had been banished to the penal settlement at Newcastle, then only accessible by sea. In 1826 re-offending convicts were put to work on one of 19th century Australia's greatest engineering feats - the Great North Road.
The Great North Road
Extending north from Sydney to the Hunter Valley, the Convict Trail follows the route of the 240 km Great North Road, built between 1826 and 1836. Most of this road continues to be used today, offering an alternative, slower paced scenic route between Sydney and the Hunter, where one can explore the brilliant engineering works created by hundreds of convicts - many working in leg-irons. Relics such as stone retaining walls, wharves, culverts, bridges and buttresses can still be seen along the entire length of the Great North Road - in Sydney suburbs like Epping and Gladesville, at Wisemans Ferry or Wollombi, Bucketty or Broke, or when walking in Dharug and Yengo National Parks.
Why was it built?
By the early 1820s the Colony was expanding rapidly and settlers began taking up land in the fertile Hunter Valley. Sailing ships were the only way people, goods and stock could get to and from Sydney. The settlers petitioned for a decent road. In 1825 Assistant Surveyor Heneage Finch was sent to survey a suitable route. He followed a number of aboriginal tracks along the ridge-tops. Governor Ralph Darling immediately assigned convict road gangs to start building the road. By 1833 it was almost complete. However sections of the Road which passed along remote and desolate ridges, with little food or water for travelling stock, were not popular. Travellers quickly found it preferable to use alternative tracks, such as the one through the Macdonald Valley where there were people and inns as well as fodder and water for stock. This meant that some sections of one of the most important civil engineering achievements of colonial times fell into disuse and disrepair, but they remain today a monument to the men who built them. In 1832 the first steamships began replacing sailing ships, so sea travel became safer and faster. Fifty years later railways were opened, further reducing the traffic on the Road. In 1930, when motor cars were becoming a more popular method of travel, the Pacific Highway was opened. So the Great North Road became a quiet back road, where travellers can still experience the 19th century ambience of its heyday.
From: http://www.convicttrail.org/about.php |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
