Length:

498 km (Goulburn to Yass: 84 km)

Termini:

Northern: Narellan Rd (Metroad 9 and SR69), Campbelltown

Southern: NSW-VIC Border, Albury

Miscellaneous:

Continued as M31 in Victoria

Suburbs, Towns & Localities Along Route:

Yarra, Wollogorang, Parkesbourne, Breadalbane, Cullerin, Gunning, Oolong, Lade Vale, Jerrawa, Manton and Yass

Former: 31 31

General Information:

The Hume Highway is one of Australia's most vital highway links. Providing access between Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's 2 largest cities. The route consisted of 100% dual carriageway road, either rural expressway or motorway standard.

In NSW, the highway in one form or another started life as the Great South Road, linking Sydney with the southern highlands and eventually beyond. The highway was named in 1928 after Hamilton Hume (1797-1873), a famous explorer in the early 19th century who, in 1824, in conjunction with William Hovell first found an overland route between Sydney and the infant colonial outpost of Port Phillip, the original name of Melbourne.

National Highway 31 was the main freight and commuter route between Sydney and Melbourne and has gone through a massive amount of transformation over the past 30 or so years, with many towns being bypassed along its route as well and gradual upgrades to motorway standards. Since the 1960s, the road has either been duplicated, where alignments allow for it, and also large deviations have also been part of the upgrade process.

The route around the Mittagong area averages around 16 000 vehicles every day, in other sections the number drops off a little or closer to Sydney increases. ¹

The route forms the Remembrance Driveway which honours war veterans.

The Cullerin Range Deviation consists of 34 km of dual carriageway.

17 km of dual carriageways between the Cullerin Range Deviation and the Yass Bypass.

The Yass Bypass, has 15 bridges and 18 km of dual carriageways.

1914: Sydney-Melbourne road (Great South Road) is declared a main road.

1920: Cullerin Range route built on abandoned sections of the old Main Southern Railway.

1928: Sections of Great South Road renamed to Hume Highway.

1939: 95% (557 km) of the Hume Highway paved with a bituminous surface. ³

1950s: In 1952, a group of citizens met and formed a committee under Lt-General Sir Frank Berryman to create a national memorial to servicemen by using trees and shrubs as living memorials. The NSW Premier, J J Cahill, officially launched the scheme on 9 December 1953. The Remembrance Driveway project as it was called started on 5 February 1954, when trees were planted at either end of the Driveway at the War Memorial, Canberra, and in Macquarie Place, Sydney, by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. By June 1959, 10 000 trees had been planted. Since then, planting of trees in avenues or groves has continued. When the M5 Motorway replaced the Hume Highway (and also Camden Valley Way) south of Liverpool, it became the focus for planting trees and shrubs in remembrance. ²

1960s: The route over the Mundoonen Range rebuilt in the 1960s - it was designed to be duplicated.

1972: Completion of the grade separated interchange between Hume Hwy and Federal Hwy at Wollogorang, south of Goulburn. Also computer based roadsign design trialled for the first time. The first signs designed using the system were for installation on the Hume Hwy at Yass. ³

1994: Most of the highway route between Breadalbane, west of Goulburn, and Derringullen Creek, west of Yass, was deviated. This included a bypassing of the Cullerin Range.

2013: National Highway 31 decommissioned.

This page concentrates on historic photos between Goulburn and Yass

Goulburn to Yass

Federal Highway Interchange:

The grade separated junction of the Hume (NH31) and Federal (NH23) Highways, Wollogorang, south of Goulburn, which was completed in 1972.

Image © Department of Main Roads. Scanned from The Roadmakers, A History of Main Roads in New South Wales, ISBN 0 7240 0439 4

Yass to Goulburn

Yass River:

Steel lattice truss bridge constructed in 1871 over the Yass River in Yass.

Image © Department of Main Roads. Scanned from The Roadmakers, A History of Main Roads in New South Wales, ISBN 0 7240 0439 4