This column's recent exposé on historic bridges of the old Hume Highway struck a chord with many readers.
While Historic Highway 31 - as the old Hume is also known - has a much lower profile than Route 66 in the US, for many motorists it's still a nostalgic drive.
None more so than for 78-year-old Jim Morton of Gundagai. As part of his former construction business, Jim undertook regular maintenance for the NSW Department of Main Roads (DMR) on the highway, especially in the 1980s.
Even today, some 40 years on, when time permits, Jim enjoys driving the road less travelled to Sydney by following parts of the old Hume.
While, like me, the section that winds up, through, and over the Cullarin Range near Gunning, is one of his favourites, the stretch of bygone bitumen he will never forget is Sylvia's Gap just south of Gundagai.
It's less than 10 kilometres long but those who braved it between 1936 - when the cuttings were first hacked out of the bush - and when it closed to traffic in 1983, will never forget it.
The off-cambered bends coupled with steep gorges on either side made it one of the most accident-riddled stretches of road between Sydney and Melbourne.
Even the truckies feared it. All of them. During a terrible two-week period in 1981, seven fatal accidents occurred here.
Although it's now part of private farmland and closed to the public, there's one day every June when farmers open the gates for a fundraising ride for the Australian Road Transport Heritage Centre. Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity this year but Jim has generously invited me for a private tour of the fabled section of road. It's an offer I can't refuse.
What's more, I get to leave the clapped-out Yowie-mobile at the historic Tumblong Tavern for Jim is taking me for spin in his green 1964 EH Holden. Talk about a trip back through time.
At first, as we cruise through picturesque paddocks lined with mooing cows and bleating sheep and it's hard to imagine this short stretch of highway was such a death-trap. In fact, apart from the wandering stock, the biggest hazard Jim faces is dodging feed bins strewn across the cracked bitumen. He drives at about 40 kilometres per hour, probably about the same speed as the traffic that crawled through here when it was bumper-to-bumper in the 1970s and 80s, when trucks chortled along, belching out exhaust fumes and changing down the gears as they approached the notorious gap.
While most of the road signs are long gone, no doubt squirreled away in private collections, the first place Jim stops is a rest area. It's complete with one of those yellow 44-gallon-drum garbage bins. It's swaying in the breeze and riddled with bullet holes. A peek inside reveals the rubbish dates from the 1980s - an archaeologist would love to rummage through here. Or a vintage Coca-Cola can collector.
Jim steps out and leans on his door, deep in contemplation.
"Around the next corner is the gap," he eventually whispers.
This is my first foray into Sylvia's Gap, but for Jim it's a trip down memory lane.
"Four of my friends were killed down there in car accidents," he reveals.
"Some just missed the corner, others tried to overtake and had nowhere to go but over the edge," he explains. "There are still rusting wrecks in the gullies below."
Gee, talk about a mood dampener.
Hopping back in the car, Jim drives even slower. And you can't blame him for as we enter the gap, it's like driving into a narrow open-air coffin with open ends. On several occasions, we move tree branches which block the way ahead and cover the double yellow lines which remarkably, 40-years on, you can still make out.
"The truckies could have shaken hands with each other as they passed one another," explains Jim as we stretch out our arms, almost covering the entire width of the road.
"You really had to nowhere to go if someone was coming at you as you either ploughed into the side of the cutting or off into the gorge. I remember many nights out here, clearing the roads after big loads had tipped over."
Driving Sylvia's Gap with Jim is a real eye-opener. It's a salient reminder that we often look to the past with rose-coloured glasses. Sure, sections of old Hume like Sylvia's Gap have entered our motoring folklore as a reminder of a more simple time, but for many truckies trying to meet impossible deadlines in the early 1980s, and earlier, traversing it was a game of Russian roulette.
Pit Stop: One of the last pit stops on the old Hume when heading south of Gundagai before you are greeted with locked gates leading towards Sylvia's Gap is Tumblong. This small village, complete with a pub, was initially called Adelong Crossing, but in 1913, due to increasing confusion with the township of Adelong 20 kilometres away, changed its name. In fact, if you look closely on the northern facade of the Tumblong Tavern, you can still just make out the pub's former name. Like legends, old towns don't die, they just fade a little.
Don't Miss: The family fun celebration in Yass to mark the 200th anniversary of the Hume and Hovell expedition, at Cooma Cottage this Saturday, October 12, from 10am-3pm. If you go, don't forget to check out the old stump near the carpark, which is where, according to folklore, Hume and Hovell camped on October 18, 1824.
Memories of our mini Sydney Harbour Bridge
I'm still sifting through a bulging mailbag following this column's recent feature on the Little Sydney Harbour Bridge that between 1938 and 1986 carried traffic on the Hume Highway over Hillas Creek.
Many former truckies, including John Schulz, recall alerting other drivers in the area on their CB radios that they were approaching the narrow two-way bridge. Meanwhile, John McLeod recalls driving his rig over the bridge before the widespread use of CBs. "Life was slower then and at night you could see oncoming lights so you knew how to judge the timing to cross."
While for truckies the challenge was successfully crossing the bridge without losing a side mirror (or worse) to oncoming trucks, car drivers also faced their own challenges.
David Wardle of Mawson recalls travelling over it as a very small boy and seeing a truck run over a sheep on the bridge. He was "obviously upset but realised the truck had no ability to swerve while on the narrow bridge".
For others like Karen Moore, "the bridge was one of those landmarks that when you reached it you knew where you were and how much further there was before arriving at your destination".
Steve Leahy of Macquarie reveals that "after it was bypassed, we used to have back-seat competitions to see who would spot it first", noting "it got progressively more difficult as the surrounding vegetation grew".
Today, the bridge is almost completely hidden to passing traffic and wedged between a travelling stock reserve and a farm, but it wasn't always intended to be that way. Chris Nicholes who worked on the new double bridges across Hillas Creek in the 1980s reveals "there was initially a proposal to build a rest stop at the old bridge, but safety difficulties with exit and entry to the new highway made it too hard".
WHERE IN CANBERRA?
Rating: Medium - Hard
Clue: 1963
How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to tym@iinet.net.au. The first correct email received after 10am, Saturday October 12 wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.
Last week: Congratulations to Ben Hawkins of Crestwood who was first to correctly identify last week's photo as a door leading into the north-eastern abutment of the 310-metre-long Commonwealth Avenue Bridge that spans Lake Burley Griffin. Ben beat a stampede of other readers to the prize, including Andy Hogan of Bonython, Jordan Gannaway of Holder and Eric Cappello of Flynn.
The clue of 'Near two British stones' referred to the two sets of granite stones placed beneath either side of Commonwealth Avenue Bridge which originate from the former (1817) elegant Waterloo Bridge in London. The rather bland replacement to this bridge built in World War II is nicknamed "the Ladies Bridge" due to the significant contribution of female labour apparently involved in its construction due to the war effort.
The beauty of the first Waterloo bridge inspired many great artists to paint it, including John Constable who captured the excitement of the bridge's opening ceremony, and Claude Monet who painted the bridge 40 times from his window vantage point at the Savoy Hotel.
Did You Know? The current Waterloo Bridge was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, the same architect responsible for designing those iconic British red telephone boxes.
- CONTACT TIM: Email: tym@iinet.net.au/ or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, GPO Box 606, Civic, ACT, 2601
