In June 1858, the 'Great Southern Road,' from Sydney to Albury, was proclaimed under the Main Roads Management Act as one of the three main roads in the Colony.
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Herbert Thomson completed the first motorised road trip between Sydney (leaving from Bathurst) and Melbourne in May 1900 driving a kerosene-powered vehicle he had constructed himself.
He completed the 794km in a driving time of 56 hours 36 minutes at an average speed of 14 km per hour.
Prior to 1928, the road was known in southern NSW as Sydney Road.
In 1928, the NSW Main Roads Board, after consultation with the Country Roads Board of Victoria (they had used the name North Eastern Highway for the route), renamed the road from Sydney to Melbourne as the Hume Highway.
The Hume Freeway, opened 2007, is the latest change to the road through Albury. What have been the earlier routes through and from Albury?
Thomas Townsend's 1839 map shows a track striking out from the corner of Wodonga Place and Hume Street towards the north-east. It is labelled "To Sydney."
The Sydney Road passed through the township of Bowna, then Thurgoona before entering Albury where it made a series of turns to reach the 'Crossing Place,' the punt location and then the Union Bridge (1861).
The Border Post reported in October 1859 that, "the Sydney Road be defined as passing through: Sydney Street, Broad Street, Wilson Street, Kiewa Street, Dean Street, Townsend Street, Noorongong Street and Wodonga Street, to the site of the projected bridge".
When the railway arrived (1881), the route crossed the rail line at Wilson street. The construction of the Guinea Street Bridge (1887) re-routed Sydney Road along Guinea Street to Olive Street, then down to Dean Street.
When Young Street was formed, south bound traffic turned right at the eastern end of Dean Street then along most of the length of the main street.
The completion of the Hume Dam (1936) brought about a major change to the road north of Albury.
The highway from Sydney was diverted through Table Top with Wagga Road and Mate Street became the preferred route for traffic travelling south into Albury.
In the 1920s, there had been efforts to divert heavy highway traffic from Dean Street to Smollett Street.
The solution did not come until about 1960 when Young Street was extended from Smollett Street to Hume Street with the highway then following Hume Street west to Wodonga Place.
More photos and stories at https://alburyhistory.org.au/