History brought alive through people and their lives, from the early bullockies to latter day truckies, settlers, convicts, travellers and politicians. A book of interest and detail, both a local history and a microcosm of events in Australia that were seminal to the development of this country.
The Great South Road was built to allow the distribution of wool, tallow, hides and other products to Sydney docks from Campbelltown and Picton and beyond. The route chosen was over the Razorback Range, a jagged range with steep cliffs and rocky spurs, an unstable, porous sandstone base that shifts and lurches with heavy rain.
A nightmare for the convicts who built it and the travellers forced to endure its horrors for a hundred years. These are the stories of the people who travelled and worked or lived on a small section of this road – migrants, teamsters, tramps, gold escorts, toiling convicts and bushrangers who terrorised settlers and travellers alike. Desperate wars between Aborigines and settlers. Stagnant years after the railway came to Picton, revival with a rush of cars in the early 20th century and a new national capital that demanded a safe, modern highway.
It is history brought to life over a century of endeavour. Impressive research concealed beneath a light and engaging style. Atmospheric and timeless, the past brought to life with freshness and adventure.
Contents:
Metric Conversions
Maps
Introduction
1. A Track to the Cowpastures
2. A Tent Pole on a Hill
3. Toil and Trouble
4. Out, Mounted and Armed
5. New Towns in an Old Country
6. Razorback Rhymes
7. The Giddy Wheels of Fortunes
8. Fun and Games on Four Wheels or Two
9. The End of the Road
Postscript: The New Freeway
Appendix 1. John Oxley's Report on Cawdor Prior to Sale to John Macarthur
Appendix 2. Convict Lists
Appendix 3. Articles Suggested by Alexander Harris for New Settlers
Appendix 4. Estimates of Expenditure on Roads
Appendix 5. Wollondilly Shire, Expenditure on Roads and Bridges
Bibliography
Notes
Index
