Timeline of key events in the life of the Hume Highway
1788: Sydney founded.
1805: The first road leading southward from Sydney, population 3,163.
1819: Governor Macquarie ordered the construction of a 'cart road' to the Goulburn area.
3 October 1824: Hamilton Hume and William Hovell began their southward exploration and reached the coast near Geelong on 16 December 1824.
1835: Melbourne founded.
1836: First settlements in Albury Wodonga area.
1836: Lennox's stone arch bridge over Prospect Creek, Lansdowne opened (remains in use).
1836: Ten Mile Creek (later Germanton, later Holbrook) founded.
1836-1842: Towrang Stockade housed up to 250 convicts engaged in the construction of the Great Southern Road.
1838: Albury surveyed and declared the official Murray River crossing place.
1851: Victoria becomes separate colony.
1858: The Great Southern Road, proclaimed as one of the three main roads in the NSW Colony.
1860: First bridge across Murray River.
1867: Prince Alfred Bridge over the Murrumbidgee River at Gundagai opened. It was the first iron truss road bridge to be built in NSW (remains in use).
1884: Mr A. Edward completed the first bicycle ride from Sydney to Melbourne.
1896: Concrete arch bridge at Black Bobs Creek in NSW opened.
May 1900: Melbourne mechanic Herbert Thomson completed the first vehicular trip between Sydney and Melbourne.
1922: The song 'The Road to Gundagai' first published.
1928: Government Gazette N0 110 proclaimed the Great Southern Road as a State Highway, giving it the name 'Hume Highway'.
1931: Lorry checking station built at Marulan.
1932: Dog on the Tucker Box monument erected north of Gundagai.
1940: Hume Highway now fully sealed.
1954: Commencement of the Remembrance Driveway project in NSW.
1954/55: Route 31 signs erected over the full length of the Hume Highway.
1959: First curve advisory speed signs.
1961: The first 4 lane modern freeway standard section was completed in Victoria at Craigieburn.
1961: Union Bridge over the Murray River opened.
1967: The last single-lane bridge on the Hume Highway eliminated.
1970: Dual carriageway north of Goulburn.
1974: Passing of the National Roads Act with the Federal Government assuming full responsibility for construction of National Highways.
1979: Truck blockade on Razorback Range.
1986: B-Double heavy vehicles commence operation on the Hume Highway.
2006: Higher Mass Limits (HML) introduced.
2007: Tarcutta truck changeover facility opened.
2007: Wodonga becomes last Victorian section to be duplicated.
August 2013: 9.5km Holbrook Bypass opened completing the duplication of the Hume Highway.
