Are we there yet, Mr Holmes?
IN the wheel tracks of Herbert Thomson and Edward Holmes. A re-enactment of the 1900 pioneer motor car trip of Australia, Bathurst (New South Wales) to Melbourne (Victoria) - April 30 - May 3, 2020 - Darryl and Julie Starr
IN 1900 two men transformed travel in Australia.
Their names were Herbert Thomson and Edward Holmes (seated above - Thomson left, Holmes right) and on April 30, 1900, they set out from Bathurst in New South Wales on what was to become the first long-distance motor car trip in Australia.
Both men, inventor Thomson and his cousin Holmes, were Victorians and their destination was their home city of Melbourne, 493 and a quarter miles away, or 793.8 kilometres.
Thomson is regarded as the first successful manufacturer of a motor vehicle in Australia and to prove the reliability of his self-designed and built steam phaeton, he decided to undertake the historic journey by road rather than return to Melbourne via the way the car came to be in New South Wales in the first place - by steam ship.
The duo had the car shipped to Sydney on board the SS Allinga for it to be displayed at Sydney's 1900 Royal Easter Show where it won first prize.
The car had previously been exhibited at the Melbourne, Bendigo and Maryborough Agricultural Shows, and had run upwards of 2000 miles (3218 kilometres) on its experimental trials.
After the Sydney event, Thomson and Holmes were invited to drive the car to Bathurst for that town's annual agricultural show a few days later.
And it was from outside the Park Hotel (now The George Hotel), Bathurst, at 10am on Monday, April 30, 1900, that the duo departed to return to Melbourne - overland.
The pioneer 'motor car' trip changed Australia's transport landscape forever.
Now, 120 years later, we are embarking on the same journey, leaving Bathurst at the same time, on the same day of the month - destination Melbourne, following as closely as possible the route Thomson and Holmes took all those years ago.
Driving a Volkswagen Polo 85TSI Comfortline, guiding us on our journey was a copy of ‘The Pioneer Motor Car Trip of Australia’, or The Holmes Diary, which was reprinted in the year 2000 for Phaeton’s Run, an event held in Albury-Wodonga on May 5, 6 and 7 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of Thompson and Holmes on May 5, 1900.
Why a Volkswagen Polo for this re-enactment drive?
The body of Thomson's steam car was made of fiddleback ash and silky oak by Melbourne coach builders Martin and King of the Melbourne suburb of Armadale, the same suburb in which Thomson had his workshop.
Martin and King later moved to Clayton where it went on to assemble CKD (completely knocked down) car bodies, including Volkswagen Beetles from 1954.
So successful was the Beetle in Australia that Volkswagen purchased the plant in 1957.
As VW is the only company with any current connected history, we chose to do the 780-kilometre drive in VW’s smallest car, the Polo being the closest model in size to the Thomson car, which was 2702mm in length, 1419mm in width and 1779mm in height.
The Polo measured 4053mm in length, 1750mm in width, and 1446mm in height.
The rest of Thomson's vehicle was of his own doing, pneumatic tyres aside, which were supplied by the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company.
Our Polo was shod with Falken brand tyres.
Although credited with being Australia's first car manufacturer, the Thomson Motor Car Ltd did not achieve commercial success, and it ceased business in 1912.
The Thomson Motor Car Ltd and Martin and King have long gone, but Volkswagen lives on and at 10am on Tuesday, April 30, we left Bathurst for Blayney, 37 kilometres way which was Thomson and Holmes' first overnight stop.
Unlike the pair, who were farewelled from outside the Park Hotel by Bathurst mayor R.M. Gilmour, Esq, Messrs W.G. Thompson, A. Rigby and a host of well-known residents, no-one was outside the George Hotel to take a photo of us and wish us well.
(Park Hotel, of which Frank Hall was licensee from 1899-1900, was built in 1887 and destroyed by fire in 1936. It was rebuilt and renamed the George Hotel.)
It is ironic that Australia’s first motor car should leave a city that now lays claim to being the spiritual home of Australian motor sport.
Unlike Thomson and Holmes, whose six-seater phaeton was open to the elements, necessitating in their having to dress to the prevailing weather conditions, we were tucked up snug and comfy inside the Polo Comfortline which was fitted with standard fare the likes of which they would not have dreamed of.
They would have been more than happy with a roof over their heads!
Thomson and Holmes only had well-worn dirt tracks to follow, but their route closely followed that of the present-day Mid-Western Highway to Cowra, the Olympic Highway to Wagga, the Holbrook Road to Holbrook, and the Hume Freeway/Old Hume Highway to Melbourne.
Much of the old Highway 31 between Albury-Wodonga and Beveridge still exists and is in good to very good condition.
They would have been guided most of the way by roughly-hewn signposts and, even though we had satellite navigation at our disposal, we also followed signposts.
Introduction
ON a cold and wet Monday morning in April 1900, two men departed the New South Wales town of Bathurst in a self-designed, self-built steam phaeton in what was the first long-distance motor car trip in Australia – destination, Melbourne, Victoria, 793.8 kilometres away.
Their trials and tribulations are written in a diary written by one of the men and can be read on this website by visiting the link ‘The Holme's diary’.
One hundred and twenty years on my wife, Julie, and I re-enacted their drive, following as close as possible the route they took and visiting the same villages and towns, some of which have been bypassed.
Their little-known story is as interesting as it is adventuresome and while it took the pioneering duo 10 days to complete their drive, we could have done it in one if we wanted to stretch ourselves.
But that would have meant driving the main highways and not the (almost) exact route they took.
In their own words: ‘To attempt a ‘record’ with such an experimental car, over roads quite unknown to the drivers, was out of the question and the objects aimed at were to give publicity to the car and return safely.
‘The pace therefore was moderate throughout.’
As was ours, adhering to the various speed limits and visiting all the towns mentioned in the Thomson diary.
It is ironical that their journey started in a town with a mountain.
That mountain – Mount Panorama – is now the spiritual home of Australian motorsport.
This diary, written 120 years on, is an unashamedly updated version of the original, except we have put our own spin on events and how the villages, towns, and now cities, they passed through all those years ago have grown with, or succumbed to, progress.
While they ‘risked all to gain all’, we had excellent roads to travel on, fuel, food and accommodation was readily available, satellite navigation if we got lost and, heaven forbidden, if our car did fall foul of a mechanical fault, help was just a phone call away.
We would encourage anyone looking for a long drive in the country to follow this path of Australian motoring history.
It is as interesting as it is scenic and most, if not all, of the villages, towns and cities along the route have an exciting history of their own.
They are testament that bypass does not mean death.
We hope you enjoy the read.
- Darryl and Julie Starr
Albury-Wodonga, May 2020
Day 1 – Bathurst to Cootamundra
LIKE Herbert Thomson and Edward Holmes, we too, left outside The George Hotel (previously the Park Hotel), Bathurst, at 10am on April 30, and although fine, it was just 2-degrees.
There were no officials to see us on our way as the intention was to keep this re-enactment drive a low-key affair.
With a whole day to travel the 198 kilometres to our overnight destination of Cootamundra, we were in no rush, so after a hearty breakfast we headed along Panorama Avenue to the Mount Panorama racing circuit where we drove four laps (at 60km/h as this is a public road on non-race days) and took photographs from the carpark at the top of the mountain at what is known as The Esses.
The views across Bathurst and the surrounding countryside from the summit are stunning.
It was then onto the Mid-Western Highway, our first 'obstacle' being Fitzgerald's Mount.
Fitzgerald's Mount
It took the two motoring pioneers almost four hours to make the climb up this steep, winding pass which, today, although steep, is a climb of two and sometimes dual, roadway which the Polo did in a scamper. A small rural community named after the mount now sits near its summit.
Blayney
It took us just 40 minutes to cover the 37-kilometres from Bathurst to Blayney, which included a stop to photograph the pass Thomson and Holmes took so long to find a safe way up. This historic town was frequented by bushranger Ben Hall and others. Thomson and Holmes arrived in the village at 6.15pm and departed at 9.30am the following morning. We made use of the town's courthouse, which was built in 1882, for a photo opportunity.
Carcoar
'The town history forgot' is arguably one of the prettiest towns in Australia. As Holmes wrote, 'Carcoar is built in a hollow', but that hollow adds to the picturesque nature of the town which is fast becoming a tourist attraction. After spending time looking around, we headed for Mandurama, 'a usual sleepy country township' as Holmes put it, and not much has changed to this day. As is the now-bypassed village of Lyndhurst where the two men stopped for lunch before tackling their first major obstacle - how to cross Limestone Creek.
Limestone Creek
Today a substantial two-lane road bridge crosses this deep creek, but when Thomson and Holmes arrived 120 years earlier the original bridge had been swept away in a flood, necessitating using an old ford further down the creek to make the crossing. Once clear, they then encountered a red clay bog which further impeded their advance to the township of Cowra. We saw no evidence of red clay as the surrounding area has been well farmed and was green as the eye could see.
Cowra
History will show that Cowra was the scene of a Japanese prisoner of war break-out during World War Two. The town is located at the junction of three highways - the Mid-Western Highway, Lachlan Valley Way, and Olympic Highway – and on August 5, 1944, at least 545 Japanese prisoners of war attempted a mass breakout from a POW camp located just north of the town. Simultaneously, other Japanese prisoners committed suicide, or were killed by their countrymen, inside the camp. During the breakout and subsequent recapture of POWs, four Australian guards and 231 Japanese had died, and 108 prisoners were wounded. The dead Japanese were buried in a specially created Japanese War Cemetery. This is the only such cemetery in Australia. An Avenue of Honour also commemorates those who died in World War I. The stunning Japanese gardens are a must-see and we spent over an hour doing just that. This bustling town sits on the Lachlan River and while having lunch there we couldn't help thinking of poor Thomson and Holmes who would still have been struggling up Fitzgerald's Mount. When they did arrive in Cowra, they had trouble finding the right track to Young, but we had the excellent, and well sign-posted Olympic Highway to follow.
Young
Originally called Lambing Flat but changed to Young in 1863, Young is the Cherry Capital of Australia and each year it hosts the National Cherry Festival. This thriving township was built on gold and at one stage up to 20,000 miners worked the diggings, including 2000 Chinese miners. From November 1860 through to June 1861, anti-Chinese miners attacked Chinese gold miners in the area, now known as the infamous Lambing Flats Riots. As gold became scarce, European miners began to resent what they saw as the greater success of the more industrious Chinese, and hence many Chinese miners were attacked, robbed and killed. Young also lays claim to be the first town in Australia to install electricity in both its streets and houses of the township. This happened in 1889. Thomson and Holmes over-nighted at Young. Like many towns in the region, most of the town's businesses close at noon on a Saturday, the day we arrived.
Wallendbeen
Twenty kilometres north-east of Cootamundra is the village of Wallendbeen which sits on the intersection of the Olympic Highway and Burley Griffin Way and on the Sydney-Melbourne railway line. Wheat is an important industry for the area. The village's well-maintained oval has supported a cricket club since 1887 and the oval is probably where Thomson and Holmes ate their lunch.
Cootamundra
We arrived in Cootamundra at 4pm and took photographs outside the Bradman Museum, a fully-restored visitor centre and the same house where cricketing great Sir Donald Bradman was born in 1908). The museum features cricketing memorabilia and artefacts from the time. A few blocks away is the Cricket Captains Walk which features 42 bronze sculptures of Australian Test Cricket captains and Unaarrimim, the leading Aboriginal player in the first Australian cricket team tour of England in 1868. Cootamundra is the home of the Cootamundra wattle and at the end of every August the town celebrates with a large ‘Wattle Time Festival’. After booking into our accommodation for the night, we dined at a new restaurant in the town, still aware that Thomson and Holmes were still a half hour or so from Blayney.
Day 2 - Cootamundra to Albury-Wodonga
It was 9.30am when we drove away from our motel in Cootamundra, with the temperature hovering just above 4-degrees. Having visited the town on previous occasions we didn’t dally, following the Olympic Highway out of town, with a planned stop at the village of Bethungra, 20-minutes and 24-kilometres south west, for photos. Thomson and Holmes had overnighted at Bethungra after encountering the ‘worst roads in the district’ just east of the ‘usual country village’. We had no such problems as the Olympic Highway between Cootamundra and Bethungra was in excellent condition and although a little hilly in parts, was an easy drive.
Bethungra
This small railway village on the Olympic Highway opened its post office in 1875 and while we have no idea, bets are that Thomson and Holmes overnighted at the Bethungra Hotel, affectionately known as the Hotel Shirley, it being the only hotel in town. The historic 1886-built pub made headlines around the country in 2018 when its owners decided to ‘give it away’. Unlike most buildings put on the market, the owners chose a system that required interested applicants to pay $100 for a processing fee. A few kilometres to the north of the town lies the Bethungra Spiral, a rail spiral built on the Main South railway line to ease the gradients when the line was duplicated between 1941 and 1946. The town’s railway station operated between 1878 and the 1980s. In 1885 a train derailed near the town at a washed away culvert, killing five people.
Illaboo
Best described as a whistle-stop town, Illaboo still boasts a public school and it was at the schoolhouse in 1900 that Thomson and Holmes called into for water to replenish their water tank after the drain tap was knocked off. The town has a pub, a recently-constructed wayside stop for travellers, and grain silos which are still in use. The town’s railway station opened in 1878 and closed in the 1970s.
Junee
The town of Junee was renamed Junee Junction in 1881 when the planned railway line to Hay opened as far as Narrandera, but in 1940 it resumed its original name. Although the railway still plays an important role, the town’s prosperity is based on a combination agriculture, rail transport, light industry, government services (Junee Correctional Centre), and tourism. The town’s premier attractions are a huge railway roundhouse and museum, and the railway station precinct. The town centre has a charming old-fashioned ambience courtesy of wide verandas, original lamp posts, veranda posts, and historic buildings. The tourist has much to see and do, with must-see attractions being the Loftus Hotel, Junee's oldest and grandest establishment which occupies an entire block, the haunted Monte Cristo Historical Homestead, and the Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory.
Wagga
With time on our side we stopped in the Riverina’s largest city, Wagga, for lunch. The town, which sits on the Murrumbidgee River, was well established by the late 1800s and was declared a city in 1946. The city sits halfway between Sydney and Melbourne and is an important agricultural, military and transport hub. The Sturt Highway from Adelaide passes through the city before joining the Hume Highway 45-kilometres east, making it an important heavy truck centre. The city is awash with national and home-grown retail outlets, fine dining, bakeries, first-class accommodation, government departments, legal, medical and banking facilities, and government, private and tertiary education. Wagga’s attractions include its award-winning botanic gardens, National Art Glass Gallery, riverside beach, Lake Albert, RAAF Aviation Heritage Centre, museum and historic railway precinct. In Thomson and Holmes’s time the Olympic Highway did not exist, with the way to Albury-Wodonga being a coach road to Holbrook via Cookardinia.
Mangoplah-Cookardinia
There is no mention of the village of Mangoplah in the original diary, but Holmes wrote that approximately 20 miles from Wagga they got stuck and camped overnight with eight sheep drovers. We think the camp was near where Mangoplah is today as it did have a post office from 1880 to 1885, so there was civilisation thereabouts. The post office reopened in 1911 and a railway station operated from 1925 until 1956. The town today comprises a hotel (closed), a community hall, two churches, a general store (closed), and a rural produce centre. Holmes noted that ‘there were no houses or dams’ between Mangoplah and Cookardinia, in reference to the car ‘needing good water’. At the time, Cookardinia village, which sits at the junction of the Wagga-Holbrook-Henty-Morven Roads, boasted several houses, the Squatter’s Arms Inn which was built in 1848 and closed in 1925, as well as a post office which operated between 1873 and 1976. All that remains of the village today is the ruins of the inn, a closed school, and a memorial hall.
Holbrook
It took the intrepid pioneers two hours to drive the 25-kilometres to Germanton (now Holbrook), which we covered in just under 20-minutes. Holbrook was the last town on the Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne to be bypassed (in 2013) and is the only inland town in Australia to have a submarine, at least the top half of HMAS Otway. The town was originally called Ten Mile Creek, then Germanton after German immigrant, publican John Pabst. During World War 1 the town was renamed in honour of submariner Lieutenant Norman Holbrook VC who commanded the submarine HMS B11, a miniature replica of which stands in the memorial gardens opposite its much bigger original. Ten Mile Creek Post Office opened in 1857 and it was from here that Thomson and Holmes ‘sent off a few telegrams’ before departing at 11.50am. A railway branch line from Culcairn serviced Holbrook between 1902 and 1975. The 63-kilometre trip between Holbrook to Albury-Wodonga on the four-lane Hume Highway takes just 45-minutes, but we had one more stop to make, the bypassed village of Woomargama.
Woomargama
Thomson and Holmes were not the first pioneers to lunch at the village as history shows that explorers Hume and Hovell stopped in the area on their overland expedition of 1824 – also for lunch. In its heyday the village had a school and service station and it has always had a hotel. These days it is limited to a hotel/motel, post office situated in the historic school building, community hall, fire station, tennis courts and park with barbecue, playground and public toilets.
Albury-Wodonga
We arrived in Albury-Wodonga on May 1, 2020, Thomson and Holmes on May 5, 1900, even though both parties left Bathurst at the same time, on the same day and on the same date. They had covered 296 miles (476 kilometres), we had travelled 479 kilometres. Their entry into Wagga from Junee was different than it is today, hence the extra kilometres. Albury in 1900 was a major inland town and boasted three newspapers, a grammar school, fine churches, schools, fine shops, a magnificent railway station, and numerous factories. Major wool selling centre and railway hub, breweries. At the time of Thomson and Holmes’s visit, Albury had a population of about 5800 people, but 46 years later that figure had grown to about 14,000 and Albury was proclaimed a city. They probably overnighted at either The Globe Hotel or Soden’s Hotel, the latter being the most probable due to its excellent horse stables. Wodonga, located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, was not granted rural city status until 1973. Now known as the twin cities of Albury-Wodonga, and boasting a combined population of over 100,000, this major regional hub is central to some of the country’s greatest tourist attractions, which include the nearby snowfields of the Victorian Alps and the Snowy Mountains. As Albury-Wodonga is our home base we were blessed with being able to sleep in our own bed.
Day 3 - Albury-Wodonga to Melbourne
Barnawartha
When Thomson and Holmes passed through Barnawartha it would have looked similar to today but look beyond this bypassed town’s main street comprising a post office, hotel, general store, hall and community centre, and you will find the town is home to dozens of families who have escaped the city life. Many people work in Albury-Wodonga, at the nearby logic centre, Northern Victoria Livestock Exchange, or at the surrounding wineries. The town has a public school and a few historic buildings.
Chiltern
Also bypassed is Chiltern, a former gold-rush town whose many shops and public buildings are classified by the National Trust. Several movies have been shot using the town’s well-preserved Victorian-era streetscapes, including Walt Disney's 'Ride a Wild Pony', while town notables include authors Ethel (Henry Handel) Richardson and Mary Gaunt, 18th Australian Prime Minister John McEwen, and political journalist Barrie Cassidy. Thomson and Holmes would not feel out of place there today.
Springhurst
A general store/post office, public school, old butter factory, the long-closed Carriers Arms Hotel, a railway station, grain silos and a dozen or so houses is all that remains of this once proud little village that sat on the old Hume Highway. Like the towns before it, the freeway killed it of
Wangaratta
When Thomson and Holmes overnighted at Wangaratta, it would have been a far different place than it is today. Known as ‘the cathedral city’ (it was proclaimed a city in 1959), its notable buildings include Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral and its Cathedral Close, St Patrick’s Catholic Church, and its art deco courthouse. The city sits at the junction of the Ovens and King Rivers and is a tourist gateway to the Victorian Alps, Milawa Gourmet Region and the King Valley Wine Region. Wangaratta offers a variety of retail, education, professional services and accommodation options, while things to do include cycling, major events, arts and culture and food, wine and craft beer experiences.
Glenrowan
It is hard to imagine that just 20 years before Thomson and Holmes trundled through Glenrowan in their ‘car’, bushranger Ned Kelly and his gang were involved in a shootout with police, resulting in Kelly being captured and his gang killed. The town thrives on this piece of Australian history where you can visit the siege site and visit various tourist attractions, including a large statue of Kelly in his armour.
Winton
Like Bathurst, where Thomson and Holmes began their overland trek to Melbourne, itis ironical that Winton also plays a major role in Australian motorsport, with Winton Motor Raceway hosting a round of the Supercars as well as several other national and state titles and a very successful annual historic race meeting. Apart from some farm houses, a primary school and a dilapidated roadhouse, there is not much else at Winton.
Benalla
Located at the junction of the Hume Freeway and Midland Highway, the Rural City of Benalla is home to a renowned art gallery, street art, silo art, a gliding centre, cafes, bakeries and fine eateries. It is the northern gateway to Mount Buller and is the birthplace of notables, surgeon Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop, fashion designer Prue Acton, and Michael Savage, a New Zealand Prime Minister. Thomson and Holmes overnighted in the then small town.
Baddaginnie
In 1900 Baddaginnie boasted a hotel, a butter factory, a railway station, a state school, sawmill, a general store and a church. Today, almost nothing thanks to it being bypassed. The hall and a CFA station are the only public buildings in the village.
Violet Town
Located on Honeysuckle Creek and with streets named after flowers, Violet Town is the first inland surveyed town in Victoria. It was bypassed in 1980 but the town thrives thanks to its strong community and a well-patronised market held on the second Saturday of each month. It is well-known as the site of the Southern Aurora train crash in 1969 that killed nine people.
Euroa
Bushranger Ned Kelly and his gang came to Euroa in 1878 and robbed its National Bank before scampering back to their hideout in the rugged Strathbogie Ranges which lie to the town’s south. Euroa, which sits on the banks of the Seven Creeks, is half-way between Melbourne and Albury-Wodonga and is a major retail, education and commercial hub for surrounding towns and villages. The town was bypassed in 1992 but had little effect. It is located on the main North-East railway and its railway station is served daily by V/Line passenger services. Euroa is the only town in the Commonwealth to have three citizens granted the Victoria Cross. The town's VC Memorial Park ncludes bronze statues of the recipients - Leslie Maygar, Fred Tubb, and Alex Burton.
Longwood
There are two Longwoods, old Longwood and new Longwood, each being sited either side of the Hume Freeway. There is not much in either village, but Thomson and Holmes overnighted in the new town and most likely stayed at the White Hart Hotel which operates to this day. Longwood is the birthplace of Victoria Cross recipient, Major Frederick Tubb, who died at Ypres, Belgium, in World War 1.
Locksley
When Thomson and Holmes motored through where the village of Locksley is today it was known as Burnt Creek. There are only a few buildings in the town, with the railway station and school having closed in the 1970s, followed by the village's only hotel. The town takes its name from Tennyson's Poem 'Locksley Hall'.
Avenel
Thomson and Holmes passed through Avenel at 10.12am, hoping to reach Melbourne by nightfall, but that was not to be. Had they at least stopped they would have learnt that the town was established 40 years earlier and that one Ned Kelly saved a boy from drowning in a local creek. Although bypassed, the town is popular with those taking a break on their drive north or south on the freeway. The town has some fine old buildings, a railway station and a popular horse trials course.
Mangalore
Another small village on the old Hume Highway, Mangalore is home to a handful of houses, a closed hotel, and not much else. Close by is Mangalore Airport which was established in 1939 for training Royal Australian Air Force pilots. On October 31, 1954, the first Vickers Viscount aircraft delivered to Australia crashed on take-off on a training flight only days after its arrival in the country, killing three of the seven people on board.
Seymour
No matter that the historic railway town of Seymour was also bypassed (in 1982) as it remains a busy and vibrant centre servicing major agricultural industries as well as the nearby military base of Puckapunyal. It remains an important rail hub for the Goulburn Valley and Melbourne-Sydney railway and boasts a railway heritage centre, Army museums and Army training and logistic centres, a Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Walk and an Australian Lighthorse Memorial Park. The town hosts the Seymour Alternative Farming Expo and Tastes of the Goulburn food and wine festival.
Tallarook
Another bypassed town, Tallarook is the start of the Great Victorian Rail Trail which follows a disused branch line from Tallarook to Mansfield. The town holds a farmers’ market on the first Sunday of the month and the Tallarook State Forest is the perfect spot for those wanting to enjoy many outdoor recreational activities. The town has a number of well-preserved buildings and a busy general store/post office.
Broadford
Being just 73-kilometres north of Melbourne, Broadford has become a satellite of the state capital, with many workers calling the town home but commuting to the city or its outer north eastern suburbs by car or train for work. The town, which sits on the old Hume Highway, dates to 1852 and these days it is home to a paper mill, and the Victorian State Motorcycle Complex. Its vibrant shopping centre is a hive of activity on any given day. Holmes said in his diary that Broadford 'had a splendid stretch of metalled roads', suggesting that even back then it was a 'moneyed town'. Broadford is also home to the Allen's Confectionery factory.
Kilmore
Had Thomson and Holmes broken down in Kilmore today as they did in 1900, they would have no trouble in finding help as the busy town boasts many new and used car yards, service stations and mechanical repair businesses. Kilmore, which is the oldest inland town in Victoria, sits at the junction of the old Hume and Northern Highways and many of its fine old buildings are made of bluestone. These include the hospital, old courthouse, former post office, gaol, and some of its churches.
Wallan
At night from atop Pretty Sally hill which rises above Wallan, you can clearly see the lights of Melbourne. The city’s outer north eastern suburbs have slowly crept towards the town which many families moved to escape the sprawl. It is now an easy commute to the city by car or train. The town’s services now include a plaza, supermarkets, bakeries, eateries, and fine education, sporting and professional services.
Beveridge
Forty-five years before Thomson and Holmes came a calling, one Edward ‘Ned’ Kelly, murderous bushranger, was born a few streets from the Hunters Tryst Inn where they more than likely overnighted, given there is not much more in the town to this day. The Kelly house has been restored as apart from being Ned's birthplace, historians have found the house is significant because its construction is similar to a traditional Irish cottage, while other elements, such as bush poles, roof detailing, shingles, guttering and a lack of eaves make it unique. From atop Mount Fraser, an extinct volcano overlooking the town, explorers Hume and Hovell sighted Port Phillip on their overland journey south from Lake George in New South Wales in 1824.
Melbourne
It took Thomson and Holmes two-and-a-half-hours to travel from Beveridge to Coburg, the trip today being under half that – on a good traffic day. Coburg in 1900 was an outer north-eastern Melbourne suburb but today the suburbs have almost reached Beveridge. After 56 hours and 36 minutes actual riding time, Thomson and Holmes arrived at Melbourne GPO at 12.23pm on May 9. We also finished our journey at the GPO on the corner of Elizabeth and Bourke Streets but our trip from Coburg took three-quarters of an hour owing to snarling city traffic. The intrepid duo did not have traffic lights, the number of trams, or 40km/h speed restrictions on part of Sydney Road through Coburg and Brunswick as there are today. It took us four hours and five minutes to complete our journey using both the Hume Freeway and those parts of the Old Hume Highway that are still navigable. Using just the Hume Freeway, and on a good day, the trip can be done non-stop in three hours and 20-minutes. We did, however, stop in every village, town and city for photographs. Thomson and Holmes were greeted at the Brunswick tram terminus by directors of the Thomson Steam Car syndicate and a number of friends, some of whom followed the pair to the GPO. We, on the other hand, were greeted by no-one after pulling up at the traffic lights outside the Melbourne GPO.
Total kilometres travelled: 770
Total driving time: 12hrs 22mins (including meal/sightseeing/photography breaks)
Other local motoring history books free to read online
'The Holmes Diary' and 'A spirit of progress - 110 years of motoring in Albury-Wodonga' are popular local motoring history e-books that are free to read online. Click on a black title button and wait a few moments for the book to load.
