Sylvia’s Gap: secrets behind one of Australia's worst accident black spots

Tim the Yowie Man uncovers the history behind one of Australia's worst accident blackspots: Sylvia's Gap just southwest of Tumblong in NSW.

Transcript

00:00This year marks the 200th anniversary of the Hume and Hovell expedition, an epic overland

00:07four-month journey of discovery that carved out the modern route between Australia's now

00:13two biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne.

00:16According to local legend, on the 18th of October 1824, it was beneath this very tree

00:23on the outskirts of Yass, now a stump, that Hamilton Hume and William Hovell and their

00:28fellow travellers camped.

00:31Hume must have liked it here, for the site later became Cooma Cottage, which Hume bought

00:36in 1839, expanded and lived in until his death in 1873.

00:43Apart from the Hume Highway, just about everywhere you look in Yass and surrounds are reminders

00:49of Hamilton Hume, including the start of the Hume and Hovell track, which follows the expedition

00:55route 440km from here all the way to the Victorian border.

01:00There's also a bridge, a motel named in his honour, and an exhibition at the Yass and

01:08District Historical Society where you can discover the challenges Hume and Hovell faced

01:13and the legacy they created through captivating storyboards and rare artefacts.

01:18Oh, and not to forget his final resting place at the Yass Cemetery.

01:25A little bit further afield at Fish River near Gunning is this commemorative column

01:30which marks the location from where the expedition party set out on the 17th of October 1824.

01:36Of the many stone cairns that mark the expedition route, this one has to be the hardest to access.

01:43You've almost got to go on your own expedition to reach it.

01:47200 years after the expedition is definitely a time for reflection.

01:52I wonder what the next two centuries will hold for Yass and for our country.