Hume's Pass
| Hume’s Pass Victoria | |||||||||||||||
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Hume’s Pass is located in Shire of Mitchell  Hume’s Pass | |||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 37°23′11″S 145°00′48″E / 37.38639°S 145.01333°ECoordinates: 37°23′11″S 145°00′48″E / 37.38639°S 145.01333°E Fatal error: The format of the coordinate could not be determined. Parsing failed. | ||||||||||||||
| Population | 244 (2016 census) | ||||||||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 3758 | ||||||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||||||
| LGA(s) | Shire of Mitchell | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Euroa | ||||||||||||||
| Federal Division(s) | McEwen | ||||||||||||||
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Hume’s Pass is a low pass on the Great Dividing Range in central Victoria, Australia. It is located at Wandong in the Shire of Mitchell local government area, 53 kilometres (33 mi) from the state capital, Melbourne.
The traditional owners of Hume’s Pass are the Taungurong people, a part of the Kulin nation that inhabited a large portion of central Victoria including Port Phillip Bay and its surrounds.
Hume’s Pass has the distinction of being the place that Hamilton Hume and Captain William Hilton Hovell passed over on the 13th December, 1824 during the first European journey through inland Victoria. It is 1260 metres South of Arkells Lane, Wandong and is the low pass found by Hume for the party to break through over the top of the Great Dividing Range. It was named by the pair on that day...[1]
This exact route taken by Hume and Hovell was proven in 2021 by decoding the map drawn by Hamilton Hume which was found to conform with the original journal of William Hovell that has been known to history for a century, and thus provide double proof of the events.[2]
Hume was scouting the route on horseback well in front of the exploration party. He crossed Hume’s Pass and then moved another 1.6 km along what is now Eastern Ridge, Wallan, where he saw the coastal plains of Victoria for the first time. Hume described the event graphically with these observations in 1855:
“The same day, 13th December, we crossed the dividing range, (now known as the “Big Hill”) and being some distance in advance of the party I observed an opening and fall of land far to the south; thinking the struggle at last won, my heart rose, and I cheered long and loud, most of the men left their cattle, and rushed towards me, Mr. Hovell among the number.”[3]
This view proved that the party had finally broken free of the Great Dividing Range and that their destination of Western Port was attainable. They moved another 1.6 kilometres to the Merri Creek on the plain near Kelby Lane, Wallan East, and camped overnight. The party then successfully travelled fully to Bird Rock, Avalon, adjacent to Geelong, stayed briefly at Lara, then returned safely to New South Wales.
Hamilton Hume in 1867 corrected his earlier error that the party crossed at the location Big Hill, a name that he read off a contemporary map.[4] The location was Hume's Pass, as Hume recorded on his own map in 1824. His error caused confusion amongst historians for 166 years.
The route recorded by Hume and Hovell from Broadford to Hume’s Pass, Wandong, and on to Wallan is shown in an 1857 map produced from the plans of the Surveyor General’s Department of Victoria.[5]
This map in turn was an assembly of the Surveyor General’s large-scale survey plans of the district from Broadford to Wallan that show all of the Government licensed pastoral runs and the roads connecting them in 1855.[6]
The maps demonstrate that the first European settlers to arrive in the region from 1837 also used the same natural low passes pioneered by Hume and Hovell in 1824 to travel across the Great Dividing Range between Broadford and Wallan. The low passes continued to be the easiest to traverse for drays and stock animals, and indeed were used for much later motor-vehicle traffic.
It also means that it was the original and eponymous Magpie and Stump Road through The Dean station that became Wandong.[7] This fact was well-known to local community leaders as late as 1935, in which year the Kilmore Shire Council discussed the historical significance of the Magpie and Stump Road as the route used by Hume and Hovell.[8]
The southern extremity of the road was shown by none other than Lt. Col., later General Sir, John Monash, in his 1913 map of Wallan and Donnybrook Districts. The road leads exactly from Hume’s Pass, Wandong and along Eastern Ridge, Wallan to the plain.[9]
It was still in use as late as 1930 and is shown on the Victorian Army Survey map of Kinglake of that year.[10]
Hume’s Pass has been known to history by that name for 197 years, after having being named by Hume and Hovell on the 13th December, 1824. This makes it one of a handful of the oldest European names in the history of Victoria, yet it has never been officially recognised by that or any other name.
External links
Category:Rivers of Victoria (Australia) Category:Towns in Victoria (Australia)
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References
- ↑ William Bland, Journey of Discovery to Port Phillip, New South Wales; by Messrs. W. H. Hovell, and Hamilton Hume in 1824 and 1825. W. Bland, A. H. Hill, Sydney, New South Wales, 1831, p.73.
- ↑ Williams, Martin. Hamilton Hume Sketch Maps: Origins and Modern Treatment, Victorian Historical Journal, Vol. 92, No. 1, June 2021, p. 21
- ↑ Hamilton Hume, A Brief Statement of Facts in Connexion with an Overland Expedition from Lake George to Port Phillip, in 1824, Edited by the Rev. William Ross, Sydney, J. Moore, Bookseller, 1855, p. 24.
- ↑ Letter from Hamilton Hume to William Westgarth, 12 June 1867, Ah 12/5, Hamilton Hume–correspondence, 1810-1867, 1910-1919, State Library of New South Wales, http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/_transcript/2007/d00007/hume.pdf.
- ↑ Tulloch & Brown's map of the Colony of Victoria, Melbourne, Tulloch & Brown, 1857 National Library of Australia, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232309775.
- ↑ Run361; Western Port District; Alexandra ... Panyule, Public Record Office of Victoria, Historic Plan Collection, VPRS 15899, VPRS8168, c 1855. https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/5B0130F6-F844-11E9-AE98-CD1903FEBFEE?image=1.
- ↑ Magpie and Stump public house, Glenburnie, The Age, 13 October 1859, p. 2
- ↑ Magpie and Stump, Kilmore Free Press 14 November 1935, p. 2.
- ↑ Monash John, M/DEF127; Wallan and Donnybrook Districts, 1913, VPRS 8168/P0002, Historic Plan Collection, PROV, Victoria.
- ↑ Victoria, Kinglake, South J55 MI, prepared by Australian Section, Imperial General Staff, 1930, State Library of Victoria. http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/152101.
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