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Old Hume Highway - State Library of Victoria
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Comments taken from our Lost Shepparton Facebook page on July 25th, 2016.
Another great story about Pretty Sally Hill on John McAdam's Blog, Musing With Flies
Here are some excerpts from one of his blog posts - Left on the Right Side of the Road.
I think it was the Austin A40 that took us over Pretty Sally. Pretty Sally Hill is a gap in the Great Dividing Range. The Great Dividing Range is Australia’s largest mountain range; stretching from the north eastern tip of Queensland, through New South Wales, and then into Victoria. The road over Pretty Sally was the gateway to the Highlands of Victoria from Melbourne: And it was part of the original Hume Highway to Sydney. By the 1930’s Pretty Sally, because of a sharp turn near the crest of it’s hill, was known as a road accident magnet. It was a long, slow, climb up Pretty Sally Hill and cars were often strewn on the shoulder with violent boiling radiators. The highway was shifted to avoid the steepest section in the 1960s. In 1979 the now closed Pretty Sally Roadhouse was used as the setting of Fat Nancy’s in the film Mad Max.
Mum started her repeated warning early on the day we had to cross Pretty Sally. She was rocking imperceptible in her passenger seat and it seemed every few minutes was asking dad how much further to Pretty Sally. She kept repeating that we have to be across Pretty Sally before dark: And asking how many more hours until the sun goes down. We didn’t know what Pretty Sally was holding for us; only that we couldn’t be crossing The Hill at nightfall. My brother and I fell into a huddled silence on the back seat fearing that something out there awaits us and knows our names. And then mum announced; we won’t be there before dark, and she fell into a deep quietness. It was twilight when Dad’s “we’re here” caused my brother and I to unfurl from our shivering fetal positions and fix our eyes on the road ahead. Dad started to talk slowly and quietly to the A40; a soothing, encouraging chant. The car slowed as it entered the incline of The Hill and it slowed even more as we passed the hissing, steaming, defeated cars on the shoulder.
We didn’t know what fate was going to befall the wide eyed families inside. Mum stared at the cars and the innocent victims as if she knew their fate. The A40 began to lurch forward and dad gripped the steering wheel and his knuckles turned white. Just as the car was about to give up, dad in one quick motion double clutched and shifted down a gear; the car was renewed with momentum from it’s second gear. Mum asked quietly; Bob are we near the top. We laboured labored past other stalled and wheezing cars on the shoulder. Our eyes grew wide in fear as we watched the mums and dads leave their the cars; Just as Jack and David leftThe Slaughtered Lamb and wandered the North York Moors. The A40 conquered The Hill that twilight but we knew that something unknown out there awaited us and knew our names. For years to come we convulsed at the mention of Pretty Sally.
Here are some excerpts from one of his blog posts - Left on the Right Side of the Road.
I think it was the Austin A40 that took us over Pretty Sally. Pretty Sally Hill is a gap in the Great Dividing Range. The Great Dividing Range is Australia’s largest mountain range; stretching from the north eastern tip of Queensland, through New South Wales, and then into Victoria. The road over Pretty Sally was the gateway to the Highlands of Victoria from Melbourne: And it was part of the original Hume Highway to Sydney. By the 1930’s Pretty Sally, because of a sharp turn near the crest of it’s hill, was known as a road accident magnet. It was a long, slow, climb up Pretty Sally Hill and cars were often strewn on the shoulder with violent boiling radiators. The highway was shifted to avoid the steepest section in the 1960s. In 1979 the now closed Pretty Sally Roadhouse was used as the setting of Fat Nancy’s in the film Mad Max.
Mum started her repeated warning early on the day we had to cross Pretty Sally. She was rocking imperceptible in her passenger seat and it seemed every few minutes was asking dad how much further to Pretty Sally. She kept repeating that we have to be across Pretty Sally before dark: And asking how many more hours until the sun goes down. We didn’t know what Pretty Sally was holding for us; only that we couldn’t be crossing The Hill at nightfall. My brother and I fell into a huddled silence on the back seat fearing that something out there awaits us and knows our names. And then mum announced; we won’t be there before dark, and she fell into a deep quietness. It was twilight when Dad’s “we’re here” caused my brother and I to unfurl from our shivering fetal positions and fix our eyes on the road ahead. Dad started to talk slowly and quietly to the A40; a soothing, encouraging chant. The car slowed as it entered the incline of The Hill and it slowed even more as we passed the hissing, steaming, defeated cars on the shoulder.
We didn’t know what fate was going to befall the wide eyed families inside. Mum stared at the cars and the innocent victims as if she knew their fate. The A40 began to lurch forward and dad gripped the steering wheel and his knuckles turned white. Just as the car was about to give up, dad in one quick motion double clutched and shifted down a gear; the car was renewed with momentum from it’s second gear. Mum asked quietly; Bob are we near the top. We laboured labored past other stalled and wheezing cars on the shoulder. Our eyes grew wide in fear as we watched the mums and dads leave their the cars; Just as Jack and David leftThe Slaughtered Lamb and wandered the North York Moors. The A40 conquered The Hill that twilight but we knew that something unknown out there awaited us and knew our names. For years to come we convulsed at the mention of Pretty Sally.