About Highway One

Australia's Highway One is a part of the life experience for most of us. It's our great coastal highway, tracing out our coastline. Very many of us live on or near it and travel on some part of it every day. Pacific Highway, Princes Highway, Bruce Highway, A1, M1; it goes by these and many other names. It reaches into and through and links every State. At over 14,500 kilometres in length it's the world's longest national highway and to drive it is truly one of the world's great road trip adventures.

Highway One grew out of a highly variable collection of local, regional and State roads. Over time, the growing need for a rational system for the construction and maintenance of efficient and safe arterial highways across State borders led to increasing Federal Government involvement. Highway One was born in 1955 out of this already-existing network of State roads and became National Route 1 in the then-new National Route system.

Like pearls on a necklace, the length of Highway One is studded with pretty and uniquely Australian small towns, but huge sections of the old road have been bypassed and nearly forgotten over the decades. Nearly forgotten... but not quite. Old Highway One still lives on and we can revisit the old places of yesteryear.

"Australia's Mother Road"

USA's famous Route 66 has long been known as "the Mother Road" or "America's Main Street" because of the key role it played in the development of that country. Similarly, Australia's Highway One has been critical to the development of long-distance travel and commerce here. Interestingly, the history and development of our Highway One and USA's Route 66 share many common themes.

	Route 66 USA	Highway One Australia
Length	More than 3,860km (2,400 miles).	Total: more than 14,500km (9,000 miles).
Creation	1926.	1955, but key components such as the Princes Highway declared as early as 1920.
Replacement	Decertified 1985.	Still kicking!

There are many striking similarities too:

	Route 66 USA	Highway One Australia
Giants	Scattered along Route 66 e.g. the Illinois "Muffler Men".	Dozens! Be prepared to meet roadside giants from the Big Pheasant to the Big Banana.
Historic Cafes and Buildings	Numerous: mainly civic buildings shops and restaurants.	Numerous: similar to Route 66, but also including dozens of classic Aussie pubs!
Quirky Things	Numerous: a famous example is the turkey tracks in old concrete road near Nilwood, Illinois.	Numerous: a similar, and touching, example is Digger Humphrey's tyre tracks in old concrete road near Giru, Queensland.
Bypassed Towns	Many charming, historic and quaint old towns.	Many charming, historic and quaint old towns.

Anyone who loved driving Route 66 will REALLY love driving Highway One.

The Towns and People

Like pearls on a necklace, the length of Highway One is studded with pretty and uniquely Australian small towns brimming with history and charm. After being bypassed, however, once well-known towns are often only seen as names on a freeway exit, while others, further off the bypass road, aren't mentioned at all anymore. Sadly, these towns and their stories are often fading in the national consciousness as we have less direct contact with them. The towns themselves may often also fade as their traveller lifeblood dries up. One of the important benefits of our guided Old Highway One exploration is the opportunity to visit and help keep these small heartland towns alive by enjoying their attractions and patronising their businesses. As an added bonus, we'll get to meet the people of Highway One.

Most of the pubs, motels, eateries and other businesses we'll encounter are owner run and managed, particularly on Old Highway One; these would be called "Mom and Pop businesses" on Route 66. The people are open and helpful, so don't be afraid to ask questions, or better still, stop and chat for a while - they're the best source of that precious commodity; local knowledge. Visitors Information Centres are dotted all along our route and provide useful maps, tourist information and advice and many towns feature historical museums.

Great advice spotted on a sign coming into a small Highway One town:

"Lift your foot and take a look"