Golden Highway is a

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

, located in the Hunter and Orana regions of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It runs eastwards from

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Gol ...

towards

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

on the coast, allowing road transport to avoid travelling over the Blue Mountains to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, and is designated route B84.

Route

From west to east, Golden Highway runs through

Dunedoo Dunedoo ( ) is a village of 1,021 inhabitants situated within the Warrumbungle Shire of central western New South Wales, Australia. Dunedoo is well known to Australian travellers due to its distinctive name (''Dunny'' is a colloquial Australian ...

where it is

concurrent Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...

with

Castlereagh Highway Castlereagh Highway is a state highway located in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. The highway's northern terminus is at a junction with Carnarvon Highway, south of , Queensland. Its southern terminus is at a junction with Great West ...

for approximately then through Merriwa,

Sandy Hollow Sandy Hollow is a small rural town in New South Wales, Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous sm ...

Denman Denman may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places * Denman Glacier, near Antarctica * Denman Shire, New South Wales, Australia ** Denman, New South Wales, a town in the Hunter Valley of Australia * Denman Island, one of the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Can ...

, Jerrys Plains and Mount Thorley, joining

New England Highway New England Highway is an long highway in Australia running from Yarraman, north of Toowoomba, Queensland at its northern end to Hexham at Newcastle, New South Wales at its southern end. It is part of Australia's National Highway system, an ...

at Belford, south of

Singleton Singleton may refer to: Sciences, technology Mathematics * Singleton (mathematics), a set with exactly one element * Singleton field, used in conformal field theory Computing * Singleton pattern, a design pattern that allows only one instance ...

Bylong Valley Way Bylong Valley Way is a New South Wales country road linking the Golden Highway near Sandy Hollow to the Castlereagh Highway near Ilford. It is named after the Bylong Valley, through which the road passes. Route In conjunction with the Bathurs ...

turns off Golden Highway east of Sandy Hollow. Golden Highway and

Putty Road Putty is a material with high plasticity, similar in texture to clay or dough, typically used in domestic construction and repair as a sealant or filler. Although some types of putty (typically those using linseed oil) slowly polymerise and bec ...

are concurrent for around , east of the Mount Thorley industrial estate near Singleton. The highway then turns east onto Mitchell's Line of Road while Putty Road continues to Singleton. Golden Highway provides a fairly low altitude crossing of the Great Dividing Range. It runs through the Hunter Region and gives access to the golden west of New South Wales.

History

The passing of the ''Main Roads Act of 1924'' through the

Parliament of New South Wales The Parliament of New South Wales is a bicameral legislature in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), consisting of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (lower house) and the New South Wales Legislative Council (upper house). Eac ...

provided for the declaration of Main Roads, roads partially funded by the State government through the Main Roads Board (later the Department of Main Roads, and eventually

Transport for NSW Transport for NSW, sometimes abbreviated to TfNSW, and pronounced as Transport for New South Wales, is an agency of the New South Wales Government established on 1 November 2011, and is the leading transport and roads agency in New South Wales, ...

). Main Road No. 62 was declared from the intersection with Great Northern Highway (today

) at Scone, via Merriwa and Cassilis to the intersection with Craboon-Mullaley Road at Coolah, Main Road No. 206 was declared from the intersection of North-Western Highway (today

Mitchell Highway Mitchell Highway is an outback state highway located in the central and south western regions of Queensland and the northern and central western regions of New South Wales in Australia. The southern part of the Mitchell Highway forms part ...

) in Dubbo, via Ballimore to Dunedoo, Main Road No. 209 was declared from Muswellbrook, via Denman to Merriwa, and Main Road No. 213 was declared from Mount Thorley, via Jerrys Plains to Denman, on the same day, 8 August 1928. With the passing of the ''Main Roads (Amendment) Act of 1929'' to provide for additional declarations of State Highways and Trunk Roads, this was amended to Trunk Road 62 and Main Roads 206 and 209 and 213 on 8 April 1929. The Department of Main Roads, which had succeeded the New South Wales MRB in 1932, re-routed the western end of Trunk Road 62 from Coolah to terminate at the intersection of Trunk Road 55 (later

) in Craboon (8km east of Dunedoo) on 29 June 1977; the former alignment between Cassilis and Coolah was re-declared as Main Road 618. The passing of the ''Roads Act of 1993'' through the

updated road classifications and the way they could be declared within New South Wales. Under this act, Golden Highway was declared as State Highway 27 on 22 November 1996, from the intersection with New England Highway at Minimbah east of Whittingham via Mount Thorley, Jerrys Plains, Denman, Merriwa, Cassilis and Dunedoo to the intersection with

Newell Highway Newell Highway is a national highway in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It provides the major road link between southeastern Queensland and Victoria via central NSW and as such carries large amounts of freight. At in length, the Newell is th ...

in Dubbo, subsuming Main Roads 206 and 213; the western ends of Trunk Road 62 and Main Road 209 were truncated to meet Golden Highway at Merriwa and Denman respectively. The highway today, as Highway 27, still retains this declaration. State Route 84 was signed across Main Road 206, Trunk Road 62, and Main Road 213 - from Dubbo via Dunedoo, Cassilis, Merriwa and Denman to Muswellbrook - in 1974; when Golden Highway was declared in 1996, the eastern end of State Route 84 was altered to follow it and terminate at Minimbah. With the conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in 2013, this was replaced with route B84.

Major junctions

References

{{Hunter Region places and items of interest Highways in New South Wales Roads in the Hunter Region Hunter River (New South Wales)

Route

History

Major junctions

See also

References