Marulan is a small town east of the Great Dividing Range and is located in the Southern Highlands of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. It is in the

Goulburn Mulwaree Council Goulburn Mulwaree Council is a Local government in Australia, local government area located in the Southern Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is located adjacent to the Hume Highway and the Southern Highlands railway line ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

and the traditional lands of the Gundungurra people. It is located south-west of Sydney on the Hume Highway, although it bypasses the town proper. Marulan lies on the 150th meridian east. It has a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

on the Main Southern railway line. Marulan was previously known as ''Mooroowoolen''. At the , Marulan had a population of 1,178 people.

History

In the early years of European settlement of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, exploration southwest of Sydney was slow. In 1818, Hamilton Hume and James Meehan reached "the Goulburn plains" for the first time. Governor

Lachlan Macquarie Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Lachlan Macquarie, Companion of the Order of the Bath, CB (; ; 31 January 1762 – 1 July 1824) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Scotland. Macquarie served as the fifth Gove ...

ordered the construction of the Great South Road (the basis of the northern end of the Hume Highway) in 1819 from Picton to the Goulburn Plains. The southern part of Macquarie's road ran from Sutton Forest roughly along existing minor roads to Canyonleigh, Brayton, Carrick and Towrang, where it joined the current route to Goulburn. Branching from this route (now called the Illawarra Highway at this point) just south of Sutton Forest, a road, now known as Old Argyle Road, developed in the 1820s. It ran to Bungonia, via Wingello, Tallong, and the southern outskirts of Marulan, all, except Wingello, located in Argyle County, along with Goulburn. In the early 19th century Bungonia was expected to become a major centre, but it subsequently proved unsuitable for intensive agriculture. When Thomas Mitchell rerouted the Great South Road in the 1830s, he decided to bring these two roads together and build a junction at old Marulan, with roads proceeding to Goulburn and Bungonia. When the Main Southern railway reached Marulan in 1868, the town migrated 3 km north to the railway station. Nevertheless, the old cemetery remains at the Bungonia Road intersection. A quarry is being developed near the intersection, so an interchange has been built there. In 1958, the first truck inspection station in New South Wales was opened on the outskirts of Marulan on the Hume Highway.First Truck Check Station in Operation '' Truck & Bus Transportation'' February 1959 page 61 In 1986, the town was bypassed when a dual carriageway section of the Hume Highway opened.

Marulan Meridian Arch

Located in Meridian Park on George St, the Marulan Meridian Arch is a sculpture that forms an arch with a metal sphere on an axis mounted at the top of arch. It is the very centre of the

time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...

UTC+10:00 and, as such, the sun rises here at approximately 6:00am, then sets at exactly 6:00pm, every equinox. It commemorates the Centenary of Federation and that Marulan is the only town on the 150th meridian east.

Heritage listings

Marulan has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Old Marulan Town * 16501 Hume Highway, Narambulla Creek: Wandi * Main Southern railway: Marulan railway station

Notes

References

{{authority control Towns in New South Wales Southern Tablelands Hume Highway *