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Oxley Highway (National Route 34) - Tamworth to Bendemeer - Former Alignment - Moonbi (Decommissioned)

Statistics:

• Length: 654 km (Tamworth to Bendemeer: 40 km)
• Eastern Terminus: Hindman Street and Gordon Street at Port Macquarie
• Western Terminus: Mitchell Highway (NR32) and Nevertire-Bogan Road at Nevertire
• Suburbs, Towns & Localities Along The Route: Bendemeer, Moonbi, Kootingal, Nemingha, Tamworth and West Tamworth

Route Numbering:

• Current: None
• Former:
• Road Authority Internal Classification: None

General Information:

National Route 34 is a rural highway that connects the coast with western New South Wales. It features several important towns along the route, and also crosses the Great Dividing Range.

The route is mostly single carriageway and undivided, except around Port Macquarie, Moonbi and Tamworth. At its eastern end, the route is quite windy because of the difficult terrain created by the Great Dividing Range, beyond Moonbi, the route generally passes through fairly flat terrain, except in the Coonabarabran area.

The Oxley Highway is named after explorer John Oxley, who was the first European to explore much of inland New South Wales in 1818. He crossed the southern end of the northern tableland and camped on the Apsley River in 1818 near the present Walcha.

History:

• 1868: A road between Tamworth and Gunnedah via Carroll surveyed and proclaimed a parish road. 1
• 1928: The Oxley Highway was proclaimed. The highway generally followed the line of existing roads but many sections of the route were soon improved as a result of the proclamation of the highway. 2

Background:

There's been at least 2 other alignments of the highway over First Moonbi Hill. The alignment previous to the current one was bypassed during the late 1970s.

Moonbi to Bendemeer			Bendemeer to Moonbi
Preview:	Description:		Preview:	Description:
	Old Highway Alignment: This is old road approaching First Moonbi Hill between Moonbi and Bendemeer. Image © Paul Rands			Old Highway Alignment: Taken on Southbound on the old approach to First Moonbi Hill, at Moonbi, near Tamworth. Note the old road markings. This road is now council controlled and used by residents. Image © Paul Rands
	Old Highway Alignment: This is old road approaching First Moonbi Hill between Moonbi and Bendemeer. It's a little overgrown but is a local road these days, which is called Summerfields Road. Image © Paul Rands			Old Alignment Up First Moonbi Hill: Looking Southbound from Moonbi Lookout, this is the old road up First Moonbi Hill, this joins up to the road with yellow road markings elsewhere in this section, but is not trafficable. Image © Paul Rands
	Old Highway Alignment with Yellow Lines: It's been a long time since yellow road marking were used in NSW (Mid 80s), but because the road is council controlled these days it sees less maintenance, and hence why the old road markings are still in use in 2004. Image © Paul Rands
	Old Highway Alignment: Taken on Northbound on the old approach to First Moonbi Hill, at Moonbi, near Tamworth. Note the old road markings. This road is now council controlled and used by residents. Image © Paul Rands
	Double Yellow Lines: Not since the mid 1980s have double yellow lines been seen on NSW roads, but on this old section of the highway on the approach to First Moonbi Hill they are still seen on a road still in use. The gate is where the road stops nowaways. Image © Paul Rands

1 Department of Main Roads, Historical Roads of New South Wales, Oxley Highway, Extract from March 1953 issue of "Main Roads" journal.
2 Department of Main Roads, The Roadmakers, A History of Main Roads in New South Wales, ISBN 0 7240 0439 4

Last updated: 17-Dec-2019 0:55

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