Yass - November 2015

Driving home from Canberra we decided to break the journey up a bit and go for a bit of a walk. Now Yass might not jump out as a place that would entice you off the Hume Highway but back in the dark ages I'd spent a bit of time in Yass. For those people that don't know my dad was an interstate truck driver and I spent a fair chunk of my early childhood travelling Australia in the cab of a truck. Back in the 1970's the Hume Highway was a completely different beast than it is today, the highway passed through all those towns that are now bypassed and Yass happened to be the spot where a lot of truckies broke their journey. The road into Yass was home to numerous truck stops and come the middle of the night the highway would be full of parked trucks with both the drivers and the trucks refuelling, back in those days the trip from Melbourne to Sydney took at least twelve hours in a truck, and that was going hard, a lot more than the nine hours it takes now. Apart from the truck stops I also remember rattling along the main street, its old shops dark in the middle of the night but still making an interesting change from staring out the side window into the inky blackness of the bush. The main memory of Yass for me though was of the old bridge over the Yass River, the bridge was one of those old ornate jobs with a wooden deck. Before we could rattle our way across we had to time our run so that no trucks were coming the other way, the bridge was built in the days before semi trailers so was a little on the narrow side. My other memory of the Yass Bridge was being stuck in Yass the night it flooded, what an exciting adventure for a young boy, with trucks lined up for miles on each side of the river we were lucky enough to get a room for the night at the 888 hotel (or maybe that was 666, who knows!). So not only did I get to stay in a hotel, which was a real novelty for me, but we got to walk down the middle of the highway in the dark, passing all the parked up trucks to check out the flood waters surging over the road, it might not sound much but it obviously made an impression on me!

The old Yass Railway Station.

Anyway, after typing up the longest paragraph in the history of blogging I suppose that I'd better get onto the actual walk. We decided to start the walk at the tourist information centre at the south end of town, where after parking the ute we headed off to check out another favourite thing of mine, old trains. The old Yass Railway Station is now home to a railway museum, and while it wasn't open today, I was still able to check out a steam train and some old rolling stock from outside the fence, the Yass Railway Station's main claim to fame is it being home to the shortest platform in Australia, you learn something everyday, hey. From the station we headed back to the main street, slowly making our way down hill towards the river past all the old buildings, a lot of which date back to the 1800's.

The old Yass Railway Station was home the the shortest platform in Australia

The black post behind the car isn't a parking metre its a hitching post for your horse.

Arriving at the Yass River I was slightly disappointed to note that the old bridge had gone and in its place was a boring concrete bridge with a nice wide and smooth road over it, I think Sam was starting to think I was a bit strange as I told her all about the old bridge! Anyway we pushed on with our walk heading down to the banks of the river and crossing just before the old railway bridge, which in itself looked pretty impressive. After crossing the gently flowing river below a weir we walked along a nice section of the route on the north bank of the river until we came to a bridge at Riley Terrace where we could cross back over.

The Yass Courthouse, 1880.

Cobblestone Cottage, 1840.

The old railway bridge over the Yass River.

The Yass River is lined in this spot with nice parkland and the river itself looks like its received some love from a Landcare group or something similar. We walked along a nice shared path as we returned towards the centre of town, our notes telling us to turn up Church Street but on reaching the spot to turn I noticed a familiar looking steel structure in the middle of the park ahead of us, wandering over for a look it was the remains of the old Yass bridge that I'd be crapping on about all walk, at least Sam now knew that there actually was an old bridge and that I wasn't completely overcome with dementia. After checking out the remains of the old bridge we did indeed head up Church Street to check out, your not going to believe this, a church. The Anglican Church dates back to 1850 and the Rectory across the road dates from 1841, the district was only explored by Europeans in 1821 when Hamilton Hume passed through, although there was an indigenous presence for tens of thousands of years before that, in fact Yass is thought to be named after the indigenous word Yharr which translates to 'running water'. 

Our walk crossed the river below a weir.

The new road bridge over the Yass River complete with indigenous murals. This is looking back up the main street.

The path along the river was a pleasant walk.

The Yass River.

Crossing the main street we walked past the Old Globe Hotel which having been built in 1847 is actually older than the Anglican Church, although being Australia that's not really a surprise. The walk was drawing to a bit of an end now as we meandered our way back up towards the ute. After passing the Presbytery and the old St Augustine's Catholic Church which both date back to around 1840, we completed our walk heading back up the main street to the ute. Taking off the boots we had a fairly uneventful cruise home along the Hume Highway.

The Anglican Church, 1850.

Check out the ute in front of the old Globe Hotel.

The Presbytery, 1839.

The Dirt.

We walked 6.1 kilometres and climbed 64 metres on our easy stroll around Yass. I used the notes out of Marion Stuart's book 'Best Bush, Town and Village Walks in and around the ACT'  by Woodslane, gee those Woodslane guys no how to come up with a catchy title hey! The walk took less than two hours even with me mucking around taking photos, and while I probably wouldn't make the drive from Melbourne to Yass just to do the walk its certainly worth the short detour off the Hume Highway if you want to break your journey.

The remains of the old bridge over the Yass River.