A Hume Highway Reunion and Sylvia’s Gap Road Run will raise funds and awareness for a road transport museum proposed for Gundagai.
Memories of the old Hume Highway will be shared on June 6, 2015, when the Australian Road Transport Heritage Centre (ARTHC) holds its Hume Highway Reunion Dinner at the Gundagai District Services Club, Gundagai, New South Wales.
The dinner is held annually to raise awareness and funds for the proposed heritage centre. The 2015 weekend will include a nostalgic road run along Sylvia’s Gap Road near Tumblong on June 7.
“It’s not a long run but it’s an interesting old run, and it’s one you just can’t go and do yourself,” says ARTHC Secretary, Daryl Weston. The 12km section of road was once part of Highway 31, but much of it is now on private property. Organisers have negotiated with land owners to make the run possible.
ARTHC is holding the Sylvia’s Gap Road Run in conjunction with the Gundagai Antique Motor Club.
A road transport heritage centre was proposed in 2008 to draw tourists into Tarcutta after the Hume Highway bypass.
But early this year the ARTHC committee announced it was abandoning plans to build the attraction in Tarcutta. The preferred location is now Gundagai.
Weston explains the committee’s decision in the December issue of Owner//Driver Magazine.
He believes the heritage centre can be built in Gundagai for around $1.5 million.
Several historically significant trucks have already been donated to the ARTHC committee: a 1942 WWII Studebaker; a Diamond T; a purpose-built hybrid fire truck; and a restored 1924 Chev.
Anyone wishing to join the ARTHC committee or to donate to the project can phone Daryl Weston on 0427 756 983 or Jim Morton on 0408 441 495.
For more information about the Hume Highway Reunion Dinner and Sylvia’s Gap Road Run, go to www.arthc.com.au.
Read more about the proposed heritage centre in the December issue of Owner//Driver Magazine, and subscribe here to secure your copy.
Photography: Tamara Whitsed