Breadalbane

Postcode: 2581

Breadalbane is a small village located on the Lachlan River headwaters and not far from Goulburn in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Upper Lachlan Shire. This little town is also located nearby and adjacent to the major Hume Highway which links Sydney to Melbourne via an inland route. Previously the highway used to go through the small town however it was bypassed in the early 1990s. Breadalbane is also situated on the Main Southern Railway, the NSW portion of the Sydney-Melbourne rail line.

Breadalbane is also located nearby to the start of the Federal Highway which branches off the Hume Highway just south of Goulburn and heads directly towards Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory, and the capital city of Australia where the Commonwealth Federal Parliament sits.

Breadalbane is a very historic town and it is located on the Old Hume Highway together with Cullerin and Gunning. There is not much now at Breadalbane aside from a few houses. In the past there was accommodation and a pub, service station and a railway station. However, these services are no longer available, although the former hotel and service station remain standing and are today used as private residences. The railway station closed in 1975 although the signal box remained in use until 1979. All trace of the station has been removed, although a loading bank is still standing.

There was a time, when the Hume Highway wound its way across the Cullerin Range (it has since been converted into a major freeway), when trucks used to roar through Breadalbane on their way from Sydney to Melbourne. At the same time it was an important railway siding on the main route from Sydney to Melbourne.

Still, for all the traffic, was always an undistinguished little centre located 218 km south west of Sydney it was little more than a pub, a couple of churches and few buildings.

As early as 1829 the New South Wales Surveyor General Major Thomas Mitchell was reporting that the road (more a track than a road) from Bong Bong near Bowral through to Breadalbane was of a sufficient quality that a regular coach service could be established. Thus it became a stopping point for people heading south and west from Sydney. This fact encouraged bushrangers. The bushranger, Tom Byrne, part of Ben Hall's gang, is buried at Breadalbane. He lived for a time at Mutbilly near Breadalbane. Equally on 23 February 1865 near the present townsite there was a battle between Ben Hall's gang and troopers from Goulburn.

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