The 158-year-old Garroorigang property almost went up in flames nearly two weeks ago when fire raced along the Hume Highway bypass.

The blaze came perilously close to the National Trust-listed home on Braidwood Rd. 

Embers ignited patches along the road’s southern easement less than 40m from the house. They also spread into the garden 1m from the house, destroying four rose bushes, and into the home’s gutter where elm pods had settled and fuelled flames.

If not for the quick action of caretaker Terry McCarthy, the damage could have been much worse, co-owner Jenny MacDougall said. 

“We’re very concerned that fires that have now burnt twice along the bypass embankments at Garroorigang and have posed a serious threat to the heritage listed home and its unique collections,” she told the Post.

The last blaze several years ago travelled from the east, up the bypass, into Garrorigang’s grounds and destroyed about 30 trees.

Mrs MacDougall said a 200m section of easement along the highway, adjoining their home, was in such a state of “neglect,” it was a serious fire risk.

“While the level, accessible areas have been slashed, the embankment itself is now covered in pine seedlings, massive infestations of blackberries, dry grass and fallen timber,” she said.

“Neither the Roads and Maritime Service nor the council will take responsibility for the control of the noxious blackberry growth, with the result that these have spread extensively over the past 20 years on both sides of the freeway.”

While authorities argued about who was responsible, the infestations were getting worse.

“Just what do we have to do to get action on this matter before the next fire event,” Mrs MacDougall asked.

“Is it to be a case of Nero fiddling while Rome burns?”

She said the problem was compounded at Garroorigang, where a steep embankment beside the narrow 1mwide easement made access more difficult.

Vehicles cannot get in or out.

The re-design emerged after the Humes objected to the bypass’s original intended alignment, just 20m from the house and taking out much of the garden.

Across the road, at 10pm that day embers also sparked fire in one of the Humes’ paddocks, where two horses grazed.

It had spread from the highway’s embankment, burnt over the railway line and temporarily stopped trains. RFS crews quickly stopped its spread.

In the distance, 20ha of burnt pasture on the South Hill property can be clearly seen.

The November 20 fire, sparked when a vehicle on the highway lost its trailer wheel, raced through 60ha, fanned by strong winds.

Mayor Geoff Kettle said he was well aware of the weed problem along the area’s highways. But he defended the council’s stance in not tackling the issue, saying it was State Government “cost shifting”.

“If we took responsibility for weeds growing along the full length of the Hume and Federal freeways then we’d never get any of our own weed work done,” he said.

“It (the Hume Hwy) is a State road and the State’s problem.”

He pointed out that Garroorigang was just one of many properties along the highway that was affected.

However, he has pledged to write to Roads Minister Duncan Gay highlighting the recent fire and the weed infestations.

“I’m pretty firm on this,” he said.

“It is purely cost shifting.

“The RMS says they will only look after the freeway up until Berrima, but where it becomes a highway, they say it’s councils’ issue.

“The State Government wants us to look after weeds on our patch and to prosecute private property owners, yet they want to cost shift responsibility for weeds on their land onto councils.”

A spokesman for the RMS said the authority was responsible for vegetation maintenance next to the Hume Highway.

"Noxious weed removal on the easement near the Hume Highway bypass at Goulburn is the responsibility of Goulburn Mulwaree Council as it is council land," he said.

"Roads and Maritime will contact Goulburn Mulwaree Council to discuss this issue."