After them came roads: the Argyle Road (via Marulan and Windellama) and the Old Government Road (via the Cookbundoon Mountains). Initially, they were just dirt tracks.

In 1829, Government Surveyor-General Major Thomas Mitchell drew up plans for the Great South Road from Liverpool to Goulburn.

Convicts did the heavy work, clearing trees and scrub, leveling the ground, breaking rocks and cutting sandstone for culverts and bridges.

Stockades were set up along the route and Goulburn has significant remains of convict work just 10 kilometres from town near the former Towrang Stockade.

The Goulburn District Historical and Genealogical Society (GDGHS) now invites the public to join them for a talk at the library and bush walks in the Towrang area during the Our Living History event this weekend.

On Saturday March 9, at 10.30am, historian Phillip Leighton-Daly will give a talk in the Goulburn Mulwaree Library on the Towrang Stockade, the subject of his seventh book. 

Based on his most recent book, The Towrang Stockade,  Phillip Leighton-Daly uses primary evidence and research to dispel myths and debunk old beliefs.

Was the stockade solely a convict labour camp? Were there any escapes? The Towrang Stockade is the seventh book in the popular series, Reflective History of the Goulburn District.

Leighton-Daly is passionate about sharing Goulburn’s stories.

His talk gives a wider perspective on the Stockade, including convict escapes, military deployment, and comparisons of weaponry used between the two.

Goulburn Mulwaree Library manager Erin Williams said the Towrang Stockade contributed much towards communications, trade and settlement “as the largest Stockade in the southern region".

"It was the vital link along the early corridor that we know as the Hume Highway today," she said.

“Talks such as Phillip’s create awareness and interest in our rich and varied local history.”

Later that afternoon, Leighton-Daly will also lead a group tour on a section of the Great South Road, which has several well-built sandstone culverts and a bridge dated 1839 engraved into it.

On Sunday March 10, Tom Bryant will lead a further bush walk along a different section of the original Great South Road.

Both men have a vast knowledge of the history of this area.