Bells Line of Road

The Bells Line of Road (part of State Route 40) is a major road in New South Wales and runs from North Richmond on the North-Western outskirts of Sydney to Bell in the Blue Mountains, where it becomes Chifley Road.

The route, part of the traditional aboriginal pathway network, was shown to Archibald Bell, Jr. by Darug men Emery and Cogy in 1823. They were accompanied by assistant government surveyor Robert Hoddle and the route they marked was known as Bells Line, to be later cleared to become the second road across the Mountains. It was rarely used before World War II. The road was improved between 1939 and 1949 as it was seen by the government as being an alternative to the Great Western Highway and could be used for war efforts.

Today, the route is still used as an alternate route across the Blue Mountains and is also a popular tourist drive.

Read more about Bells Line Of Road:  Route, Lowered Speed Limits, Future, Alternate Routes

Famous quotes containing the words bells, line and/or road:

    See the wild birds on the wing,
    Hear the bells that sweetly ring,
    When you feel like singin’, sing—
    Keep a-goin’!
    Frank Lebby Stanton (1857–1927)

    When all this is over, you know what I’m going to do? I’m gonna get married, gonna have about six kids. I’ll line ‘em up against the wall and tell them what it was like here in Burma. If they don’t cry, I’ll beat the hell out of ‘em.
    Samuel Fuller, U.S. screenwriter, and Milton Sperling. Samuel Fuller. Barney, Merrill’s Marauders (1962)

    Telephone poles were matchsticks, put there to be snapped off at a whim. Dogs trotting across the road were suddenly big trucks. Old ladies turned into moving—vans. Everything was too bright, but very funny and made for my delight. And about half a mile from my long liquid breakfast I turned carefully down a side street and parked, and sat beaming happily through the tannic fog for about an hour, remembering how witty we all had been, how handsome and talented ... [ellipsis in original]
    M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)