Just how did the Newell Highway get its name?
The Newell Highway, State Highway No 17, is an extremely busy one. A glance at a map of New South Wales shows it is one of those routes that are very basic to the road network, traversing the State virtually from one border to another.
In the case of the Newell, it is from south to north - from the Victorian border near Tocumwal to the
Queensland border at Goondiwindi, except for the section of the Mid-Western Highway from West
Wyalong to Marsden and section of the Oxley Highway from Gilgandra to Coonabarabran.
Lying west of the Great Dividing Range, it avoids the traffic problems of the crowded coastal corridor and is the longest highway in the State - extending a distance of 1060km.
It is hardly coincidental that the man after -whom this highway was named, Hugh Hamilton Newell, was in a very real sense basic to the foundation of the Department of Main Roads as we know it today.
Hugh Newell was born in Belfast, Ireland, on April 29, 1878, and spent his early childhood in the United States of America. His family then moved to New South Wales and his education completed
at Newtown Superior Public School and Fort Street Model School.
Newell was always a "road man".
He began his training as a road builder in 1894 when just before his sixteenth birthday he joined the Department of Public Works as an engineering cadet. After an initial period in the Roads and Bridges
Section at Head Office, he transferred to field duties in 1897 and filled the positions of Field Assistant and District Engineer in a number of country centres, including Tenterfield, Newcastle and Bathurst.
Newell was married in 1903 and returned to head office in 1917 to take charge of a section dealing with National Works and Local Government. By 1924 he was District Engineer, Wollongong, and Manager of Port Kembla Electricity Power Supply and Harbour Works.
Over the intervening period of thirty years he had become not only a first rate practical road man but also a skilful administrator. Newell, with the other two members of the newly formed Main Road
Board (John Garlick, President and Tom Upton) began m 1925 to chart a course that was soon to make the Board the principal road-building authority in the State.
From January 1928, until August 1930, Newell was Deputy President of the Board while Mr Garlick took up a temporary appointment as a Civic Commissioner. Following the dismissal of the Premier, Mr Lang, by the Governor, Sir Philip Game, on Friday May 13, 1932, a Liberal-Country Party Coalition under Hon BSB Stevens came to power, Lt Col Bruxner became Deputy Premier and Minister for transport - positions he held for nine years until May 1941.
Late in June 1932, a proclamation was issued transferring the administration of the Main Roads Act back to Mr Newell, who was vested with the full powers of the Transport Commissioners.
The road transport aspects of Mr Newell's duties earlier in the year were taken over by Mr SA Maddocks when he was appointed in August as Acting Transport Commissioner for Tramways and Road Transport, leaving Mr Newell responsible solely (and solely responsible) for main road matters.
To-round off a year of complicated changes, the passage of the Transport (Division of Functions) Act, 1932, constituted a Ministry of Transport and three Departments, namely
Railways, Road Transport and Tramways, and Main Roads.
On December 29, 1932, Mr Newell was formally appointed as the first Commissioner for Main Roads.
It was a fitting appointment for a man who had contributed so much to the establishment of a competent new central mad building authority during such critical formative years.
It was, of course, in part at least, Bruxner's recognition of his skill and dedication as a "road man" that assumed Mr Newell's appointment. Recognition also came to Mr Newell when he was created a
Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1936.
He was a Member of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, and was President of the New South Wales Advisory Committee of the Institution of Civic Engineers, Mr Newell was still Commissioner when he died of heart failure on March 15, 1941, at the age of 63, and just over 15
years since his appointment to the Main Roads Board.
Although in photographs he looked stern and aloof, Hugh Newell was a kind and sympathetic man.
He practised his Christianity unobtrusively and, despite the formidable program of work he set himself, he went out of his way to foster good working and social relation among his staff. The Main Roads Social and Recreation Club - still striving in 1977 was founded by Mr Newell as early as 1930.
If Hugh Hamilton Newell was a "road man" by profession, he was also a "people man" by nature.
It was therefore fitting that, in July 1941, State Highway 17 - which links the people of three States -, should have been named the Newell Highway to commemorate a man who understood so well the vital role of roads in the everyday life of the community.
In November 1941, Belligen Shire Council gave the name "Newell Falls" to a waterfall which cascades its way pleasantly past Trunk Road 76 between Belligen and Dorrigo. A plaque records "appreciation of his untiring efforts in providing good roads".
In the slim war-time economy edition of the Departments 1940-41 Annual Report, more than one page
out of a total of 24 was given to outlining Mr Newell's work. One particular paragraph sums it up so well and is a fitting conclusion to this brief article on his brilliant career and his special place in this
Department's and this State's history.
'Mr Newell had a unique knowledge of the whole of the State, acquired during his forty-seven years
of public service, and this, together with his undoubted engineering and administrative ability, were invaluable attributes in coordinating main roads activities. By his untiring devotion to duty through the whole of his years of service he was a guiding influence in pioneering, developing and improving the roads system, which will serve as a lasting monument to him.
The above information is from:
The Forbes Advocate, Tuesday, May 11, 1999.
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