The Hamilton Hume Motor is is named after one of Australia’s truly great explorers Hamilton Hume. The Yass Plains were discovered in 1821 by a party which included Hamilton Hume. The plains were an attraction to settlers in the 1820s and in 1837 the site for the Yass township was gazetted.
In 1824 Hume and Hovell set on a journey that would open up the inland route between Sydney and Melbourne. Today Hume is commemorated by the Hume Highway, the principal road between Sydney and Melbourne. Hume and Hovell were also commemorated by having their portraits printed on the Australian one-pound banknote between 1953 and 1966. In 1976, the pair were honoured on a postage stamp bearing their portraits. The Canberra suburb of Hume was named after him, as was the federal electoral Division of Hume.
In 1828, Hume journeyed with with another celebrated early Australian explorer Charles Sturt into western New South Wales, where they discovered the Darling River. This was Hume’s last expedition.
Hume and his wife Elizabeth settled in Yass living in Cooma Cottage. He had local farming interests and served as a Yass magistrateuntil his death on 19 April 1873.
Hume will always be remembered as an excellent explorer, a first-rate bushman who was courageous and resourceful. Hume had a good knowledge of some of the local aboriginal people, was always able to avoid conflicts with them, and appears to have learnt something of their speech.
