In April 2016 I made my first plane flight in many decades. Rob and I took at trip back to the area that many of my father's ancestors first settled in when they arrived in Australia. By 1840 the Fraser/Marks branch of the family had arrived (via Sydney) in the Binda-Laggan and Markdale regions of New South Wales.  As we drove comfortably down M31, the Hume Highway, I reflected on the vast difference between my journey to Goulburn and that of my ancestors. 

In the 1830s the course of the Great South Road was changed to pass through Goulburn, and the town became an important centre on its route. The road journey at that time was not an easy one:

Complaints began in the 1840s about the tedious trip from Sydney to Goulburn - a coach took 29 hours to travel the 140 miles. One letter in the press stated that "it was common to see the whole way dotted with vehicles of every description, from the gig and spring cart to the bullock dray, all stuck fast, or rather half buried in (muddy) sloughs". ~ Philip Morton http://bit.ly/2t5PSsD

“It was a long and hazardous journey plagued by weather conditions that were either roasting hot or freezing cold. If the flies, snakes, and rough tracks were not enough to contend with then there were the bushrangers” ~ Monica L Croke ‘Crookwell The Way We Were’ p.6 

When Alexander (Snr) Fraser left Cabramatta, Sydney, he then worked as a labourer in the Binda area. After a few years he was able to set himself up as a carrier with a team of bullocks. There is a newspaper account from September 1864 that tells of his dray being ransacked by bushrangers as he camped just outside Pejar.

The Binda region was also home to William and Ann Marks and their family. On the 26 Aug 1861 a double wedding was held. The Fraser’s only son, Alexander (Jnr), married Martha Alice Marks and the Fraser’s second youngest daughter Elizabeth Louisa, married Martha’s brother William (Jnr) Marks. [It was with these two couples and their children, that Alexander (Snr) and Margaret Fraser moved to Queensland in 1877].

Until 1875 it took four days to travel from Goulburn to Crookwell by dray. When, at this time, the first passenger coach was introduced, the trip still took a day each way.  - Now, travelling by car, the trip takes a little over half an hour!

“The area around Laggan was first settled in the 1830s. Many Scottish and Irish settlers took up small holdings in Redground, just a few kilometres north of the town. The red earth, they knew was good for growing potatoes, and in this isolated area they took up subsistence farming.” http://www.argylecounty.com.au/towns/laggan.html

We drove from Binda to Laggan via Redground Road and Redground Heights Road (…… on the map below) knowing that this was near the area where Alexander and Margaret Fraser had  acquired a block of land. (In 1859 they had land at Redbank. The Grevilles 1872 Post Office Directory lists them as farmers at Saw Pit Binda.)