The Mitchell Highway is a major rural highway in Australia, travelling through central and northern New South Wales and south central Queensland. The highway starts from its northern end in Queensland with the Landsborough Highway near Augathella and continues south to Charleville and Cunnamulla. It then crosses the border into New South Wales and passing through Bourke, Byrock, Nyngan, Nevertire, Narromine, Dubbo, Wellington, Molong and Orange. The highway ends at Bathurst, at the junction of the Mid-Western Highway to Cowra and the Great Western Highway to Sydney via the Blue Mountains .
The highway was declared on 8 August 1928 and named North Western Highway. On 9 October 1936 the name was changed to the Mitchell Highway, named after Major Thomas Mitchell, who was Surveyor-General of New South Wales in the 1820s and explored much of inland New South Wales and Victoria.
The portion of the Mitchell Highway passing through Orange, New South Wales, is known as Summer Street and serves as the main street through the city.
Famous quotes containing the words mitchell and/or highway:
“He has a nasty instinct for the exposed groin, and always puts his knee in just to stir things up.”
—Austin Mitchell (b. 1934)
“The improved American highway system ... isolated the American-in-transit. On his speedway ... he had no contact with the towns which he by-passed. If he stopped for food or gas, he was served no local fare or local fuel, but had one of Howard Johnson’s nationally branded ice cream flavors, and so many gallons of Exxon. This vast ocean of superhighways was nearly as free of culture as the sea traversed by the Mayflower Pilgrims.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)