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Heritage Objects

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Roads Through History explores the history of road making from the time when all road-making was done by hand, using shovel, picks and wheelbarrows, through to an era of heavy motorised machinery. The objects selected for use in this section represent the trends, technologies and people involved in the construction and maintenance of South Australia's roads. They relate to a time period within the evolution of the Highways Department (1900s to 1980s) where the primary focus was on constructing and maintaining safe and reliable roadways throughout South Australia. 

Rapid changes in technology, and often severe environmental conditions, have left few remaining examples of the technology in use in these decades. The Highways Department was also always eager to encourage use of new techniques and this resulted in a high changeover of equipment. Some of the remaining pieces have outlived their operators and knowledge of their use has been lost.

These objects represent a connection to the history of roads and road-making in South Australia. They are of historical importance to the Highways Department but do not form part of a state collection. Information about these objects and their use has been drawn from a catalogue compiled by the Highways Department in the 1980s. Further information has also come from oral history interviews and research.

The History Trust's role in this Roads Through History project is to assist Transport SA to document the historical importance of its Heritage Collection by making this information publicly accessible through the History Trusts website.

Dimensions of the objects have been quoted as, l (length) x w (width) x h (height), in metric measurements.

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