The Maitland Road
Between Wollombi and Millfield the present road continues to closely follow the original line and many early buildings remain. Caves above the road were extensively used by Aboriginal people, and later by bushranger Yellow Billy, who twice escaped from the Wollombi lock-up.
Millfield is named after its first industrial enterprise, a flour mill, which ground the thousands of bushells of wheat grown in the area, before rust disease became endemic in the 1870s. Originally powered by bullocks, the mill was later converted to steam. Two timber mills continue to operate in Millfield. Former Great North Road convict Pat Doolan established the Rising Sun inn here.
Development around the Cessnock area has mostly taken place in the past century, with the expansion of wine-growing in the area and the growth of mining in the Hunter Valley.
North of Cessnock, the Great North Road followed what is now Old Maitland Road through Sawyers Gully to Rutherford.
Sawyers Gully contains a number of convict-built culverts which remain in use, including a double culvert, the only one remaining on mainland Australia. An old timber and rubble bridge has been bypassed, but it remains beside the road. Local legend tells of the graves of convict road-workers in the Sawyers Gully area, but their exact location is unknown.
A toll-gate operated at Campbells Hill, near the junction of the Great North Road and what is now the New England Highway. Bushranger Thunderbolt held up the toll-keeper there in 1863. He met his victim again a few hours later while enjoying a drink in the nearby Spread Eagle Inn, and returned the cash-box to him!
