December 13, 1963
The Murchison Highway on the Australian island state of Tasmania was officially opened. This highway, which is located on Tasmania’s West Coast, covers a total of 91 miles (147 kilometers) between the township of Somerset in the north and the town of Zeehan in the south.
The inauguration of the Murchison Highway provided considerably wider-than-before access to that section of Tasmania. The only options that had previously been available for visiting the area involved sailing by ship to either Regatta Point or Strahan in Macquarie Harbour; or traveling via the Emu Bay Railway (the present-day Melba Line).
The pivotal role of the Murchison Highway as a transportation link was underscored by journalist and photographer Michael Sharland (1899-1987) in an article that he wrote for the May 1964 issue of Walkabout: Australia’s Way of Life Magazine. Sharland asserted, “Tasmania’s no-man’s-land, a region of mountains and isolated mining settlements, has finally been penetrated by a road which will open it for development and attract people to its fine scenery.” Sharland went on to note, “Opened in December last, the Murchison Highway goes through the heart of what for many years was known as Tasmania’s ‘lost province.’”
Sharland also wrote that “the Murchison Highway, by giving access to the West Coast for the thousands of Tasmanians who have not been there before, is helping the development of the region’s tourist business.” He further stated, “There is impressive scenery in its mountain ranges, in its wild geologically young rivers that sweep from them, in its calm, tree-lined estuaries where reflections are superb, in its several ‘ghost towns’ among the hills, where searchers can find adventures in history.” (The accompanying photo of the Murchison Highway was taken in 2018 at its northern terminus of Somerset.)
Photo Credit: Public Domain
For more information on highways in Tasmania, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highways_in_Tasmania
Transportation History 
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