For Canberrans (and others) making their way along the Hume Highway, Michael McGirr’s Bypass: The Story of a Road, is not only very informative, but also entertaining. Former teacher, and academic, essayist and former Jesuit priest, Michael has outlined his experience and that of his partner, Jenny, in cycling from Sydney to Melbourne some 20 years’ ago. The book is replete with significant historical information about myriad towns along the way (now bypassed by the highway), their backgrounds and some of their notable citizens, as well as various explorers such as Hamilton Hume and William Hilton Hovell, whose 1824 trip from Gunning to Port Phillip (Melbourne) has been so assiduously studied in our primary schools. When writing Bypass: The Story of a Road, Michael had not long left his life with the Jesuit community. Perhaps this cycling adventure was his version of the contemplative and observational Camino Walk. Jenny and Michael met many people from all walks of life and backgrounds – locals in country towns, other travellers and backpackers (whom he describes as the “true explorers” because they constantly seek out cultural sites, churches and museums) – all with stories to tell. Other notable Australians discussed include Henry Lawson (“Australia’s poet inebriate” as Michael dubs him), one-time Goulburn resident and renowned writer, Mary Gilmore and long-distance runner, 62-year-old country Victorian potato farmer, Cliff Young, whose running along the Hume in the 1980s, featured so highly in the media. Where to find the best toilets and cafes is mentioned; iconic eateries such as Goulburn’s Paragon Cafe and the Niagara in Gundagai, are specifically noted. Ironically, a night of comfort for Michael and Jenny was in the large home (former orphanage) of a Goulburn friend, where, in earlier times, many former residents would have endured serious deprivations. Many fascinating events are witnessed, some highly amusing such as a restaurant scene where a young couple were “secretly slipping corn crackers into each other’s bum cracks”, and where Michael decided to finish his lunch and get out “before they started on the jelly and ice-cream”.
