Marulan is a secret gem of a thriving village that most highway drivers miss. Behind the service stations and fast-food restaurants on the side of the highway, you’ll find pretty streetscapes with sandstone cottages, cafe’s, interesting antiques, and wares to browse plus a host of village amenities.
If you have time, wander through our village and take a moment to learn about the history of Marulan, there are QR codes listed outside the different points of interest. Scan the codes to delve into past adventures from bygone times or click here to choose which you’d most like to see.
Click here to find out more about Marulan, with a quick tour around George Street, the main hub of our village. We hope you enjoy visiting us.
Our History
Marulan was previously known as Mooroowoolen, it lies within the Goulburn Mulwaree Council local government area and the traditional lands of the Gundungurra people. It is located south-west of Sydney on the Hume Highway, although the highway bypasses the town. Take an exit off the Hume to arrive on the main strip of George Street within a few moments.
First explored at the behest of Governor Hunter in 1798 in search for salt, it was 20 years before serious exploration and settlement took place. In 1818 Hamilton Hume and James Meehan passed through the area, investigating the agricultural potential of the Goulburn Plains.
In the early years of European settlement of Sydney, exploration southwest of Sydney was slow. Governor Lachlan Macquarie ordered the construction of the Great South Road (the basis of the northern end of the Hume Highway) in 1819 from Picton to the Goulburn Plains.
By the mid-1820’s the township of Marulan had been established as a private village located at the junction of Bungonia Road and the Great South Road, the village was named Mooroowoolen. A new town was surveyed and laid out by Surveyor General Thomas Mitchell in 1834, which was officially gazetted as Marulan in 1835.
The southern part of Macquarie’s road ran from Sutton Forest roughly along existing minor roads to Canyonleigh, Brayton, Carrick and Towrang, where it joined the current route to Goulburn. Branching from this route (now called the Illawarra Highway at this point) just south of Sutton Forest, a road now known as Old Argyle Road was developed in the 1820s. It ran to Bungonia, via Wingello, Tallong, and the southern outskirts of Marulan.
When Thomas Mitchell rerouted the Great South Road in the 1830s, he decided to bring these two roads together and build a junction at old Marulan, with roads proceeding to Goulburn and Bungonia. When the Main Southern railway reached Marulan in 1868, the town migrated 3 km north to the railway station. However the old cemetery remains at the Bungonia Road intersection.
In 1958, the first truck inspection station in New South Wales was opened on the outskirts of Marulan on the Hume Highway. In 1986, the town was bypassed when a dual carriageway section of the Hume Highway opened.