ANTHONY’S CUTTING: BACCHUS MARSH. VICTORIA. 1931
Anthonys Cutting is the name given to a 5 km long, steep and winding section of the Old Western Highway about 50kms north west of Melbourne.
The cutting originally ran over an old stone bridge at Djerriwarrh Creek and up, along and over a basalt escarpment between Melton and Bacchus Marsh, revealing in places old lava flows from Mount Bullengarook.
The cutting has a history dating to 1858/1859 when early works were carried out to establish a descent down the escarpment into Bacchus Marsh and thence, on to the Ballarat goldfields along what was then, the Ballarat Road.
While the cutting was upgraded and realigned numerous times over a century and a half, including the by-passing of the bridge in the 1950s, it retained it’s steep and winding hills. Thus, in the days of fast and modern motor vehicles it became one of the most dangerous sections of highway in Victoria.
As an example of this, in the 5 years between 2005 and 2010 Anthonys Cutting saw 21 serious motor crashes.
As a result, a major realignment of the Old Western Highway was opened in 2011, while the Western Freeway today by-passes the cutting altogether.