"Just passing" a Yass Travel Page by iandsmith

Yass and its similarly named river (though it's more of a trickle these days) have a population of over 5,000.
These days it's a backwater with the Hume Highway bypassing it last century. Around 280kms south of Sydney it used to get a lot of traffic but these days is a much more relaxing place to visit.
Although traditionally centred on wool, merino studs and agriculture, a number of wineries and vineyards have sprung up to the south of town.
There was a substantial Aboriginal population in the area of mainly Ngunnawal people but, in spite of the rather obvious jibe suggesting that the town's name is a lazy Australian version of 'yes', indications are that the town's name derives from the Aboriginal word 'Yhar', said to mean 'running water'.
In 1821 the exploratory party led by Hamilton Hume became the first recorded group of Europeans on the Yass Plains. Hume returned with William Hovell in 1824 during their ground-breaking expedition to Port Phillip Bay (Melbourne).
Settlers followed them, bringing flocks of sheep which represented the start of the local wool industry. A bush track joined the Goulburn and Yass Plains by 1825. A village began to develop around 1830 when settlement began on the south bank of the river. An Inn, one of many on the Sydney-Port Phillip Bay Rd, was erected by a river crossing which was located where the railway bridge now stands (at the end of Dutton St). A second crossing was (and is) located further upstream (at the end of Warrambalulah St). It led to the development of North Yass. The settlement soon became an important stopping place on the road from Sydney to Melbourne.
The first survey was conducted in 1834, a local storekeeper became the first unofficial postmaster in 1835 and the township was gazetted in 1837. A courthouse and gaol were built in 1837-38. Anglican and Catholic churches had been erected by 1841.
In 1839 Hamilton Hume returned to Yass and purchased 'Cooma' where he lived with his wife until his death in 1873. He made a substantial contribution to the development of the wool industry in the area and is buried in the Anglican section of the Yass cemetery which is 3 km from the town centre via Rossi St. In 1840 the Whitton gang shot and killed Hamilton's brother John at Yass.
Ben Hall's bushranging gang harried travellers and mail coaches in the district in 1863-64. One gang member, Johnny Gilbert, was shot dead at Binalong (37 km north-west) in 1865.
That same year the first government school opened, although there were already seven private and three denominational schools. There were also 27 inns at or near Yass by 1870. The town became a municipality in 1873 and the railway arrived in 1876, proving a boon to the nascent fruit-growing industry. At the outset of the 20th century Yass was one of three sites considered for the national capital.
Poet and priest Patrick Hartigan (aka John O'Brien) was born near Yass in 1878 and he studied at the local convent school as a youth.
'Merryville', one of the country's most famous sheep studs and arguably its leading fine-wool establishment, was set up in 1903 by Sir Walter Merriman.
The Pride of Erin Festival and Yass Show are held in March and the Yass Arts-and-Crafts Festival in November.