This article is about the metropolitan area in Australia. For the local government area serving the city proper, seeCity of Newcastle. For other places called Newcastle, in Australia and elsewhere, seeNewcastle.
Located at the mouth of theHunter River, it is the predominant city within theHunter Region. Famous for itscoal, Newcastle is the largest coal exporting harbour in the world, exporting 143 million tonnes of coal in 2022.[10] Beyond the city, the Hunter Region possesses large coal deposits. Geologically, the area is located in the central-eastern part of theSydney Basin.[11]
Newcastle and the lower Hunter Region were traditionally occupied by theAwabakal andWorimi Aboriginal people,[12] who called the area Malubimba.[13]
Based on Aboriginal-language references documented in maps, sketches and geological descriptions, eight landmarks have been officially dual-named by the NSW Geographic Names Board with their traditional Aboriginal names.[14] They includeNobbys Head also known as Whibayganba; Flagstaff Hill also known as Tahlbihn; Pirate Point also known as Burrabihngarn; Port Hunter also known as Yohaaba; Hunter River (South Channel) also known as Coquun;Shepherds Hill also known as Khanterin; Ironbark Creek also known as Toohrnbing and Hexham Swamp also known as Burraghihnbihng.[14]
LieutenantJohn Shortland, British explorer of the Newcastle region
In June 1796, a group of fishermen from the British convict outpost atSydney, were driven by bad weather into a harbour at what is now Newcastle. They found considerable amounts ofcoal lying on the ground near the beach, some of which they brought back to Sydney. The fishermen had "conducted themselves improperly" while ashore and gotten into conflict with the local Aboriginal people. Two of the fishermen were wounded, one of them fatally.[15]
Over a year later, in September 1797, LieutenantJohn Shortland explored the area and named theHunter River. This was largely accidental, as he had been sent to the region in search of a number of convicts who had seized a vessel calledCumberland while it was sailing fromSydney Cove.[16] Leiutenant Shortland entered what he later described as "a very fine river", which he named after New South Wales' GovernorJohn Hunter.[17] He returned with reports of the deep-water port and the area's abundant resources of coal andcedar.
Over the next two years, influential colonists likeSimeon Lord andJames Underwood sent vessels and workers to the region to extract the valuable coal and cedarwood. Some of these workers skirmished with local Awabakal men, and an armed party underHenry Hacking was dispatched to investigate, which resulted in the shooting of several Aboriginal people.[18] Coal mined from the area was theNew South Wales colony's first export.[17]
In 1800, fifteen convicts seized a small supply ship from theHawkesbury River and sailed it to the mouth of the Hunter River where it was wrecked. Three of the surviving convicts became the area's first British residents when they were adopted into a local Aboriginal clan.[18] A year later,Philip Gidley King, theGovernor of New South Wales, decided to send a surveying expedition under ColonelWilliam Paterson andFrancis Barrallier to assess the feasibility of establishing an official settlement.[16] Paterson returned with a positive account outlining the cedar and coal resources, and also the massive loads of oyster shellmiddens which could be utilised for much neededlime mortar.[18]
Subsequently, later in 1801, a convict camp called King's Town (named after the governor) was established to mine coal and cut timber. The convicts, numbering under twenty, were treated harshly and mutinied twice in six months before Governor King decided to abandon the settlement in February 1802.[17]
A convict settlement was again attempted in 1804, as a place of secondary punishment for unruly convicts. The settlement was named Coal River, also Kingstown and then renamed Newcastle, afterthe English city.[13] The name first appeared by the commission issued by Governor King on 15 March 1804 to LieutenantCharles Menzies of themarine detachment onHMS Calcutta, then atPort Jackson, appointing him superintendent of the new settlement.[19]
The first consignment, consisting of 34convicts and a military guard, arrived at the Hunter River on 27 March 1804 in three ships:HMS Lady Nelson, theResource and theJames.[16][20] The convicts were Irish rebels from the 1804Castle Hill convict rebellion. Newcastle gained a reputation as a "hellhole" as it was a place where the most dangerous convicts were sent to dig in the coal mines as harsh punishment for their crimes.[17] The link withNewcastle upon Tyne, England (its namesake) and also whence many of the 19th-century coal miners came, is still obvious in some of the place-names—such asJesmond,Hexham,Wickham,Wallsend andGateshead.Morpeth, New South Wales is a similar distance north of Newcastle asMorpeth, Northumberland is north of Newcastle upon Tyne.
In 1805, Menzies resigned as commandant, with Cadwallader Draffin being promoted to the role. He was soon found to be mentally unstable and in turn was quickly replaced by the medical officer of the settlement,Charles Throsby. Throsby brought order and discipline to the convict colony, where the prisoners were set to work securing coal, cedar and salt from sunrise to sunset.[18][21]
In 1808, LieutenantWilliam Lawson was appointed as commandant. Lawson was a member of theRum Corps who overthrewGovernor William Bligh. Associates of Bligh, such asHenry Browne Hayes were sent as convicts to Newcastle where Lawson treated them harshly. Under Lawson, the severe work of manuallimeburning was commenced, where the convicts were forced to burn and carry caustic unslaked lime through seawater to load onto barges.[18]
Lawson was replaced in 1810 and a period of relatively merciful administration followed under the command of several military officers. In early 1816,Newcastle's first school opened with seventeen pupils in attendance.[18]
UnderCaptain James Wallis, commandant from 1816 to 1818, the convicts' conditions improved, and a building boom began. Captain Wallis laid out the streets of the town, built the first church of the site of the presentChrist Church Cathedral, erected the old gaol on the seashore, and began work on the breakwater which now joinsNobbys Head to the mainland. The quality of these first buildings was poor, and only the (much reinforced) breakwater survives. Wallis also established afemale factory on Nobbys Head for insubordinate women convicts. This scheme was short-lived due to the terrible conditions endured by the women.[18][17]
A major enquiry beginning in 1819, led byJohn Bigge, investigated the management of the British convict colonies in Australia. Bigge recommended that the treatment of convicts be more severe to act as an increased deterrent to crime.Major James Morisset was appointed commandant at Newcastle in 1819 and a subsequent increase in harsh punishments of the convicts occurred. Floggings and solitary confinement became more common, and unruly female convicts were placed in neck irons and worked inchain gangs. Morisset had aflogging apparatus built into his boat to act as a mobile place of punishment when he toured the farms along the Hunter River worked with convict labourers. Convicts who laboured in the cramped underground coal mines were each expected to produce up to two and a half tons of coal per day. The shafts were consistently knee-deep with water and the convicts had to remain in their wet clothing. Despite being overworked and having insufficient rations and poor housing, Morisset had the convicts carve him an ocean bath (termed theBogey Hole) into the rock shelf near Newcastle.[18][21]
Morisset also increased surveillance around Newcastle to locate and capture runaway convicts. He established a military outpost inPort Stephens at a place which is still calledSoldier's Point. He also expanded the use of local Aboriginal men to act astrackers to locate, disable and sometimes kill fugitive convicts. Men such asBiraban,Burigon andBob Barrett became well-known in this role and were reviled by the convicts. When Burigon was murdered by prisoner John Kirby, Morisset had the convict arrested and charged. Kirby was later executed.[18][21][22]
Newcastle became open to free settlement from 1822.[23] The large agricultural corporation, theAustralian Agricultural Company, took up its immense land grant north of Port Stephens in 1824, while wealthy colonists around the same time starting carving out estates along the upper Hunter River.[18] Prisoner numbers were gradually reduced from around 1,000 to 100 (most of these were employed on the building of the breakwater), and the remaining 900 were sent to the newly-formed penal colony atPort Macquarie.[17] The convict colony at Newcastle was closed in 1826.[18]
After the closure of the convict settlement in 1826, the town was freed from the infamous influence of penal law. It began to acquire the aspect of a typical British colonial settlement, and a steady flow of colonists and their convict labourers poured into the hinterland. However, Newcastle itself initially faced a decrease in population with an observer stating in 1827, that the number of Aboriginal people in the township at least equalled that of the white population.[21]
During the nineteenth century the formation of theNewcastle & Hunter River Steamship Company[24] saw the establishment of regular steamship services fromMorpeth and Newcastle with Sydney. The company had a fleet of freighters as well as several fast passenger vessels, including the PSNewcastle and the PSNamoi. TheNamoi had first-class cabins with the latest facilities.
Because of the coal supply, small ships plied between Newcastle and Sydney,Brisbane,Melbourne andAdelaide, carrying coal to gas works and bunkers for shipping, and railways. These were commonly known assixty-milers, referring to the nautical journey between Newcastle and Sydney. These ships continued in service until recent times.[when?][25][26]
Panorama of Newcastle, Australia, 1849, by John Rae
DuringWorld War II, Newcastle was an important industrial centre for the Australian war effort. In 1942, the Japanese planned toattack Sydney Harbour. On the early hours of 8 June, the Japanese submarineI-21 briefly shelled Newcastle. Among the areas hit within the city were dockyards, theNewcastle Steelworks, Parnell Place in the city's East End, the breakwall and Art Deco Ocean baths. There were no casualties in the attack and damage was minimal.[27]
The Port of Newcastle remains the economic and trade centre for the resource-rich Hunter Valley and for much of the north and north-west of New South Wales. Newcastle is the world's largest coal export port and Australia's oldest and second-largest tonnage throughput port, with over 3,000 shipping movements handling cargo of 95.8 Mt per annum, of which coal exports represented 90.8 Mt in 2008–09.[28] The volume of coal exported, and attempts to increase coal exports, are opposed by environmental groups including Newcastle-basedRising Tide Australia.[29][30] These have undertaken various protests targeting the export of coal from the city, such as in 2023 when 3000 people took part in a water based blockade and 109 were arrested.[31]
Newcastle has one of the oldest theatre districts in Australia.Victoria Theatre on Perkins Street is the oldest purpose-built theatre in the country.[34] The theatre district that occupied the area around what is now theHunter Street Mall vanished during the 1940s. The old city centre has seen some new apartments and hotels built in recent years, but the rate of commercial and retail occupation remains low while alternate suburban centres have become more important. The CBD itself is shifting to the west, towards the major urban renewal area known as "Honeysuckle". This renewal, to run for another 10 years, is a major part of arresting the shift of business and residents to the suburbs. Commercial renewal has been accompanied by cultural renaissance. There is a vibrant arts scene in the city including a highly regarded art gallery,[35] and an active Hunter Writers' Centre.[36] Recent fictional representations (for example Antoinette Eklund's 'Steel River') present a new vision of the city, using the city's historic past as a backdrop for contemporary fiction.
The old central business district, located at Newcastle's eastern end, still has a considerable number of historic buildings, dominated by Christ Church Cathedral, seat of theAnglican Bishop of Newcastle.[37] Other noteworthy buildings includeFort Scratchley, the Ocean Baths, the oldCustoms House, the 1920sCity Hall, the 1890sLongworth Institute (once regarded as the finest building in the colony) and the 1930sart decoUniversity House (formerly NESCA House, seen in the filmSuperman Returns).
An aerial view of central Newcastle and its surrounding metropolitan area, situated on the Hunter River
Newcastle is on the southern bank of the Hunter River mouth. The northern side is dominated by sand dunes, swamps and multiple river channels. A "green belt" protecting plant and wildlife flanks the city from the west (Watagan mountains) around to the north where it meets the coast just north of Stockton. Urban development is mainly restricted to the hilly southern bank. The small town ofStockton sits opposite central Newcastle at the river mouth and is linked by ferry. Road access between Stockton and central Newcastle is via theStockton Bridge, a distance of 20 km (12 mi). Much of the city is undercut by the coal measures of the Sydney sedimentary basin, and what were once numerous coal-mining villages located in the hills and valleys around the port have merged into a single urban area extending southwards toLake Macquarie. The Greater Newcastle area is situated right between theCentral Coast andMid North Coast regions, with the Central Coast bordering in the south and the Mid North Coast bordering in the north as well as otherHunter local government areas (outside of Newcastle) bordering in the west and north-west.
The ANZAC Walk, looking towardsMerewether and the outer suburbs
Newcastle has several public parks including King Edward Park, which was designated in 1863. Features of the park include coastal views, a sunken garden and a Victorian rotunda.[38]
Newcastle has ahumid subtropical climate (Cfa) that is typical of the Australian east coast. Precipitation is heaviest in late autumn and early winter, while the second half of the year is slightly drier on average. The climate is generally moderated by thePacific Ocean to the east. Summers are mostly warm and humid with periods of very dry and hot weather occasionally due to hot west to north-westerly winds, which can bring temperatures in excess of 40 °C (104 °F). The highest recorded temperature was 42.5 °C (108.5 °F) on 18 January 2013 at theNobbys Head weather station.[39]
Winters are generally mild with drier conditions than summer on average.Cold fronts affect the area and sometimes bring strong westerly winds behind them, but due to thefoehn effect they generallyprovide clear conditions as the region lies leeward of theGreat Dividing Range.[40] The lowest recorded temperature was 1.8 °C (35.2 °F) on 27 July 1986.[41]East coast lows also impact Newcastle, sometimes delivering winds well above 100 km/h (62 mph) and torrential rainfall, usually lasting a couple of days. The east coast low in May 1974, the2007 New South Wales storms and April 2015 are extreme examples of this type of weather.
Climate data for Newcastle (Nobbys Signal Station AWS), New South Wales, Australia (1991–2020 normals, 1862–present extremes); 33 m AMSL
Climate data for Newcastle University – 8.5 kilometres (5 mi) WNW of Newcastle CBD, New South Wales, Australia (1998–2021 normals and extremes); 21 m AMSL
The metropolitan area of Newcastle is the second-most-populous area in New South Wales toSydney.
What is generally labelled as the 'Greater Newcastle Area' includes the LGAs of Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Cessnock and Port Stephens. In 2021 this region had a total population of 682,465.[46]
Of people in the Newcastle metropolitan area, 83.6 per cent were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 2.3%, New Zealand 1.0%, China 0.7%, India 0.5% and Philippines 0.4%. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 3.8% of the population. 88.2% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 0.7%, Macedonian 0.5%, Italian 0.4%, Greek 0.3% and Cantonese 0.3%. The most common responses for religion in Newcastle were No Religion 31.1%, Catholic 21.7% and Anglican 19.2%.[47]
Sacred Heart Catholic Cathedral at Hamilton
Newcastle is often quoted as being theseventh-largest city in Australia. This is misleading as the area represented extends well beyond both the City of Newcastle and the Newcastle metropolitan area. The area, officially the Newcastle Statistical District, is referred to asGreater Newcastle or the Lower Hunter Region, which includes most parts of the Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Cessnock, Maitland and Port Stephens local government areas and, as of 30 June 2009, has an estimated population of 540,796.[6][7][48] Despite their proximity, all of the LGAs in the region maintain their own individual identities, separate from Newcastle.
The population of the suburb of Newcastle is 3,852 as of the 2021 census.[49]
Thedemonym for the people of Newcastle is "Novocastrian", derived from Latinnovus (new) andcastra (castle or fort).
Newcastle as a traditional area of heavy industry was not immune from the effects of economic downturns that plagued New South Wales and wider Australia since the 1970s. These downturns were particularly hard hitting for heavy industry which was particularly prevalent in Newcastle. The early 1990s recession caused significant job losses across Australia and the Newcastle region experienced a peak unemployment rate of 17% in February 1993, compared to 12.1% in New South Wales and 11.9% across Australia.[50]
In 1999, the steelworks closed after 84 years' operation and had employed about 50,000 during its existence, many for decades.[51] The closure of the BHP steelworks occurred at a time of strong economic expansion in Australia. At the time of the closure and since the closure Newcastle experienced a significant amount of economic diversification which has strengthened the local economy.[52]
Since 2003, Australia experienced the effects of the2000s commodities boom as commodities prices for majorexport good such as coal and iron ore rose significantly. This provided a large incentive for investment in the Newcastle and Hunter region due to its status as a major coal mining and export hub to Asian markets. Large projects related to the coal industry helped to propel the Newcastle unemployment rate to 20 year lows and allow the Newcastle region to weather the effects of thelate 2000s recession better than NSW as a whole.[53] As of 2009, the two largest single employers are the Hunter New England Area Health Service and theUniversity of Newcastle.[52] TheNational Stock Exchange of Australia (formerly Newcastle Stock Exchange) was formerly based in the city.
The formerEarp Gillam Bond Store – many early merchant companies were founded on Newcastle's 19th-century trade industry.
Coal mining began in earnest on 3 May 1833 when theAustralian Agricultural Company received land grants at Newcastle plus a 31-year monopoly on that town's coal traffic. Other collieries were within a 16 km (10 mi) radius of the town. Principal coal mines were located atStockton,Tighes Hill,Carrington and the Newcastle Coal and Copper Company's collieries atMerewether (includes the Glebe),Wallsend and the Waratah collieries. All operations had closed by the early 1960s.[citation needed]
The former Commercial Bank Company building
On 10 December 1831, the Australian Agricultural Company officially opened Australia's first railway, at the intersection of Brown & Church Streets, Newcastle. Privately owned and operated to service theA Pit coal mine, it was acast-ironfishbelly rail on an inclined plane as agravitational railway.[54][55]
In the 1850s, a major copper smelting works was established at Burwood, near Merewether. An engraving of this appeared inThe Illustrated London News on 11 February 1854.[56] The English and Australian Copper Company built another substantial works atBroadmeadow circa 1890, and in that decade theCockle Creek Smelter was built.
Newcastle Customs House was erected in response to the economic and trade boom of the 19th century
The largest factory of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere was constructed in 1885, on an 8.9-hectare (22-acre) site between the suburbs of Tighes Hill and Port Waratah, byCharles Upfold, from London, for his Sydney Soap and Candle Company, to replace a smaller factory in Wickham.[57] Their soap products won 17 medals at International Exhibitions. At the Sydney International Exhibition, they won a bronze medal "against all-comers from every part of the world", the only first prize awarded for soap and candles. Following World War I, the company was sold to Messrs Lever & Kitchen (todayUnilever), and the factory closed in the mid-1930s.
In 1911,BHP chose the city as the site for its steelworks due to the abundance of coal.[17] The land put aside was prime real estate, on the southern edge of the harbour. In 1915, theNewcastle Steelworks opened, beginning a period of some 80 years dominating the steel works and heavy industry. As Mayfield and the suburbs surrounding the steelworks declined in popularity because of pollution, the steelworks thrived, becoming the region's largest employer.
With its history as a traditionally working-class area, Newcastle has been a stronghold for thecentre-leftLabor Party at all levels of politics sinceFederation. Labor currently holds every federal and state seat that overlaps at least partially with Newcastle.
The only area of Greater Newcastle where thecentre-rightLiberal Party has ever been consistently competitive is thePort Stephens region in the north of the Newcastle metropolitan area, as well as in some beachside, middle-class suburbs near the Newcastle CBD such asBar Beach andMerewether. The Port Stephens area is traditionally marginal and while historically was dominated by Labor, has been won by the Liberals.
There are threefederal electoral divisions that are mostly or entirely within Greater Newcastle:Newcastle (covering the inner-city suburbs; this seat has only ever elected Labor MPs since it was created in1901),Paterson (covering the Port Stephens area as well as the nearby city ofMaitland and the town ofKurri Kurri; this seat is currently a marginal Labor seat that the Liberals have won previously, though it historically included more rural areas and did not include Maitland or Kurri Kurri) andShortland (a fairly safe Labor seat that includes the eastern suburbs of theLake Macquarie region in southern Newcastle, and extends to the far northeastern suburbs of theCentral Coast). The traditionally Labor-held seat ofHunter (now a marginal Labor seat) is based around the western portion of theHunter, but includes some western and Southern suburbs of Newcastle.
Newcastle High School, which was formed by the merger of three schools, traces its lineage to a secondary school section initially founded on the grounds of Newcastle East Public School.[citation needed]
There are three selective state schools in the area:[citation needed]
Hunter Sports High School, a partially selective sporting high school, accepting around half its students from the local area and around half by audition
The city's main provider of tertiary education is theUniversity of Newcastle. It was established in 1951 as a satellite campus of theUniversity of New South Wales and obtained autonomy in 1965. The university now offers over 150 undergraduate and graduate courses to a student population of more than 38,000, including 7,000 international students from more than 113 countries. The main campus is in the suburb ofCallaghan about 12 km (7 mi) from theCBD.
There are three campuses of theHunter Institute of TAFE, one located in the Newcastle CBD, one in the suburb ofHamilton East and the other located in the suburb ofTighes Hill. The Tighes Hill campus is the network's largest campus and offers courses in business, hospitality and various trades.[58]
Newcastle holds a variety of cultural events and festivals.
TheNewcastle Regional Show is held in the Newcastle Showground annually. There are a mixture of typical regional show elements such as woodchopping displays, showbags, rides and stalls and usually fireworks to complement the events in the main arena.[59]
The Great Northern Hotel
TheMattara festival, founded in 1961, is the official festival of Newcastle with a more traditional "country fair" type program that combines a parade, rides, sporting events, band competitions and portrait and landscape painting exhibitions.[60] Mattara means "hand of friendship" in the localAwabakal language.[61] Originally held at Civic Park and then moved to Newcastle foreshore in 2006[61] In 2017 the festival was moved toWallsend Park.[62]
TheNewcastle Jazz Festival is held across three days in August, and attracts performers and audiences from all over Australia.[63] The first festival was held in September 1988 as part the NSW Bicentenital Festival of Music which was organised by the Newcastle Jazz Action Society.[64]
TheShoot Out 24 Hour Filmmaking Festival, first started in Newcastle in 1999. This is the film festival where film-makers come together in one place to make a short film in 24 hours. It is run annually in July.[65]
This Is Not Art is a national festival of new media and arts held in Newcastle each year over the October long weekend. Since its humble beginnings in 1998, it has become one of the leading arts festivals in Australia dedicated to the work and ideas of communities not included in other major Australian arts festivals. The umbrella program includes the independent festivals Electrofringe, theNational Young Writers' Festival, Critical Animals,Sound Summit, Crack Theatre Festival and other projects that vary from year to year.[66]
The Newcastle Entertainment Centre, located inside the Newcastle Showground is a popular venue for regular events including wrestling, concerts and monster truck shows.
Newcastle has an active youth music culture, as well as a Conservatorium of Music which is part of theUniversity of Newcastle. It continues to support local bands and has a large underground music scene. The members ofSilverchair, the highly successful Australian band, hail from Newcastle, as do the Australian bandsThe Screaming Jets andVacations.[67] It has a fertilepunk rock and hardcore scene, which has spawned successful local acts and national acts. Newcastle was also home to the short-lived band Velvet Underground (no relation to the famous American bandThe Velvet Underground) which featured futureAC/DC guitaristMalcolm Young.[68] The region also has its own youth marching band, the Marching Koalas, in which Silverchair drummerBen Gillies began his drumming career.[citation needed]Danielle Marsh, a member of the world-famous South KoreanK-pop girl groupNewJeans, as well has her older sister and singer Olivia Marsh, also hails from Newcastle.Influentialgabber groupNasenbluten were formed and based in Newcastle, until their disbandment in 2001.
Notablemodernist artists associated with Newcastle areseascape sketcherShay Docking (1928–1998), thecubist-influencedabstract painter William Rose (1929–1999), landscape painterJohn Olsen, who was born in Newcastle in 1928,still-life painterMargaret Olley,portraitistWilliam Dobell andfigurative painter John Montefiore lived at Lake Macquarie to the south of the city. Art collector William Bowmore resided in Newcastle and collectedBrett Whiteley paintings as well as owning a large collection of international art and artefacts. The Von Bertouch Galleries was a commercial gallery founded byAnne Von Bertouch and for more than forty years from 1963 exhibited nationally and locally known artists.[67]
TheNewcastle Art Gallery is home to one of Australia's most substantial public art collections outside a major capital city, and its extensive collection of works by contemporary and historical Australian visual artists presents an overview of Australian art. Due to an ongoing space issue, the gallery is planning a major redevelopment. The Lock Up is a multidisciplinary contemporary art space located in the inner city and hosts local, national and international artists to exhibit in the historic former Newcastle Police station.[69]
Newcastle has a variety of smaller theatres, but the main theatre in the CBD is now theCivic, at Wheeler Place, (seating capacity about 1,500), one of Australia's great historic theatres built during 1929 inArt Deco style. It hosts a wide range of musicals, plays, concerts, dance and other events each year. Newcastle previously boasted several large theatres, among them the oldest purpose-built theatre in Australia, theVictoria Theatre on Perkins Street (built 1876, capacity 1,750), saw touring international opera companies such as theD'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and other troupes, and played host to some of the greatest stars of the age, such asDame Nellie Melba,Gladys Moncrieff andRichard Tauber (it is now closed and derelict); theCentury, Nineways,Broadmeadow (built 1941, capacity 1,800)—although largely used as a cinema—was a popular Symphony orchestra venue (demolished 1990 after being severely damaged by the 1989 earthquake); theHunter (capacity 1,000) at The Junction, had advanced modern stage facilities, but was eventually sold and demolished to make way for a motel that was destroyed by the 1989 earthquake. The decline in theatres and cinemas from the 1960s onwards was blamed on television.[citation needed]
Newcastle is home to theOctapod Association, a New Media Arts collective established in 1996. Octapod presents the annualThis Is Not Art Festival and is also home to the Podspace Gallery.
TheNewcastle Museum was founded in 1988 in the former headquarters of the Great Northern Railway and stewards local history, culture, industry and science. It features permanent exhibitions relating to coal mining and steel production, Aboriginal history and the area's history, as well as a hands-on science centre.[70]
Newcastle has apublic library system,Newcastle Libraries. The main branch is in the Newcastle War Memorial and Cultural Centre, and opened in 1957.[71] There are eleven branches: Adamstown, Beresfield, The Digital Library (Newcastle West), Hamilton, Lambton, The Local History Library, Mayfield, New Lambton (with the Newcastle Toy Library), Stockton, and Wallsend.[72] The library has acollaborative collection with the libraries atDungog andPort Stephens.[73][74] Though Newcastle Libraries arelending libraries, The stack (City Library basement) has over 100,000 non-lending items which include oldNewcastle Morning Heralds,NBN film reels, land title documents, maps, and limited edition books.[75]
The Auchmuty Library at the University of Newcastle is also open to the public, though only students may borrow items.
TheNewcastle Interchange is a major interchange for commuter rail, light rail and buses.
Like most major cities, the Newcastle metropolitan area has an extensive system of both road links and road based public transport services (bus, taxi etc.) which cover most areas of bothNewcastle andLake Macquarie and which extend beyond the metropolitan area itself. Rail transport, however, is accessible to only a relatively small percentage of the population along the major rail transport routes and ferry services are restricted to those commuting between Newcastle andStockton. Within the metropolitan area the car remains the dominant form of transportation. Newcastle, like all major Australian urban centres, had atram system, but it was closed in 1950. In February 2019, trams returned to the city with the opening of theNewcastle Light Rail.[76]
Newcastle is connected to surrounding cities by thePacific Motorway (south),Hunter Expressway (west),New England Highway (west) and thePacific Highway (north and south).Hunter Street is the main shopping street in the Newcastle CBD and, along with King Street, is one of the major links to the Pacific Highway from the CBD. King Street provides direct access to theNewcastle Link Road and then the Pacific Motorway and Hunter Expressway.
Newcastle once had rail passenger services toBelmont andToronto, onLake Macquarie,Wallsend,Kurri Kurri and several towns and villages between Maitland andCessnock on theSouth Maitland Railway, but these lines have been closed. In the late-1990s there was intense debate about the future of the rail line into central Newcastle.
ThePort of Newcastle is crucial to the economic life of Newcastle and the Hunter Valley region beyond. Over 90 million tonnes of coal is shipped through the facility each year—making it the largest coal exporting port in the world.[82] The Port of Newcastle claims to be Australia's first port. Coal was first exported from the harbour in 1799.
Newcastle Transport operates aferry service across the Hunter River between Newcastle's CBD and Stockton.
Newcastle Heliport operates alongside the lower section of Newcastle Harbour.
The suburb ofBroadmeadow is home to the base of theWestpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter Service.[84] The Helicopter service is one of the longest running services of this type in the world. Two helicopters operate out of this base and operate 24 hours a day.
The closure ofBelmont Airport, commonly referred to as Aeropelican, in theLake Macquarie suburb ofMarks Point has caused Williamtown to become Newcastle's only major airport and residents in the south of the Newcastle metropolitan area must commute up to 55 km (34 mi) by car to reach Williamtown.
TheNewcastle Rugby League holds local club competition and has done so since the early 1900s. Touring domestic and international teams would play against Newcastle's representative team which was made up of players from this league. TheNewcastle & Hunter Rugby League is a community competition also based in the region which was created from a merger in 2007 of leagues which ran under various names since the mid-20th century, and is the largest community rugby league competition anywhere in the world. It generally features smaller teams compared to the Newcastle Rugby League.
The city also played host to four games of the2015 AFC Asian Cup, including the semi-final between Australia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the third-place playoff between the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.
A bid for Newcastle to establish a 2012 team in the national Twenty20 competition theBig Bash League, with games played at eitherHunter Stadium or No.1 Sports Ground was unsuccessful.[87]
Broadmeadow Racecourse is in the suburb ofBroadmeadow.[90] It is home to the Newcastle Jockey Club, established in 1907,[91] which (as of 2016[update]) races 35 times annually at the spacious 2,000-metre (6,562 ft) turf track with a 415-metre (1,362 ft) home straight. It is the venue for threeGroup 3 races: in March is the 1,400-metre (0.87 mi)Newcastle Newmarket Handicap; and in September the 1,400-metreCameron Handicap, and the 2,300-metre (1.4 mi)Newcastle Gold Cup. In 2015 work an inner track, known as the Beaumont Track, was added.[92]
Aboriginal jockeyMerv Maynard commenced his career at Newcastle Racecourse, under Keith Tinson.[93] Maynard enjoyed his first success in the 1948–49 season there, and went on to have a career spanning 50 years,[94] winning the Newcastle Premiership twice, along with 1,500 winning rides in four countries.[95]
TheHunter Jaegers (Commonwealth Bank Trophy –Netball) were based at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre. They became defunct in 2007 after merging with the Sydney Swifts to become theNew South Wales Swifts. Officially opened in June 1992, the Entertainment Centre offers 5,000 square metres of clear-span floor space and is capable of catering for capacities from 2,000 to 6,500 for entertainment-style events. The Centre was built to house the now-defunctNewcastle FalconsNational Basketball League team and was also home to theHunter Pirates before a lack of sponsorship forced them to close after the 2005–06 season, with the licence sold to theSingapore Slingers. The Slingers played one home game at the Centre during the 2006–07 season.
Bar Beach, south of the Newcastle CBD, is a popular swimming and surfing beach.
Newcastle has an abundance of beaches and surf breaks for which the city is internationally well known. Newcastle hosts the annual surfing contestSurfest on the world professional surfing tour. Four-time world champion surferMark Richards grew up surfing at Newcastle's Merewether Beach, and is a local icon, appearing at many local functions, and supporting local charities. Nobbys Beach is a very popularkitesurfing spot, especially during the warm summer months when there are north-easterly sea breezes.
Newcastle is served by a dailytabloid,The Herald (formerlyThe Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate and thenThe Newcastle Herald), several weeklies including theNewcastle Star,The Post and the bi-monthlyThe Hunter Advocate.
Other alternative media in the city include the university's student publicationsOpus andYak magazine,[97]Newcastle Mirage (a local arts and culture zine)[98] andUrchin (azine published by the media and arts organisationOctapod).
Nine airs NBN News live from their Honeysuckle studios each night at six. The bulletin is a mix of its own locally produced stories mixed in with national and international stories sourced from theNine Network. Local news updates are aired by theSeven,Nine (as NBN News) and10 throughout the day to fulfil local content quotas.
On 28 December 1989, Newcastle experienced an earthquake measuring 5.6 on theRichter scale, which killed 13 people, injured 162 and destroyed or severely damaged a number of prominent buildings. Some had to be demolished, including the large George Hotel in Scott Street (city), the Century Theatre atBroadmeadow, the Hunter Theatre (formerly 'The Star') and the majority of The Junction school at Merewether. Part of the Newcastle Workers' Club, a popular venue, was destroyed and later replaced by a new structure. The following economicrecession of the early 1990s meant that the city took several years to recover. However,Beaumont Street,Hamilton, where many buildings sustained major damage, became a thriving cosmopolitan restaurant strip after the earthquake and is still going strong today. The earthquake helped to rekindle business in this suburban strip.
On 8 June 2007 the Hunter andCentral Coast regions were battered by the worst series of storms to hitNew South Wales in 30 years. This resulted in extensive flooding and nine deaths. Thousands of homes were flooded, and many were destroyed.[99][100] The Hunter and Central Coast regions were declared natural disaster areas by the State Premier,Morris Iemma, on 8 June 2007.[101] Further flooding was predicted by theBureau of Meteorology but was less severe than predicted.
During the early stages of the storms, the 225-metre-long (738 ft) bulk carrier shipPasha Bulker ran aground atNobbys Beach after failing to heed warnings to move offshore. After the first few attempts failed, thePasha Bulker was refloated on the thirdsalvage attempt on 2 July 2007 despite earlier fears that the ship would break up. After initially entering the port for minor repairs, it departed under tow on 26 July 2007 for major repairs in Asia.
On 12 July 1866, a paddle steamer theSS Cawarra, on its way toBrisbane from Newcastle carrying 60 passengers, was caught in a storm as it made its way out of the harbour.[citation needed] Sixty people died; coincidentally, one survivor, Frederick Hedges, was plucked from the water by the sole survivor of theDunbar that had sunk in Sydney Harbour nine years earlier.[citation needed]
The most tragic maritime accident of the 20th century in Newcastle occurred on 9 August 1934 when the Stockton-bound ferryBluebell collided with the coastal freighter,Waraneen, and sank in the middle of the Hunter River.[102]The Bluebell Collision claimed three lives and fifteen passengers were admitted to theNewcastle Hospital, with two suffering severely from the effects of immersion. It was later found that the ferry captain was at fault.[103]
These are only two events in Newcastle's very long history of shipwrecks including the 1974 beaching of theMV Sygna, and the 2007 beaching of thePasha Bulker.
On 16 August 1966, anRAAFCAC Sabre crashed into the inner-city suburb ofThe Junction.[104] The pilot, Flying Officer Warren William Goddard, experienced engine troubles and unsuccessfully tried to get the plane over thePacific Ocean. The Junction is a highly populated suburb of Newcastle and most of the plane wreckage landed in the shopping area of the suburb. In 2007 a memorial plaque was unveiled for the killed pilot.[104]
^Elkin, A.P.,The Diocese of Newcastle: a history of the Diocese of Newcastle, Australian Medical Publishing Co: Glebe, NSW, 1955. (Privately published)
^Nellie Ayres (25 October 2007)."Show must go on". Yourguide Australia (reprinted from The Newcastle Star). Archived fromthe original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved13 April 2008. "Newcastle Regional Show website". Newcastle A.H. & I. Association Inc.Archived from the original on 11 December 2008. Retrieved15 October 2008.
Docherty, James Cairns,Newcastle – The Making of an Australian City, Sydney, 1983,ISBN0-86806-034-8
Susan Marsden,Coals to Newcastle: a History of Coal Loading at the Port of Newcastle New South Wales 1977–1997 2002
Marsden, Susan,Newcastle: a Brief History Newcastle, 2004ISBN0-949579-17-3
Marsden, Susan, 'Waterfront alive: life on the waterfront', in C Hunter, ed,River Change: six new histories of the Hunter, Newcastle, 1998ISBN0-909115-70-2
Morrison James, Ron,Newcastle – Times Past, Newcastle, 2005 (P/B),ISBN0-9757693-0-8
Greater Newcastle City Council,Newcastle 150 Years, 1947.
Thorne, Ross,Picture Palace Architecture in Australia, Melbourne, Victoria, 1976 (P/B),ISBN0-7251-0226-8
Turner, Dr. John W.,Manufacturing in Newcastle, Newcastle, 1980,ISBN0-9599385-7-5
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