User:AussieLegend/Newcastle,+New+South+Wales+(suburb)

Suburbs around Newcastle:
Tighes Hill	Carrington, Kooragang, Stockton	Tasman Sea
Maryville, Wickham, Newcastle West	Newcastle	Tasman Sea, Newcastle East
Newcastle West, Cooks Hill	Cooks Hill, The Hill, Tasman Sea	Tasman Sea

Central Newcastle today, viewed from Stockton, across the harbour.

Newcastle is the main suburb of Newcastle, a city and Local Government Area (LGA) in New South Wales, Australia, located at the mouth of the Hunter River. It includes most of Newcastle's central business district, Nobbys Head and breakwater, Newcastle and Horseshoe beaches and the entire Newcastle Harbour as well as parts of the wharf areas that are normally associated with Carrington.^[2]

Famous for its coal, Newcastle is the largest coal export harbour in the world, exporting 80.2 million tonnes of coal worth AUD $5.3 billion in 2005-2006.^[3]^[4]

1 History
2 See also
3 Notes
4 References

[edit] History

Main article: Newcastle, New South Wales#History

[edit] Pre-European settlement

Newcastle and the surrounding areas were traditionally occupied by the Awabakal Aboriginal People.^[5]

[edit] European Discovery

While exploring the east coast of Australia in 1770 Captain James Cook noted the discovery of what is now called Nobbys Head, describing it as "a small clump of an island lying close to shore".^[5] However, he continued sailing and did not stop.

[edit] Founding and settlement by Europeans

The first European to explore the area was Lt. John Shortland in September 1797. His discovery of the area was largely accidental; Shortland had been sent in search of a number of convicts who had seized the HMS Cumberland as she was sailing from Sydney Cove. While returning he entered what he later described as "a very fine river" which he named after New South Wales' Governor, John Hunter. Shortland also returned with reports of the deep-water port and abundant coal in the area. Over the next two years, coal mined from the area was the New South Wales colony's first export.

Newcastle was nicknamed "Hell" by the most brutal convicts as it was a place where the most dangerous convicts were sent to dig in the coal mines as harsh punishment for their crimes.

By the turn of the century the mouth of the Hunter River was being visited by diverse groups of men, including coal hewers, timber-cutters, and more escaped convicts. Philip Gidley King, Governor of New South Wales from 1800, decided on a more positive approach to exploit the now obvious natural resources of the Hunter Valley.

Governor King decided to establish a small post at the river mouth, however this first settlement was short lived. It was headed by one Corporal Wixtead, who was then suddenly replaced by Surgeon Martin Mason. Surgeon Mason's rule ended in a mutiny, and Governor King closed the settlement early in 1802.

A 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 re-named Newcastle, after England's famous coal port. The name first appeared by the commission issued by Governor King on 15 March 1804 to Lieut. Charles Menzies of the Royal Marines, appointing him superintendent of the new settlement.

The new settlement comprising convicts and a military guard, arrived at the Hunter River on 27 March 1804, in three ships, the Lady Nelson, the Resource and the James.^[6]^[7] The convicts were rebels from the 1804 Castle Hill convict rebellion, also known as the second Battle of Vinegar Hill.

Newcastle remained a penal settlement under harsh military rule for nearly 20 years.

Under Captain James Wallis, commandant from 1815 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 present Christ Church Anglican Cathedral, erected the old gaol on the seashore, and began work on the breakwater which now joins Nobbys Head to the mainland. The quality of these first buildings was poor and only a much reinforced breakwater survives.

For these works, and for his humane rule in the convict colony, Captain Wallis earned the personal commendation of Governor Lachlan Macquarie. In the governor's opinion the prison colony was too close to Sydney and in any case the proper exploitation of the land was not practical with prison labour. Therefore, in 1823, military rule in Newcastle ended. The number of prisoners was reduced to 100 (most of these were employed on the building of the breakwater), and the remaining 900 were sent to Port Macquarie.

[edit] See also

Newcastle, New South Wales

[edit] Notes

^ The density figure presented represents the density in the section of the suburb that is able to be populated (see Note 2) and may not be accurate as not all of the remaining part of the suburb is populated. However, it is a better indication of the typical population density than one that assumes the population occupies the entire suburb.
^ The suburb contains a number of strictly non-residential areas such as wharves, railway corridors, Newcastle Beach, King Edward Park and the entire Newcastle Harbour that occupy almost 90% of the total area.^[2]