Kotara is a suburb of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia, located from Newcastle's central business district. It is part of the

City of Newcastle The City of Newcastle is a local government area in the Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. The City of Newcastle incorporates much of the area of the Newcastle metropolitan area. The Lord Mayor of City of Newcastle Council is Counci ...

local government area. Kotara is known as one of Newcastle's largest retail destinations and is characterised by its family centred culture.

History

The Aboriginal people, in this area, the

Awabakal The Awabakal people , are those Aboriginal Australians who identify with or are descended from the Awabakal tribe and its clans, Indigenous to the coastal area of what is now known as the Hunter Region of New South Wales. Their traditional te ...

, were the first people of this land. In the late 19th century the Australasia Coal Company operated a mine near Kotara, in the valley below the present-day northern entrance to

Tickhole Tunnel The Tickhole Tunnel, also called the Kotara (Tickhole) Railway Tunnel, is a heritage-listed double track railway tunnel that carries the Main Northern railway line beneath the Newcastle Inner City Bypass (A37) and is a diversion over the Tickhol ...

. A private railway connected the screens with the Government line near the present-day triangle junctions north of Broadmeadow. Surveying for the line commenced in 1875 and the line was completed in April 1877. However, only a total of 9,052 tons was ever produced and the company went into liquidation in June 1879. It was originally designed to create a 'garden suburb' with high quality and quickly grew in population after 1947.

Population

In the 2016 Census, there were 3,929 people in Kotara. 87.4% of people were born in Australia and 90.9% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 33.2%, Catholic 23.7%, Anglican 18.0% and Uniting Church 5.8%.

Commercial area

Kotara is a large retail centre of Newcastle. Westfield Kotara (previously known as ''Garden City'' and Kotara Fair) is a large shopping centre on Northcott Drive. Across the road from Westfield is the Kotara Home Centre, consisting of big box department stores and food outlets. Notable retailers include

JB Hi-Fi JB Hi-Fi Limited is an Australian consumer electronics and home appliances retail company. It is publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Its headquarters are located in Southbank, Melbourne, Victoria. The company has 316 store ...

Dan Murphy's Dan Murphy's is an Australian liquor store owned by Endeavour Group, with over 250 stores across the country. The business was founded in 1952 by winemaker Daniel Francis Murphy. Dan Murphy's competes principally with Coles Group brands First ...

and

Bunnings Warehouse Bunnings Group Limited, trading as Bunnings Warehouse or Bunnings, is an Australian household hardware chain. The chain has been owned by Wesfarmers since 1994, and has stores in Australia and New Zealand. Bunnings was founded in Perth, Wester ...

Education

Kotara is home to Kotara South Public School on Rodway Parade and the local Catholic School St James Primary School, located on Vista Parade.

References

{{City of Newcastle suburbs Suburbs of Newcastle, New South Wales

History

Population

Commercial area

Education

See also

References