Mount Sugarloaf, also known as ''Great Sugar Loaf'', is a mountain in the lower

Hunter Region The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...

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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, standing at 412 meters (1,352 feet), it looks over the cities 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 ...

Lake Macquarie The City of Lake Macquarie is a local government area in Greater Newcastle and part of the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed a city from 7 September 1984. The area is situated adjacent to the city of Newcastle and is ...

, Cessnock and

Maitland Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...

. The summit of the mountain is in the Lake Macquarie suburb of

West Wallsend West Wallsend is a suburb and small town in the City of Lake Macquarie, Greater Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. It is near the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway and the western suburbs of Newcastle. History The Awabakal are the traditional p ...

and access to the summit is gained via this suburb. However, the mountain itself is also part of the city of Cessnock suburbs Mulbring and

Richmond Vale Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a ...

. It is home to television transmitters that broadcast to the lower Hunter region. On 18 and 19 July 1965, the mountain received of snow. It also snowed on the summit in the winter of 1975.

Television transmitters

The mountain has two broadcast transmission towers. Since the 1960s their main function has been to transmit analogue television on VHF. In the 1990s two UHF analogue stations began to transmit from there. Since 2003, they have also been transmitting digital television in the UHF band (all digital television in the lower Hunter is on UHF). The analogue television transmitters (VHF and UHF) were switched off in November 2012. One tower, built to transmit the original VHF analogue television services of

NBN Television NBN is an Australian television station based in Newcastle, Australia. The station was inaugurated on 4 March 1962 as the first regional commercial television station in New South Wales, and has since expanded to 39 transmitters throughout Nort ...

on VHF Channel 3, transmits NBN and two government digital TV services. It is commonly referred to as the "NBN Tower". The second tower is transmitting the other two commercial digital (UHF) TV stations. The second tower is controlled by

Broadcast Australia BAI Communications, formerly Broadcast Australia, is an Australian telecommunications systems company. History Macquarie Bank completed its acquisition of National Transmission Agency in 2002 the seed asset in the publicly listed Macquarie Com ...

, being formerly run by the National Transmission Authority. There are many other radio antennae on these towers, including 105.3 NEWFM (Newcastle's original commercial FM broadcaster – launching in 1989) and those belonging to Amateur Radio repeater and beacon stations.

Smaller tower

There is a third smaller tower that has many directional antennae, mainly used for telecommunications, but also for two way radio for emergency services and other similar purposes. It has Telstra markings on much of the equipment and sheds.

Aboriginal History

The

Awabakal people 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 ...

called the mountain ''Warrawelong'' and it is a significant site for the Awabakal. It provides a vantage point to view all Awabakal lands and is an important teaching place. Sacred ceremonies are known to have taken place there. The shape of the mountain is said to look like a

wedge-tailed eagle The wedge-tailed eagle (''Aquila audax'') is the largest bird of prey in the continent of Australia. It is also found in southern New Guinea to the north and is distributed as far south as the state of Tasmania. Adults of this species have lon ...

and is the setting for a cautionary tale concerning the fate of two children at the hands of a monster called ''Puttikin.'' .

Gallery

File:Mtsugarloaf.jpg, Looking toward

from the Mount Sugarloaf carpark File:Mtsugarloaftower.JPG, Transmission Tower at Mount Sugarloaf File:Mt sugarloaf plaque.jpg, Plaque commemorating the first recorded snowfall on the mountain in 1965 File:Newcastle.jpg, Mount Surgarloaf (just left of centre) as seen from inner city Newcastle File:Mt sugarloaf.jpg, View from the top

References

External links

Photo of snowfall on Mount Sugarloaf, 18–19 July 1965
{{Use dmy dates, date=August 2019 Geography of Newcastle, New South Wales City of Lake Macquarie