Newcastle ( ;

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 ...

: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of

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. It includes the

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 ...

and

Lake Macquarie The City of Lake Macquarie is a Local government in Australia, 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 ...

local government areas A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The phrase i ...

, and is the hub of the

Greater Newcastle Newcastle ( ; Awabakal language, Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the City of Newcastle, Newcastle and City of Lake Macquarie, Lake Macquarie Local gov ...

area, which includes most parts of the local government areas of

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 ...

City of 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 ...

City of Cessnock City of Cessnock is a local government area in the Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. The area under administration is located to the west of Newcastle. The largest population centre and council seat is the city of Cessnock. The May ...

City of Maitland The City of Maitland is a local government area in the lower Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is situated adjacent to the New England Highway and the Hunter railway line. The Mayor of the City of Maitland is Cr. David T ...

and

Port Stephens Council Port Stephens Council (also known simply as Port Stephens) is a local government area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is just north of Newcastle and is adjacent to the Pacific Highway which runs through Raymond ...

. Located at the mouth of the

Hunter River Hunter River may refer to: *Hunter River (New South Wales), Australia *Hunter River (Western Australia) *Hunter River, New Zealand *Hunter River (Prince Edward Island), Canada **Hunter River, Prince Edward Island, community on Hunter River, Canada ...

, it is the predominant city within the

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 ...

. Famous for its

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

, Newcastle is the largest coal exporting harbour in the world, exporting 159.9 million tonnes of coal in 2017. Beyond the city, the Hunter Region possesses large coal deposits. Geologically, the area is located in the central-eastern part of the

Sydney Basin The Sydney Basin is an interim Australian bioregion and is both a structural entity and a depositional area, now preserved on the east coast of New South Wales, Australia and with some of its eastern side now subsided beneath the Tasman Sea. ...

History

Aboriginal history

Newcastle and the lower Hunter Region were traditionally occupied by the

and

Worimi The Worimi (also spelt Warrimay) people are Aboriginal Australians from the eastern Port Stephens and Great Lakes regions of coastal New South Wales, Australia. Before contact with settlers, their people extended from Port Stephens in the sout ...

Aboriginal people, who called the area Malubimba. 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. They include

Nobbys Head Nobbys Head ( Aboriginal and dual name: ''Whibayganba'') is a headland located on the southern entrance to Newcastle Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. The headland is situated above the Hunter River and the Tasman Sea of the South Pacific Ocean ...

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.

European settlement

In September 1797, Lieutenant

John Shortland John Shortland (5 September 1769 – 21 January 1810) was an officer of the Royal Navy, the eldest son of John Shortland.European settler to explore the area. His discovery of the area was largely accidental; as he had been sent in search of a number of convicts who had seized a locally-built vessel called Cumberland as she was sailing from

Sydney Cove Sydney Cove (Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central Sydney locatio ...

. While returning, Lt. Shortland entered what he later described as "a very fine river", which he named after New South Wales' Governor John Hunter. He returned with reports of the deep-water port and the area's abundant coal. Over the next two years, coal mined from the area was the

colony's first export. 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. By the start of the 19th century the mouth of the Hunter River was being visited by diverse groups of men, including coal diggers, timber-cutters, and more escaped convicts.

Philip Gidley King Captain Philip Gidley King (23 April 1758 – 3 September 1808) was a British politician who was the third Governor of New South Wales. When the First Fleet arrived in January 1788, King was detailed to colonise Norfolk Island for defence an ...

, the

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the ...

from 1800, decided on a more positive approach to exploit the now obvious natural resources of the

Hunter Valley 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 ...

. In 1801, a convict camp called King's Town (named after Governor King) was established to mine coal and cut timber. In the same year, the first shipment of coal was dispatched to Sydney. This settlement closed less than a year later. 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 renamed Newcastle, after the English city. The name first appeared by the commission issued by Governor King on 15 March 1804 to Lieutenant Charles Menzies of the

marine detachment A Marine Detachment, or MarDet, was a unit of 35 to 85 United States Marines aboard large warships including cruisers, battleships, and aircraft carriers. They were a regular component of a ship's company from the formation of the United States Ma ...

on , then at

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

, appointing him superintendent of the new settlement. The new settlement, comprising

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...

s and a military guard, arrived at the Hunter River on 27 March 1804 in three ships: , the ''Resource'' and the ''

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

''. The convicts were rebels from the 1804

Castle Hill convict rebellion The Castle Hill convict rebellion was an 1804 convict rebellion in the Castle Hill area of Sydney, against the colonial authorities of the British colony of New South Wales. The rebellion culminated in a battle fought between convicts and the ...

. The link with

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, England (its namesake) and also whence many of the 19th century coal miners came, is still obvious in some of the place-names – such as

Jesmond Jesmond is a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, situated to the east of the Town Moor. Jesmond is considered to be one of the most affluent suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne, with higher average house prices than most other areas of the city. H ...

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...

, Wickham,

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This fo ...

and

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

Morpeth, New South Wales Morpeth is a suburb of the city of Maitland in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is on the southern banks of the Hunter River at the border between the City of Maitland and Port Stephens Council LGAs. The major population centr ...

is a similar distance north of Newcastle as

Morpeth, Northumberland Morpeth is a historic market town in Northumberland, North East England, lying on the River Wansbeck. Nearby towns include Ashington, Northumberland, Ashington and Bedlington, Northumberland, Bedlington. In the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 ...

is north of Newcastle upon Tyne. 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

to the mainland. The quality of these first buildings was poor, and only the (much reinforced) breakwater survives. During this period, in 1816, the oldest public school in Australia was built in East Newcastle. Newcastle remained a penal settlement until 1822, when the settlement was opened up to farming. As a penal colony, the military rule was harsh, especially at Limeburners' Bay, on the inner side of Stockton peninsula. There, convicts were sent to burn oyster shells for making lime. Military rule in Newcastle ended in 1823. Prisoner numbers were reduced to 100 (most of these were employed on the building of the breakwater), and the remaining 900 were sent to

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...

Civilian government and onwards

After removal of the last convicts in 1823, the town was freed from the infamous influence of the penal law. It began to acquire the aspect of a typical Australian

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

settlement, and a steady flow of free settlers poured into the hinterland. The formation during the nineteenth century of the Newcastle & Hunter River Steamship Company saw the establishment of regular steamship services from

Morpeth Morpeth may refer to: *Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia ** Electoral district of Morpeth, a former electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in New South Wales * Morpeth, Ontario, Canada * Morpeth, Northumberland, England, UK ** Morpeth (UK ...

and Newcastle with Sydney. The company had a fleet of freighters as well as several fast passenger vessels, including the PS ''Newcastle'' and the PS ''Namoi''. The ''Namoi'' had first-class cabins with the latest facilities. Because of the coal supply, small ships plied between Newcastle and Sydney,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, carrying coal to gas works and bunkers for shipping, and railways. These were commonly known as

sixty-miler Sixty-miler (60-miler) is the colloquial name for the ships that were used in the coastal coal trade of New South Wales, Australia. The sixty-milers delivered coal to Sydney Harbour from ports and ocean jetties to the north and south of Sydney. The ...

s, referring to the nautical journey between Newcastle and Sydney. These ships continued in service until recent times.

1920s to present

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Newcastle was an important industrial centre for the Australian war effort. In 1942, the Japanese planned to attack Sydney Harbour. On the early hours of 8 June, the Japanese submarine briefly shelled Newcastle. Among the areas hit within the city were dockyards, the steel works, 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. The Port of Newcastle remains the economic and trade centre for the resource rich Hunter Valley and for much of the north and northwest 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. The volume of coal exported, and attempts to increase coal exports, are opposed by environmental groups. Newcastle had a shipbuilding industry with the Walsh Island Dockyard & Engineering Works,

State Dockyard The State Dockyard was a ship building and maintenance facility operated by the Government of New South Wales in Carrington, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia between 1942 and 1987. History In 1942, the State Dockyard opened on the site of t ...

and

Forgacs Shipyard Forgacs Shipyard is a shipbuilding company located at Tomago, New South Wales on the Hunter River. It was originally opened in 1957 by John Laverick at Carrington as Carrington Slipways, and built 45 ships between then and 1968. By 1972, the ...

. In recent years the only major ship-construction contract awarded to the area was the construction of the

Huon-class minehunter The ''Huon''-class minehunter coastal (MHC) ships are a group of minehunters built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Following problems with the s, a request for tender was issued in 1993 for a class of six coastal minehunters under the project ...

s. The era of extensive

heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...

passed when the steel works closed in 1999. Many of the remaining manufacturing industries have located themselves well away from the city itself. Newcastle has one of the oldest theatre districts in Australia. Victoria Theatre on Perkins Street is the oldest purpose-built theatre in the country. The theatre district that occupied the area around what is now the Hunter 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, and an active Hunter Writers' Centre. 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 the Anglican Bishop of Newcastle. Other noteworthy buildings include

Fort Scratchley Fort Scratchley, a former coastal defence installation, is now a museum. It is located in Newcastle East, a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales in Australia. It was built in 1882 to defend the city against a possible Russian attack. However, i ...

, the Ocean Baths, the old

Customs House A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting c ...

, the 1920s

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

, the 1890s Longworth Institute (once regarded as the finest building in the colony) and the 1930s

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

University House (formerly NESCA House, seen in the film ''Superman Returns'').

Heritage listings

Newcastle has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Argyle Street: Argyle House * 48–50 Bolton Street: David Cohen & Co. Warehouse * 58 Bolton Street: Old Newcastle East Public School * Bond Street:

Coutt's Sailors Home Coutt's Sailors Home is a heritage-listed former sailor's home, health clinic, government office building and now residence at 16 Bond Street, Newcastle, City of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by George Brown and built ...

* 1 Bond Street:

Newcastle Customs House The Newcastle Customs House is a heritage listed building located on the corner of Bond and Watt Street in Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. The building was designed in the Italianate Renaissance Revival style by New South Wales Colon ...

* 51 Brown Street:

Newcastle Reservoirs Newcastle Reservoirs are heritage-listed former and disused reservoirs, now used for public tours, at 51 Brown Street, The Hill, City of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. They were designed by Cecil West Darley and the NSW Public Works D ...

* Church Street:

Church and Watt Street Terrace Group The Church and Watt Street Terrace Group is a heritage-listed precinct along Church and Watt Streets, Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle, City of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Regis ...

* 9 Church Street:

Newcastle Court House The Newcastle Court House is a heritage-listed former court house located at 9 Church Street, Newcastle, City of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It is now owned by Nihon University. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Regis ...

* Great Northern railway:

Honeysuckle Point Railway Workshops The Honeysuckle Point Railway Workshops are heritage-listed former railway workshops at Newcastle, City of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by John Whitton and built from 1874 to 1886. It is also known as Honeysuckle Railw ...

* Great Northern railway:

Newcastle railway station Newcastle Central Station (also known simply as Newcastle and locally as Central Station) is a major railway station in Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located on the East Coast Main Line, around north of . It is the primary national rail station ...

* 21 Hillcrest Road: The Ridge * 45 Hunter Street: T & G Mutual Life Assurance Building * 96 Hunter Street:

Newcastle Post Office Newcastle Post Office is a heritage-listed former post office at 96 Hunter Street, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Walter Liberty Vernon in his capacity as New South Wales Government Architect and was built from 1900 ...

* 359–361 Hunter Street: Frederick Ash Building * 289 King Street:

Newcastle City Hall The Newcastle City Hall (currently known as O2 City Hall Newcastle for sponsorship reasons) is a concert hall located in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has hosted many popular music and classical artists throughout the years, as well as stan ...

* 300 King Street: Nesca House * 434 King Street, Newcastle West:

Miss Porter's House Miss Porter's House is a heritage-listed former residence and now house museum at 434 King Street, Newcastle West, Newcastle, City of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It was built by John T Owen. The property is owned by the National Tru ...

* Nobby's Road:

Coal River Precinct Coal River Precinct is a heritage-listed historic precinct at Nobbys Road, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1804 to 1960. It includes Fort Scratchley, Nobbys Head, the Convict Lumber Yard site, Macquarie Pier, the breakw ...

* Pacific Street:

Old Newcastle Club Building The Old Newcastle Club Building is a former gentlemen's club and hospital building and now youth hostel at 30 Pacific Street, Newcastle, City of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register ...

* 8–10 Perkins Street: Victoria Theatre * 89 Scott Street: Great Northern Hotel * 98 Scott Street:

Convict Lumber Yard Convict Lumber Yard is a heritage-listed site at 98 Scott Street, Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle, City of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Largely an archaeological site, it has been the location of a convict lumber yard, convict s ...

* Shortland Esplande:

Bogey Hole The Bogey Hole, also known as the Commandant's Baths, is a heritage-listed sea bath in Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. It is thought to be the oldest surviving European construction in the city area. The pool was hewn from a sandstone/ ...

* 41 The Terrace:

Shepherds Hill military installations The Shepherds Hill military installations is a New South Wales state heritage-listed site, consisting of a former military gun battery emplacement, observation post and gunner's cottage at The Terrace in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. ...

* 35–37 Watt Street:

Manufacturers House Manufacturers House is a heritage-listed office building at 35–37 Watt Street, Newcastle, City of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Spain and Cosh and built in the 1920s. It is also known as Manufacturer's Mutual Build ...

* 72 Watt Street:

Newcastle Government House Newcastle Government House is a heritage-listed former military post and official residence and now park and psychiatric hospital at 72 Watt Street, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It is also known as Newcastle Government House and Domai ...

Economy

19th and early 20th centuries

Coal

Coal mining began in earnest on 3 May 1833 when the

Australian Agricultural Company The Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) () is a public-listed Australian company that, as at 2018, owned and operated feedlots and farms covering around of land in Queensland and the Northern Territory, roughly one percent of Australia's la ...

received land grants at Newcastle plus a 31-year monopoly on that town's coal traffic. Other collieries were within a radius of the town. Principal coal mines were located at Stockton,

Tighes Hill Tighe's Hill is a north-western suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales and was named after A.A.P. Tighe, an early resident, who in 1843 bought the estate. It is primarily a residential area, though it also includes the current Tighes Hill TAFE c ...

, Carrington and the Newcastle Coal and Copper Company's collieries at

Merewether Merewether () is a former Municipality and today a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, located from Newcastle's central business district with a population of around 11,000. The suburb stretches from Merewether Beach in the east ...

(includes the Glebe),

and the Waratah collieries. All operations had closed by the early 1960s. On 10 December 1831 the

officially opened Australia's first railway, at the intersection of Brown & Church Streets, Newcastle. Privately owned and operated to service the ''A Pit'' coal mine, it was a

cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

fishbelly rail on an inclined plane as a gravitational railway.

Copper

In the 1850s, a major copper smelting works was established at Burwood, near Merewether. An engraving of this appeared in the ''

Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in ...

'' on 11 February 1854. The English and Australian Copper Company built another substantial works at

Broadmeadow Broadmeadow is the geographic center of Newcastle city. Its main commercial hub is located at the "Nineways".Cockle Creek Smelter Cockle Creek Smelter was a zinc and lead smelter located at the northern end of Lake Macquarie near Boolaroo in Newcastle, New South Wales. The smelter was built in by the Sulphide Corporation in 1896 and the first attempts to refine zinc using th ...

was built. The Custom House, Newcastle

Soap

The largest factory of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere was constructed in 1885, on an site between the suburbs of Tighes Hill and Port Waratah, by

Charles Upfold Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

, from London, for his Sydney Soap and Candle Company, to replace a smaller factory in Wickham. 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 (today

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

), and the factory closed in the mid-1930s.

Steel

In 1911,

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

chose the city as the site for its steelworks due to the abundance of coal. The land put aside was prime real estate, on the southern edge of the harbour. In 1915, the BHP 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. Newcastle from The Hill

Economic challenges

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. As Australia recovered from the early 1990s recession, the economy of Newcastle did too and the jobless rate rapidly fell. However, it consistently remained above that of New South Wales. Newcastle from Fort Scratchley

In 1999, the steelworks closed after 84 years' operation and had employed about 50,000 during its existence, many for decades. 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. Despite this, the closure caused a deterioration of the employment situation in Newcastle where the unemployment rate rose rapidly to almost 12% from under 9% at the previous trough just prior to the closure. Newcastle Harbour from the Tower

Since 2003, Australia experienced the effects of the

2000s commodities boom The 2000s commodities boom or the commodities super cycle was the rise of many physical commodity prices (such as those of food, oil, metals, chemicals and fuels) during the early 21st century (2000–2014), following the Great Commodities Depress ...

as commodities prices for major

export good A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over bodies of water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a sing ...

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 the

late 2000s recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...

better than NSW as a whole. As of 2009 the two largest single employers are the Hunter New England Area Health Service and the University of Newcastle. The

National Stock Exchange of Australia National Stock Exchange of Australia (NSX) is a stock exchange based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is owned and operated by NSX Limited, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange on 13 January 2005. On 20 December 2006 ...

(formerly Newcastle Stock Exchange) was formerly based in the city.

Disasters

1989 earthquake

On 28 December 1989, Newcastle experienced an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the

Richter scale The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...

, 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 at

Broadmeadow Broadmeadow is the geographic center of Newcastle city. Its main commercial hub is located at the "Nineways".recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

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.

June 2007 Hunter Region and Central Coast storms

On 8 June 2007 the Hunter and Central Coast regions were battered by the worst series of storms to hit

in 30 years. This resulted in extensive flooding and nine deaths. Thousands of homes were flooded and many were destroyed. The Hunter and Central Coast regions were declared natural disaster areas by the State Premier,

Morris Iemma Morris Iemma (; born 21 July 1961) is a former Australian politician who was the 40th Premier of New South Wales. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From Sydney, Iemma attended the University of Sydney and the University of Techno ...

, on 8 June 2007. Further flooding was predicted by the

Bureau of Meteorology The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Australian Government responsible for providing weather services to Australia and surrounding areas. It was established in 1906 under the Meteorology Act, and brought together ...

but was less severe than predicted. During the early stages of the storms, the bulk carrier ship ran aground at Nobbys Beach after failing to heed warnings to move offshore. After the first few attempts failed, the ''Pasha Bulker'' was refloated on the third salvage 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.

Maritime

On 12 July 1866 a paddle steamer the , on its way to

from Newcastle carrying 60 passengers, was caught in a storm as it made its way out of the harbour. 60 people died with only one survivor, Frederick Hedges, who was plucked from the water by the sole survivor of the Dunbar that had sunk in Sydney Harbour. The most tragic maritime accident of the 20th century in Newcastle occurred on 9 August 1934 when the Stockton-bound ferry ''Bluebell'' collided with the coastal freighter, ''Waraneen'', and sank in the middle of the Hunter River.

The Bluebell Collision The sinking of the Newcastle harbour ferry ''Bluebell'', after colliding with the coastal freighter ''Waraneen'' in 1934, was one of the worst maritime tragedies in Newcastle, Australia, in the 20th century. Collision Carrying between 40 ...

claimed three lives and fifteen passengers were admitted to the Newcastle Hospital, with two suffering severely from the effects of immersion. It was later found that the ferry captain was at fault. These are only two events in Newcastle's very long history of shipwrecks including the 1974 beaching of the , and the 2007 beaching of the .

Aviation

On 16 August 1966, an

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

CAC Sabre The CAC Sabre, sometimes known as the Avon Sabre or CA-27, is an Australian variant of the North American Aviation F-86F Sabre fighter aircraft. The F-86F was redesigned and built by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC). Equipping five ...

crashed into the inner city suburb of

The Junction The Junction is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is near the West Toronto Diamond, a junction of four railway lines in the area. The neighbourhood was previously an independent city called West Toronto, that was also its own fed ...

. The pilot, Flying Officer Warren William Goddard, experienced engine troubles and unsuccessfully tried to get the plane over the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. 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.

Geography

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 of Stockton sits opposite central Newcastle at the river mouth and is linked by ferry. Road access between Stockton and central Newcastle is via the

Stockton Bridge The Stockton Bridge is a road bridge that carries the Nelson Bay Road across the Hunter River, between Kooragang and Stockton in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. The bridge and Nelson Bay Road serve as the main transport route ...

, a distance of . 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 to

Parks

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. Another noteworthy park of Newcastle is Starrett Park in New Lambton, known for its playground and lush grass.

Climate

Newcastle has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(''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 the Pacific 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 . The highest recorded temperature was in January 2013 at the Nobbys Head weather station. Winters are generally mild with drier conditions than summer on average.

Cold front A cold front is the leading edge of a cooler mass of air at ground level that replaces a warmer mass of air and lies within a pronounced surface trough of low pressure. It often forms behind an extratropical cyclone (to the west in the Norther ...

s affect the area and sometimes bring strong westerly winds behind them, but due to the

foehn effect A Foehn or Föhn (, , ), is a type of dry, relatively warm, downslope wind that occurs in the lee (downwind side) of a mountain range. It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of ...

they generally provide clear conditions as the region lies leeward of the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

. The lowest temperature ever recorded was in July 1986. East coast lows also impact Newcastle, sometimes delivering winds well above and torrential rainfall, usually lasting a couple of days. The

east coast low Australian east coast lows (known locally as east coast lows, maritime lows and sometimes as east coast cyclones) are extratropical cyclones or low-pressure systems on the coast of southeastern Australia that may be caused by both mid-latitude an ...

in May 1974, the

June 2007 Hunter Region and Central Coast storms The 2007 New South Wales storms started on 8 June 2007 following the development of an intense east coast low pressure system during the previous night. Over the next 36 hours these areas were battered by the system's strong winds and torrentia ...

and April 2015 are extreme examples of this type of weather.

Demographics

The metropolitan area of Newcastle is the second most populous area in New South Wales. In the 2021 Australian Census updated population figures on the Newcastle and Hunter Region were provided. What is generally labeled 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 619,653. 83.6% of people in the Newcastle metropolitan area 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%. Newcastle courthouse OIC

Newcastle is often quoted as being the seventh 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 as

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. Despite their proximity, all of the LGAs in the region maintain their own individual identities, separate from Newcastle. The

demonym A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...

for the people of Newcastle is "Novocastrian", derived from Latin ''novus'' (new) and ''castra'' (castle or fort).

Domestic architecture

Education

Primary and secondary schools

The oldest state school in the area is

Newcastle East Public School {{Infobox school , name = Newcastle East Public School , image = nepslogo.PNG , motto = , established = {{start date and age, 1816 , type = New South Wales Public School , principal = Mike McCann , city = Newcastle , state = New South Wal ...

, a primary school established in 1816. Newcastle East Public School is the oldest continuously operating school in Australia, and celebrated its bicentenary in 2016. 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. There are three selective state schools in the area: *

Hunter School of the Performing Arts The Hunter School of the Performing Arts (abbreviated as HSPA) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Mixed-sex school, co-educational Selective school (New South Wales), selective and specialist primary school, primar ...

, a fully selective 3-12 school, taking students only by audition *

Merewether High School , motto_translation = , established = , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia New South Wales , pushpin_image = Australia New South Wales relief location map.png , pushpin_maps ...

, a fully selective high school in the suburb of

Broadmeadow Broadmeadow is the geographic center of Newcastle city. Its main commercial hub is located at the "Nineways".Newcastle Grammar School , motto_translation = Let us be judged by our actions , location = Newcastle, Hunter Region, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Austral ...

and St Philip's Christian College, both coeducational K-12 schools. The local area is also home to two

Steiner school Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic, and practical skil ...

s: the Newcastle Waldorf School at Glendale in

, and the Linuwel Steiner School in

East Maitland East Maitland is a suburb in the City of Maitland, New South Wales, Australia. It is on the New England Highway and it has two railway stations, Victoria Street (opened in 1857 with the Newcastle-Maitland line) and East Maitland (opened initial ...

Tertiary and further education

The city's main provider of tertiary education is the University of Newcastle. It was established in 1951 as a satellite campus of the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

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 of Callaghan about from the CBD. There are three campuses of the

Hunter Institute of TAFE TAFE NSW is an Australian vocational education and training provider. Annually, the network trains over 500,000 students in campus, workplace, online, or distance education methods of education. It was established as an independent statutory bod ...

, one located in the Newcastle CBD, one in the suburb of Hamilton East and the other located in the suburb of

. The Tighes Hill campus is the network's largest campus and offers courses in business, hospitality and various trades.

Culture

Captain James Cook Memorial Fountain and Library

Festivals

Newcastle holds a variety of cultural events and festivals. The

Newcastle Regional Show The Newcastle Regional Show (or just Newcastle Show) is an annual agricultural show held by the Newcastle AH & I Association at the Newcastle Regional Showground in Broadmeadow, a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. The show was fo ...

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. The Mattara 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. Mattara means "hand of friendship" in the local Awabakal language. Originally held at Civic Park and then moved to Newcastle foreshore in 2006 In 2017 the festival was moved to

Park. The

Newcastle Jazz Festival 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 ...

is held across three days in August, and attracts performers and audiences from all over Australia. 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. The Shoot 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.

This Is Not Art This Is Not Art (TiNA) is a national festival of new media and arts organized in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia each year over the October long weekend since 1998. TiNA is dedicated to the work and ideas of artistic communities not genera ...

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 Electrofringe is a presenting platform for experimental electronic and technology-based art in Australia. Electrofringe is a non-profit arts organisation and annual festival. Overview Electrofringe hosts exhibitions and events throughout the ye ...

, the

National Young Writers' Festival The National Young Writers' Festival (NYWF) occurs annually in the city of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, over the New South Wales' Labour Day Holiday Weekend in late September/early October. It is the country's largest gathering of young ...

, Critical Animals,

Sound Summit Sound Summit is an annual independent conference / festival focusing on exploratory and innovative independent music that takes place in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia as part of the annual This Is Not Art Festival. It was founded in 2000 ...

, Crack Theatre Festival and other projects that vary from year to year. The Newcastle Entertainment Centre, located inside the Newcastle Showground is a popular venue for regular events including wrestling, concerts and monster truck shows.

Music

Newcastle has an active youth music culture, as well as a Conservatorium of Music which is part of the University of Newcastle. It continues to support local bands and has a large underground music scene. The members of

Silverchair Silverchair were an Australian Rock music, rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, with Ben Gillies on drums, Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar. The group got thei ...

, the highly successful Australian band, hail from Newcastle, as do the Australian bands

The Screaming Jets The Screaming Jets are an Australian hard rock band formed in Newcastle, Australia, in 1989 by frontman Dave Gleeson (vocals), Paul Woseen (bass guitar), Grant Walmsley (guitar)Richard Lara(guitar), and Brad Heaney (drums). The band has three al ...

and

Vacations A vacation (American English) or holiday (British English) is either a leave of absence from a regular job or an instance of leisure travel away from home. People often take a vacation during specific holiday observances or for specific festiv ...

. It has a fertile punk rock and hardcore scene, which has spawned successful local acts and national acts. Newcastle was also home to the short-lived band Velvet Underground which featured future

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

guitarist

Malcolm Young Malcolm Mitchell Young (6 January 1953 – 18 November 2017) was an Australian musician who was the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter of AC/DC. Except for a brief absence in 1988, he was with the band from its beginn ...

Visual arts and galleries

Notable modernist artists associated with Newcastle are seascape sketcher

Shay Docking Shay Docking (1928–1998) was an Australian artist who specialised in landscape drawing. Early life Docking was born in Warrnambool Victoria in 1928, and was the youngest of seven children. Her father was a clergyman and her mother a musicia ...

(1928–1998), the cubist influenced abstract painter William Rose (1929–1999), landscape painter

John Olsen John Wayne Olsen, AO (born 7 June 1945) is a former Australian politician, diplomat and football commissioner. He was Premier of South Australia between 28 November 1996 and 22 October 2001. He is now President of the Federal Liberal Party, C ...

, who was born in Newcastle in 1928, still- life painter

Margaret Olley Margaret Hannah Olley (24 June 192326 July 2011) was an Australian painter. She was the subject of more than ninety solo exhibitions. Early life Margaret Olley was born in Lismore, New South Wales. She was the eldest of three children of Jo ...

, portraitist

William Dobell Sir William Dobell (24 September 189913 May 1970) was an Australian portrait and landscape artist of the 20th century. Dobell won the Archibald Prize, Australia's premier award for portrait artists on three occasions. The Dobell Prize is named ...

and figurative painter John Montefiore lived at Lake Macquarie to the south of the city. Art collector William Bowmore resided in Newcastle and collected Brett Whiteley paintings as well as owning a large collection of international art and artefacts. The Von Bertouch Galleries was a commercial gallery founded by Anne Von Bertouch and for more than forty years from 1963 exhibited nationally and locally known artists. The

Newcastle Art Gallery The Newcastle Art Gallery (formerly the Newcastle City Art Gallery, Newcastle Region Art Gallery) is a large, public art museum in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. History Founded in 1945 with an art collection consisting of 123 works ...

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. Newcastle Town Hall - 50732203368

Theatre

Newcastle has a variety of smaller theatres, but the main theatre in the CBD is now the ''

Civic Civic is something related to a city or municipality. It also can refer to multiple other things: General *Civics, the science of comparative government *Civic engagement, the connection one feels with their larger community *Civic center, a comm ...

'', at Wheeler Place, (seating capacity about 1500), one of Australia's great historic theatres built during 1929 in Art 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, the Victoria Theatre on Perkins Street (built 1876, capacity 1750), saw touring international opera companies such as the

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. Th ...

, and other troupes, and played host to some of the greatest stars of the age, such as

Dame Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic dramatic coloratura soprano (three octaves). She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century ...

Gladys Moncrieff Gladys Moncrieff (13 April 1892 – 8 February 1976) was an Australian singer who was so successful in musical theatre and recordings that she became known as 'Australia's Queen of Song' and 'Our Glad'. Life and career Early years Moncrieff ...

, and

Richard Tauber Richard Tauber (16 May 1891 – 8 January 1948) was an Austrian tenor and film actor. Early life Richard Tauber was born in Linz, Austria, to Elisabeth Seifferth (née Denemy), a widow and an actress who played soubrette roles at the local theat ...

, (it is now closed and derelict); the ''Century'', Nineways,

Broadmeadow Broadmeadow is the geographic center of Newcastle city. Its main commercial hub is located at the "Nineways".Sarah Wynter Sarah Wynter (born 15 February 1973)
movies2.nytimes.com; accessed 13 January 2016. is an Australian actr ...

, John Doyle (part of comic act

Roy & HG Roy and HG are an Australian comedy duo, comprising Greig Pickhaver in the role of "H. G. Nelson" and John Doyle as "'Rampaging' Roy Slaven". Their act is an affectionate but irreverent parody of Australia's obsession with sport. Their charact ...

Susie Porter Susie Porter (born 1970 or 1971) is an Australian television, film and theatre actress. She made her debut in the 1996 film '' Idiot Box'', before rising to prominence in films including '' Paradise Road'' (1997), ''Welcome to Woop Woop'' (1997) ...

Celia Ireland Celia Ireland (born 16 May 1966) is an Australian actress. She is best known for her role as Regina Butcher on the television series '' All Saints'' and her Logie award winning role as Liz Birdsworth on the prison drama series ''Wentworth''. E ...

Yahoo Serious Yahoo Serious (born Greg Gomez Pead; 27 July 1953) is an Australian film actor, director, and score composer. His films include the comedy films ''Young Einstein'' (1988), ''Reckless Kelly'' (1993), and '' Mr. Accident'' (2000). Serious writes, ...

and

Jonathan Biggins Jonathan Martin Biggins (born 14 September 1960) is an Australian actor, singer, writer, director and comedian. He has appeared on film, stage and television as well as in satirical sketch comedy television programmes. He was born in Newcast ...

. The cast of the Tap Dogs show also come from Newcastle.

Media arts

Newcastle is home to the

Octapod Octapod is a non profit arts organisation based in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It acts as a producer and facilitator of creative projects in the Hunter region. History Octapod was founded as an informal collective in 1996 by 'a group o ...

Association, a New Media Arts collective established in 1996.

presents the annual

Festival and is also home to the Podspace Gallery.

Museums

The

Newcastle Museum Newcastle Museum is in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. History The Newcastle Museum was founded in 1988. It was originally located in the old Castlemaine Brewery building on Hunter Street until 2008. In 2011 it reopened in its presen ...

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.

Sport

Basketball

Newcastle has had two teams in the National Basketball League, the

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

and The

Hunter Pirates The Hunter Pirates are a defunct Australian professional men's basketball team that competed in the National Basketball League (NBL). It was based in the city of Newcastle, New South Wales. Team history The team was once known as the Canberra ...

. Both teams folded due to financial difficulties. The city co-hosted the 1985 FIBA Oceania Championship where Australia's national basketball team won its seventh straight title.

Cricket

A bid for Newcastle to establish a 2012 team in the national Twenty20 competition the

Big Bash League The Big Bash League (known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons, often abbreviated to BBL or Big Bash) is an Australian professional club Twenty20 cricket league, which was established in 2011 by Cricket Australia. The Big Bash Le ...

, with games played at either

Hunter Stadium Newcastle International Sports Centre, known as McDonald Jones Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose sports stadium located in Newcastle, Australia. The ground is home to the Newcastle Knights (National Rugby League) and Newca ...

or No.1 Sports Ground was unsuccessful.

Football

Several different football codes are popular sports in Newcastle, with at least one having been played since the mid-1800s.

Australian rules

The sport of Australian Rules is played in Newcastle and administered by

AFL Hunter Central Coast The AFL Hunter Central Coast is an Australian rules football competition in the Newcastle, Hunter Region and Central Coast regions of New South Wales. The Black Diamond Australian Football league was formed in 2000 and ran until the end of t ...

Rugby league

Rugby league is the most popular sport in Newcastle by a wide margin. Newcastle sports teams playing in national competitions include the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

, a team that plays in Australia's premier

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

competition, the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

. The Knights play at

McDonald Jones Stadium Newcastle International Sports Centre, known as McDonald Jones Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose sports stadium located in Newcastle, Australia. The ground is home to the Newcastle Knights (National Rugby League) and Newcast ...

, situated in the suburb of . After an upgrade, the stadium now has capacity for almost 27,000 spectators. In May 2008, the

NSW state government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party o ...

agreed to provide a further $20 million for further upgrades to increase the crowd capacity to 33,000 by end of 2010. The

Newcastle Rugby League The Newcastle Rugby League is a local rugby league football competition in Newcastle, Australia. It is one of the oldest rugby league competitions in Australia, founded in 1910. A Newcastle representative team was also assembled from players in ...

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. The

Newcastle & Hunter Rugby League Newcastle & Hunter Community Rugby League is the governing body of second tier rugby league in the Newcastle and Hunter region. Formed in 2006 after a merger between the Maitland & Coalfields Rugby League and Lower Hunter Rugby League Competition ...

is a community competition also based in the city 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. Hunter Stadium hosted the

2016 Anzac Test The 2016 Anzac Test (known as the Downer Anzac Test due to sponsorship) was a rugby league test match played between Australia and New Zealand at Hunter Stadium in Newcastle. It was the 17th Anzac Test played between the two nations since the ...

between

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 ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Rugby union

Rugby union is a football code that has been played in Newcastle since at least 1869, with the Newcastle Football Club formed in 1877.

Newcastle and Hunter Rugby Union The Newcastle and Hunter Rugby Union is one of Australia's oldest rugby union organisations, with a history dating back to the mid 19th century. The union is based in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. History The earliest report of a footbal ...

is the main body overseeing the sport in the region. In 2019, the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the state, ...

of the professional

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

competition played a competition match in Newcastle at

for the first time.

Soccer (association football)

The Newcastle Jets Football Club, which plays in Australia's highest level

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

competition, the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

, also play at

. The Newcastle Jets won the A-League competition in their third season, defeating local rivals the

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Ma ...

in the grand final. The Jets are playing in the 2015/16 A-League season, and their eleventh in the Australian National Competition. The city also played host to 4 games of the

2015 AFC Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The tournament was ...

, including the semi-final between Australia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the 3rd place playoff between the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.

Horse racing

Newcastle Racecourse is in the suburb of

Broadmeadow Broadmeadow is the geographic center of Newcastle city. Its main commercial hub is located at the "Nineways".Group 3 Group 3 may refer to: *Group 3 element, chemical element classification *Group 3 (racing), FIA classification for auto racing *Group 3, the third tier of races in worldwide Thoroughbred horse racing * Group 3 image format, Group 3 & Group 4 are d ...

races: in March is the

Newcastle Newmarket Handicap The Newcastle Stakes, registered as the Newcastle Newmarket Handicap is a Newcastle Jockey Club Group 3 Thoroughbred open quality handicap horse race over a distance of 1,400 metres, held annually at Broadmeadow Racecourse in Newcastle, New S ...

; and in September the 1400-metre

Cameron Handicap The Cameron Handicap is a Newcastle Jockey Club Group 3 Thoroughbred open handicap horse race over a distance of 1,500 metres, held at Broadmeadow Racecourse in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia in September. Total prize money for the race is ...

, and the

Newcastle Gold Cup The Newcastle Gold Cup is a Newcastle Jockey Club Group 3 Australian Thoroughbred open handicap horse race over a distance of 2300 metres, held at Broadmeadow Racecourse in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia in September. Total prize money for ...

. In 2015 work an inner track, known as the Beaumont Track, was added. Aboriginal jockey

Merv Maynard Mervyn "Merv" Maynard ( – 9 April 2017) was an Aboriginal Australian jockey who rode numerous winners in a career spanning almost five decades. Early life Mervyn Maynard was born around 1931, the son of Aboriginal activist Fred Maynard and M ...

commenced his career at Newcastle Racecourse, under Keith Tinson. Maynard enjoyed his first success in the 1948–49 season there, and went on to have a career spanning 50 years, winning the Newcastle Premiership twice, along with 1500 winning rides in four countries.

Ice hockey and skating

The

Newcastle North Stars The Newcastle Northstars (formally ''Newcastle North Stars'') is an Australian semi-professional ice hockey team from Newcastle, New South Wales. The Northstars are a member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL), joining as an expansion tea ...

are Newcastle's representatives in the

Australian Ice Hockey League The Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) is Australia's top-level ice hockey league. Established in 2000, the AIHL is sanctioned by Ice Hockey Australia (a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation). The league is run by its own board of ...

championships. Originally based in

Newcastle West Newcastle West () or simply Newcastle (''An Caisleán Nua'', formerly anglicized Castlenoe) is a town in west County Limerick, Ireland. It is the largest town in the county, excluding Limerick city, It is also the county town, and sits on the ...

in the 1970-80s, the North Stars now play out of the

Hunter Ice Skating Stadium The Hunter Ice Skating Stadium is an ice sports and public skate centre, opened in 2000 and located in Warners Bay, a suburb of Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium serves as the home ice rink of the Newcastle Northstars who co ...

Warners Bay Warners Bay is a suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia, and is located from Newcastle's central business district on the eastern side of Lake Macquarie. It was named after Jonathan Warner, who settled the area. ...

Motorsport

Newcastle hosted the final round of the

Supercars Championship The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

in 2017. The

Newcastle 500 The Newcastle 500 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Thrifty Newcastle 500) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at the Newcastle Street Circuit in Newcastle, New South Wales since 2017. The event has not been held since 2019 ...

is held on the

Newcastle Street Circuit The Newcastle Street Circuit is a temporary street circuit around the east end of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. The circuit hosts the Newcastle 500, the final round of the Supercars Championship. The 14-turn, circuit takes in Newcastle ...

in the East End of the city. The city previously hosted the Mattara Hillclimb which was held in King Edward Park, and has hosted the F1 Offshore Powerboats in the harbour.

Netball

The

Hunter Jaegers Hunter Jaegers were an Australian netball team based in Newcastle, New South Wales. Together with Sydney Swifts and Sydney Sandpipers, they were one of three teams to represent Netball New South Wales in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy league. Hun ...

(

Commonwealth Bank Trophy The Commonwealth Bank Trophy, also referred to as the National Netball League, was the top level national Australian netball league between 1997 and 2007. The league was organized by Netball Australia. Its main sponsor was the Commonwealth Ba ...

–

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

) were based at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre. They became defunct in 2007 after merging with the Sydney Swifts to become the NSW 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 defunct

National Basketball League team and was also home to the

before a lack of sponsorship forced them to close after the 2005–06 season, with the licence sold to the

Singapore Slingers The Singapore Slingers is a Singaporean professional basketball team that currently compete in the ASEAN Basketball League. The Slingers were known as the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers between 2009 and 2014, due to sponsorship ties with JobS ...

. The Slingers played one home game at the Centre during the 2006–07 season.

Water sports

Newcastle has an abundance of beaches and surf breaks for which the city is internationally well known. Newcastle hosts the annual surfing contest

Surfest Surfest is an annual surfing competition held in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Austr ...

on the world professional surfing tour. Four time world champion surfer Mark 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 popular

kitesurfing Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...

spot, especially during the warm summer months when there are northeasterly sea breezes.

Media

Newcastle is served by a daily tabloid, '' The Herald'' (formerly ''The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate'' and then ''The Newcastle Herald''), several weeklies including the ''

Newcastle Star The ''Newcastle Star'' is a free weekly newspaper in Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and L ...

'', ''The Post'' and the bi-monthly ''The Hunter Advocate''. Other alternative media in the city include the university's student publications

Opus ''Opus'' (pl. ''opera'') is a Latin word meaning "work". Italian equivalents are ''opera'' (singular) and ''opere'' (pl.). Opus or OPUS may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Opus number, (abbr. Op.) specifying order of (usually) publicatio ...

and Yak Magazine, Newcastle Mirage (a local arts and culture zine) and Urchin (a

zine A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to writ ...

published by the media and arts organisation

). The city is also served by several local radio stations, including those owned by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

and SBS. *AM stations ** 2HD (commercial) 1143 AM ** Radio 1629 Newcastle (off band commercial) 1629 AM *FM stations **

Triple M Newcastle 102.9 Triple M Newcastle (call sign: 2KKO) is an Australian radio station, licensed to, and serving Newcastle and surrounds. It broadcasts at 102.9 megahertz on the FM band from its studios in Newcastle. It is owned by Southern Cross Austereo ...

(commercial) 102.9 FM **

hit106.9 Newcastle hit106.9 (call sign: 2XXX) is a commercial FM radio station broadcasting in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, on a frequency of 106.9 MHz, and is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Hit Network. Triple M is a sister station sharing the ...

(commercial) 106.9 FM **

New FM NEWFM (call sign: 2NEW) is an Australian radio station, licensed to, and serving Newcastle and its surrounding area. It is owned by Bill Caralis's Broadcast Operations Group, and operates at 105.3 megahertz on the FM band The FM broadcast ba ...

(commercial) 105.3 FM **

2NUR 2NUR is an Australian radio station, licensed to, and serving Newcastle and its surrounds. It is a community radio station, licensed to the University of Newcastle.About 2NUR. http://www.newcastle.edu.au/community-and-alumni/arts-and-culture/2n ...

(community) 103.7 FM ** Rhema FM Newcastle (Christian) 99.7 FM *Government broadcasters **

***

ABC Newcastle ABC Newcastle (call sign: 2NC) is an Australian radio station. It is the Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle station of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC local radio network, and is licensed to, and serving Newcastle and surrounding ...

local radio 1233 AM ***

ABC Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

1512 AM ***

ABC NewsRadio ABC NewsRadio, since 2017 broadcast under the ABC News brand and for a short time known as ABC News on Radio, is a 24-hour news radio service broadcast by the Australian public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). ABC ...

(news and Parliament) 1458 AM ***

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

(youth station) 102.1 FM ***

ABC Classic FM ABC Classic, formerly ABC-FM (also ABC Fine Music), and then ABC Classic FM, is an Australian classical music radio station available in Australia and internationally. Its website features classical music news, features and listening guides. ...

(classical music) 106.1 FM **

Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World ...

***

SBS Radio SBS Radio is an Australian radio network owned by the Special Broadcasting Service directed towards newly arrived immigrants in Australia. SBS Radio originally began as two stations based in Melbourne and Sydney, set up to provide pre-recorded ...

(foreign language service) 1413 AM *Narrowcast stations **

Sky Sports Radio Sky Sports Radio (formerly 2KY) is a commercial radio station based in Sydney, broadcasting throughout New South Wales and Canberra on a network of over 140 narrowcast transmitters as well as the main 1017 AM frequency in Sydney. It broadcasts ...

(as part of statewide network) 1341 AM ** Newy 87.8 FM ** Raw FM 88.0 FM Newcastle is also served by five television networks, three commercial and two national services: * Nine Northern NSW –

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

owned and operated. Pre-aggregation,

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 ...

was the incumbent commercial station in the Newcastle region. *

WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television station covering the Wollongong region. The WIN Netwo ...

's 10 Northern NSW –

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

affiliate. * Seven Northern NSW –

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

owned and operated. *

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

SBS Television The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World ...

NBN produces an evening news bulletin combining local, state, national and international news screening nightly at 6.00 pm on Channel 9, due to NBN being an owner and operator of the network, Nine News' Sydney-based bulletin at 6 is not relayed on this station, but stories from the bulletin are shown on NBN News.

Seven 7 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 7 or seven may also refer to: * AD 7, the seventh year of the AD era * 7 BC, the seventh year before the AD era * The month of July Music Artists * Seven (Swiss singer) (born 1978), a Swiss recording artist ...

Nine 9 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 9 or nine may also refer to: Dates * AD 9, the ninth year of the AD era * 9 BC, the ninth year before the AD era * 9, numerical symbol for the month of September Places * Nine, Portugal, a parish in the ...

and

produce short local updates throughout the day to fulfil local content quotas.

Transport

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 both

and

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 and Stockton. Within the metropolitan area the car remains the dominant form of transportation. At the time of the 2001 Census, less than 4% of the population caught public transport, of which around 2.5% travelled by bus and 1% used the train or ferry to commute to work. On the other hand, over 72% of the population travelled by car to and from work. Newcastle, like all major Australian urban centres, had a

tram system A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

, but it was closed in 1950. In February 2019, trams returned to the city with the opening of the

Newcastle Light Rail The Newcastle Light Rail is a light rail system in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, running from Newcastle Interchange through the central business district to Pacific Park. Major construction commenced in September 2017 and the line was ...

Road

Newcastle is connected to surrounding cities by the Pacific Motorway (south),

Hunter Expressway The Hunter Expressway is a long controlled-access highway in New South Wales, Australia. It was previously known as the F3 to Branxton link or Kurri Kurri Corridor during the planning stage. It has two lanes in each direction, running generally ...

(west),

New England Highway New England Highway is an long highway in Australia running from Yarraman, north of Toowoomba, Queensland at its northern end to Hexham at Newcastle, New South Wales at its southern end. It is part of Australia's National Highway system, an ...

(west) and the Pacific 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 the

Newcastle Link Road Newcastle Link Road is a limited-access road in New South Wales linking the interchange of Pacific Motorway and Hunter Expressway at Cameron Park, to Wallsend in western Newcastle. It is designated part of route A15. Route Newcastle Link Ro ...

and then the Pacific Motorway and Hunter Expressway.

Bus

Newcastle State Transit Bustech Volvo B7RLE bus

Bus services within Newcastle are operated by

Newcastle Transport Newcastle Transport is a public transport operator in Newcastle, New South Wales. A subsidiary of Keolis Downer, it operates bus, Stockton ferry service, ferry and Newcastle Light Rail, light rail services under contract to Transport for NSW. Hi ...

. Prior to July 2017, these were operated by

Newcastle Buses & Ferries Newcastle Buses & Ferries was a commuter bus and ferry service operating in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie from 1935 until 2017. Part of the State Transit Authority, it operated 26 bus routes and the Stockton ferry across the Hunter River. H ...

Hunter Valley Buses Hunter Valley Buses is an Australian bus operator who operates bus, coach and charter services in the Central Coast and Hunter regions of New South Wales. Previously known as Blue Ribbon, it was one of the first companies to be bought by Comfo ...

Port Stephens Coaches Port Stephens Coaches is an Australian bus company operating services in Port Stephens and the Hunter Region. History In the 1940s, the Newcastle to Nelson Bay service was purchased by the Fogg family. In 1957, the route was purchased by Sid F ...

and

Rover Coaches Rover Coaches is an Australian bus company operating services in the Hunter Valley. History In 1925, George Ryder purchased two small bus operators, the South Maitland Motor Company and the Marble Bar Motor Service, and named the company Rover ...

also operate services into the CBD from other parts of the Hunter Region. The network radiates from a bus terminal near

, on the waterfront of Newcastle's CBD. Major interchanges are located at the University of Newcastle,

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

, Belmont,

Charlestown Square Charlestown Square is a large indoor/outdoor shopping centre in the suburb of Charlestown in the City of Lake Macquarie. Transport Charlestown Square has bus connections to City of Lake Macquarie suburbs and Newcastle suburbs, as well as loc ...

and

Westfield Kotara Westfield Kotara (previously known as Kotara Fair and Garden City) is a large shopping centre in the suburb of Kotara in Newcastle. Transport Kotara station is 800 metres away from Westfield Kotara and is on the Main Northern railway line. T ...

Greyhound Australia Greyhound Australia is an Australian coach operator that ran services in all mainland states and territories until reduction of services in the 2000s. It is owned by KordaMentha (85%) and the Chapman Group (15%). The company was established i ...

, Premier Motor Service and

Sid Fogg's Sid Fogg's is an Australian bus and coach charter company based in Fullerton Cove in the Hunter Region of New South Wales. History The origins of Sid Fogg's can be traced to the 1920s when Amos Fogg founded Fogg's Motor Service. In the 1950s ow ...

long-distance services serve Newcastle.

Rail

The Newcastle area is serviced by two

NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, along with limited interstate services into Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Its primary interc ...

intercity lines providing local and regional commuter services terminating at

Newcastle Interchange Newcastle Interchange is a transport interchange serving the city of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It serves as the termini for NSW TrainLink's Central Coast & Newcastle Line and Hunter Line train services, Newcastle Light Rail service ...

along the Newcastle line. The

Central Coast & Newcastle Line The Central Coast & Newcastle Line is a NSW TrainLink passenger train service that runs along the Main North railway line in New South Wales, connecting the state's two largest cities, Sydney and Newcastle. The service runs from through to on ...

has twice-hourly train services to Sydney and the Central Coast. The

Hunter Line The Hunter Line is a commuter train line operated by NSW TrainLink, running from Newcastle to Dungog and Scone in the New South Wales Hunter Region. It operates on the Newcastle, Main North and North Coast lines. Description of Route Hunte ...

has twice-hourly services to

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 ...

and less frequently to

Scone A scone is a baked good, usually made of either wheat or oatmeal with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often slightly sweetened and occasionally glazed with egg wash. The scone is a basic component of th ...

and

Dungog Dungog is a country town on the Williams River in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. Located in the middle of dairy and timber country, it is the centre of the Dungog Shire local government area and at the 2016 census it had a po ...

. Two long-distance lines operate through the Newcastle area using Broadmeadow station. These provide services to Moree,

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 24,504 as of June 2018. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands region. It ...

and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. Newcastle once had rail passenger services to Belmont and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, on

Kurri Kurri Kurri Kurri is a small town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Cessnock LGA. At the , its population was 6,044. Kurri Kurri is the largest town in a group of towns and hamlets, including Stanford Merthyr, Pelaw Main, ...

and several towns and villages between Maitland and Cessnock on the

South Maitland Railway The South Maitland Railway was once an extensive network of privately owned colliery and passenger railway lines which served the South Maitland coalfields in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia and were the second last system in Aust ...

, but these lines have been closed. In the late-1990s there was intense debate about the future of the rail line into central Newcastle. In December 2014, the Newcastle line was curtailed to

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

. A new

opened on 15 October 2017. The

line also operates from here. From 1924 until 1994,

Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot (NSW depot number 2) was a large locomotive depot consisting of two Railway roundhouse, roundhouse buildings and associated facilities constructed by the New South Wales Government Railways adjacent to the marshalling ...

was the main railway centre for the Hunter region.

Cardiff Locomotive Workshops The Cardiff Locomotive Workshops (now known as the Cardiff Maintenance Centre) is a rail yard and rolling stock facility located between Cockle Creek and Cardiff stations near Newcastle, on the Main North railway line in New South Wales, Austr ...

opened in 1928, primarily as a major repair centre for

New South Wales Government Railways The New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932. Management The agency was managed by a range of differe ...

locomotives, although it did build twelve 38 class and two 58 class locomotives. Today it is operated by

Downer Rail Downer Rail is a business unit within the Downer Group. As well as manufacturing and maintaining railway rolling stock it holds maintenance contracts to maintain rail infrastructure. The head office is located in North Ryde. History The EDI ...

and along with

UGL Rail UGL Rail is an Australian rail company specialising in building, maintaining and refurbishing diesel locomotives, diesel and electric multiple units and freight wagons. It is a subsidiary of UGL Limited and is based in Melbourne, with a staff of ...

's Broadmeadow plant, remains active as a locomotive and rolling stock manufacturer and repairer.

Water

The Port 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. The Port of Newcastle claims to be Australia's first port. Coal was first exported from the harbour in 1799. Newcastle Transport operates a ferry service across the Hunter River between Newcastle's CBD and Stockton.

Air

Newcastle Airport Newcastle or New Castle Airport may refer to: * Newcastle International Airport, an airport in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK ** Newcastle Airport metro station, the Tyne and Wear metro station serving the airport * Newcastle Airport (Nevis), no ...

is located north of the Newcastle CBD ( by road). The airport, which is a joint venture between

Newcastle City Council Newcastle City Council is the local government authority for the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne. The council consists of 78 councillors, three for each of the 26 wards in the city. It is currently controlled by the Labou ...

and

, has experienced rapid growth since 2000 as a result of an increase in

low-cost airline A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...

operations. The airport is located at

RAAF Base Williamtown RAAF Base Williamtown is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base located north of the coastal city of Newcastle ( by road) in the local government area of Port Stephens, in New South Wales, Australia. The base serves as the h ...

, a

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

base on land leased from the

Department of Defence Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

. Newcastle Heliport operates alongside the lower section of Newcastle Harbour. The suburb of Broadmeadow is home to the base of the

Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter Service The Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service is a helicopter surf lifesaving service that operates in Australia. Founded in 1973 by Surf Life Saving Australia, a not-for-profit organisation, the service has carried out more than 80,000 fli ...

. 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 of

Belmont Airport Lake Macquarie Airport (formerly Belmont Airport – ICAO: YPEC) is an airfield located in the Lake Macquarie suburb of Marks Point, south of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. The airport is located on a narrow peninsula between the ...

, commonly referred to as Aeropelican, in the

suburb of Marks 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 by car to reach Williamtown.

Twin towns – sister cities

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Pohang Pohang () is a city in the province of North Gyeongsang, South Korea, and a main seaport in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region. The built-up area of Pohang is located on the alluvium of the mouth of the Hyeongsan River. The city is divided into two wa ...

North Gyeongsang North Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상북도, translit=Gyeongsangbuk-do, ) is a province in eastern South Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Gyeongsang province, and remained a province of Korea until the ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

* Ube, Yamaguchi,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Arcadia, California Arcadia is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located about northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. It contains a series of adjacent parks consisting of th ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

References

External links

Newcastle City Council

Newcastle Visitor Centre
*
Newcastle Region Art Gallery

VisitNSW.com – Newcastle
{{Authority control 1804 establishments in Australia Port cities in New South Wales Populated places established in 1797 Suburbs of Newcastle, New South Wales Hunter River (New South Wales)