Wallalong is a rural suburb of the Port Stephens

local government area 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 (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

in 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 ...

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

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

. The suburb is bisected by High Street, along which a small residential zone of 938 people exists. To the east and west of this area the suburb is almost exclusively rural.

First inhabitants

On the occasion of nearby Seaham's centenary in 1938,

Walter John Enright Walter John Enright (10 March 1874 – 27 September 1949) was an Australian solicitor and amateur anthropologist whose notes on the aborigines of New South Wales made an important contribution to the conservation of their traditions. His friendship ...

wrote of the district's

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

: On the impacts of colonisation in the Wallalong and Seaham districts, Enright says: On the subject of massacres of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people by settlers following colonisation, Enright writes: Wallalong, however, may not have been entirely without such "frightful blots" on its history. In 1877, a massacre at Wallalong was recounted in correspondence published by the ''

Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser The ''Maitland Mercury'' is Australia's third oldest regional newspaper, preceded only by the ''Geelong Advertiser'' (estab. 1840) and the ''Launceston Examiner'' (estab. 1842). The ''Maitland Mercury'' was established in 1843 when it was calle ...

'': Reflecting on the massacre, the correspondent goes on to remark that: While the exact location of the massacre is not provided, an account of floods in 1857 describes how "the first breach it made was at Wallalong, whence the water gradually found its way over a considerable portion of Bowthorne, Hopewell, Barty's Swamps (sic), and all the low lands in that direction". To the east, Wallalong is separated from the "high land" of Brandy Hill, previously known as Ahalton and Warren's Station Paddock, by Barties Swamp. It is possible that the shootings and drownings described as occurring "between the brush and the high land" took place on or about Barties Swamp, between Wallalong and present-day Brandy Hill.

Bowthorne Butter Factory

Opened by John Lavis trading under the name Bowthorne Creamery and Refrigeration Works. The factory was located on 62 High Street. It was reported that factory was 35 feet long, 25 feet wide and 15 feet high with 8 horse power engine which could produce 350 gallons of milk an hour. In December 1906 a

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

was formed renamed in Bowthorne Co-operative Butter Factory LTD. The cooperative purchased the factory for £3,934 in January 1907 but Lavis stayed on as manager. The same cooperative purchased the Duckenfield Park Butter Factory at

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 ...

. In 1910 Morpeth became the new headquarters.

Notes

References

Suburbs of Port Stephens Council {{PortStephens-geo-stub