Cameron Park is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

of the

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

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 federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

Greater Newcastle Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, located west of Newcastle's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

near West Wallsend and the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway.

History

The suburb was originally known as Estelville, named for local politician John Estell, and was first subdivided in 1905. By 1998, the land was owned by the Lake Macquarie City Council, Coal and Allied, BHP Collieries, the Hunter Water Corporation and a few private owners. of the suburb was rezoned as a mixed-use greenfields site as part of the council's Lifestyle 2020 planning strategy early in 1998, and by September, a proposed A$300 million development featuring 1,700 homes, a primary and high school, and a shopping centre with a supermarket, tavern, specialty shops and a commercial area had been announced by development consortium Northlakes Pty Ltd, who forecast the development would be complete within 10–15 years. The council and developers wanted to rename the suburb Cameron Park because of a nearby

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida. *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. *Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

of that name, which was itself named after Ian Cameron, one of the founders of speedway racing in Australia. A poll of residents in 2000 showed a majority wanted the name changed, with only 1.4% favouring retention of Estelville. Other names considered included Oakwood, as well as "Pambulong", from a clan of the

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

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

living nearby whose name was suggested by Tyneside Property Management who were developing an industrial technology park in another part of the suburb. The

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales The Geographical Names Board of New South Wales, a statutory authority A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or stat ...

approved the new name and boundaries in August 2001. Construction subsequently began on 477 lots in the suburb. Approval was given in August 2005 to build a $6.2-million shopping centre, including a Woolworths supermarket and a Harrigan's Irish pub. Construction finally commenced in January 2016 but the promised schools have not been built (as at July 2023).

Newcastle Kart Raceway

In Cameron Park, there is a

go-kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of small sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performanc ...

circuit, in close proximity to the Sydney-Newcastle freeway. The circuit hosts many major national karting events, including the Australian CIK Stars of Karting series and the NSW State Titles.

References

External links

History of Cameron Park
(Lake Macquarie City Library) {{City of Lake Macquarie suburbs Suburbs of Lake Macquarie