Newcastle

A major city and important port located at the mouth of the Hunter River, Newcastle is 168km by rail and 172km by road north of Sydney.

The population within the city boundaries in 1981 was 288,732  but the total population of the urban area, including the city and adjoining suburbs, was 645,395 making it the second-largest urban center in NSW and the sixth-largest in Australia.

Its port exports coal, iron and steel, wheat, wool and lumber, and by tonnage of cargo is one of Australia's four leading ports. Founded in 1804, the city developed after the discovery of rich coalfields in the area, major expansion following the construction of the steelworks (1915).

It has Australia's largest concentration of heavy industry, steel predominating, and its products include machinery, ships, metal goods, chemicals, fertilizers and textiles.

The central business district of the city and the main residential areas are situated on the south shore of the Hunter River estuary; on the north shore there is little development, apart from the suburb of Stockton. The suburbs extend west along the lower Hunter Valley, south west and south over the adjacent hill lands to Lake Macquarie, and east to coastal beaches such as Merewether, Redhead and Dudley. The city is the commercial, general business and service focus for the Hunter Valley region, as well as an important industrial and shipping centre. The site ofNewcastle was discovered in 1797, nine years after the first settlement at Sydney, when Lieutenant John Shortland, commanding a whaleboat in pursuit of runaway convicts, entered the sheltered river estuary, which he named the Hunter. He explored the environs and made a further discovery of a coal seam, which can be seen today in the cliffside.

In 1804 the area was made a convict settlement, to which the most serious offenders were sent to serve their sentences. The settlement was originally called King's Town, but the name was changed to Newcastle by Governor King in 1804 and the surrounding district was called Northumberland after the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and the county ofNorthumberland in England. Convict labour was used to cut cedar timber, to mine coal and to quarry limestone.

Overseas trade in coal began early, and by 1814 Newcastle was sending more than 150 tonnes yearly to India, payment being made in Bengal rum. At first, the coal mining was located near the coast and there were mines in areas now occupied by the city and its suburbs.

However, as these became partially exhausted and as more profitable coal seams were discovered inland around Maitland and Cessnock, the centre of the mining industry moved about 30km west. Improvements to the estuarine harbour also began early, with the start of construction in 1818 of a breakwater on the S headland, which eventually joined Nobby's Is to the mainland; the lighthouse on this headland was erected as a navigational aid in 1858. An event of considerable importance to the growth and development of the district in the 19th century was the formation in 1824 of the Australian Agricultural Co. which was primarily interested in rural activities but also prominent in the development of the coalfields.

In 1859 Newcastle was proclaimed a municipality, and in 1885 a city. Before 1889, Newcastle's chief means of communication was by sea, but in that year, with the completion of the bridge across the Hawkesbury River, a rail link with Sydney was established. By 1891, the city's population had risen to 50,000.

A further event which stimulated the rate of Newcastle's progress was the decision by the Broken Hill Proprietry Co Ltd (BHP) in 1913 to establish its iron and steel works at Port Waratah on the south bank of the lower Hunter River, some 5km west-north-west of the city. Over subsequent decades the growth of the BHP steel industry complex highlighted the city's development. The steelworks was in production for 80 years before shutting down in the 90s.

Allied industries include those producing wire and wire netting, galvanised iron, axles, nails, wire rope and various engineering products, as well as the NSW State Dockyard for building, refitting and repair of ships. In more recent years, Newcastle's industry has become more diversified and now includes the manufacture of textiles, wood fibre boards, electrical equipment, fertilisers and many other products.

Newcastle ranks as the second-busiest port in Australia. It has wharfage accommodation for general cargo and special facilities for handling coal, wheat, bulk oil and livestock cargoes.

The port is the clearing point for coal produced by the northern NSW coalfields, and other exports include iron and steel goods, wool, wheat, timber, butter and frozen meat. The city contains a university, a cathedral, a modern cultural centre, an art gallery opened in 1976 and a several TAFE campuses that make up the Hunter Institute of Technology.

It includes a wide range of professional services and civic amenities, and although the heavy industries seem to dominate the atmosphere of the city, the nearby coastal beaches and the Lake Macquarie area to the south provide important leisure-time recreation facilities.