Newcastle

Newcastle Location:

[|www.goaustralia.about.com] Newcastle, the second largest city in New South Wales, lies north of Sydney. More specifically, it is located between 32 and 33 degrees south of the equator and between 151 and 152 degrees east of the meridian. The city centre is a peninsula with the Pacific on one side and the Hunter River on the other. Hunter street is the main street which runs roughly east to west just south of the railway tracks. It connects with the Pacific highway which runs from Sydney in the south to the southern end of the Queensland Gold Coast.

Discovered in 1797, Newcastle is the site of the second European settlement in Australia. The Awabahal people lived in the Newcastle area for countless generations. To the Awabakal, Newcastle was known as Muloobina. Lieutenant Shortland was the first white man to explore and name the place.

Newcastle was established as a coal mining area, and was named after the British coal port of Newcastle.

The total number of private dwellings has increased from 2001-2006 with an additional 2,496 dwellings. The average occupancy rate continues to increase slightlyand is below the State and Australian average of 2.6. Newcastle continues to have higher proportions of the lone parent families and couples without children than the NSW average. Newcastle has proportionally less families with children (38.4%) than the Australian average (45.3%) or the New South Wales average (46.2%).

In 1915 BHP choose Newcastle as the site for its steelworks. this was a city changing event, within the space of only 6 years, industrial workers suddenly outnumbered the coal miners 4 to 1 and it wasnt long before the BHP steelworks became the biggest in the british empire. in 1999 BHP steelworks shut down but in a testament to the resilence of this community, the closing of the BHP steelworks which had been such a key fabric of the city for so long, was to have a much smaller impact then first thought.

A main impact on the Newcastle community, was the earthquake in 1989. It injured more than 160 people and took 13 lives. At the time it was one of the biggest natural disasters in Australia, leaving a damage bill of $4 billion and partially collapsed shops and homes lined the streets and major hospitals sustained serious damage causing disruptions to medical services. The impact on the Newcastle community was devostating as 40,000 homes were damaged resulting in over 1000 residents becoming homeless.

There are many landmarks in Newcastle, including Blackbutt Reserve, Bogey Hole, the Christ Church Cathedral, Civic Newcastle Theatre, Convict Lumberyard, Cooks Hill Gallery, Dixon Park beach, Fort Scratchley Historic Site, Hunter Wetlands Centre, Kind Edward Park, Lock-up Cultural Centre and Merewether beach.