Newcastle, New South Wales
Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, is an industrial port city 160km north of Sydney, on the mouth of the Hunter River. With its sister city of Lake Macquarie Newcastle forms part of Australia's sixth largest population centre.
The first European to explore the region was Lt. John Shortland in 1797, and in 1798, coal mined from the area was the New South Wales colony's first export. An attempt to establish a permanent settlement in the area (then called Coal River) failed but in 1804 the current city (briefly called King's Town) was established. Initially this was a penal settlement, with agriculture the only industry.
Coal mining began in earnest in the 1830s. In the 1890s a zinc smelter was built by Cockle Creek and in 1915 the BHP steelworks opened. From then Newcastle began a period dominated by heavy industry and coal mining, however with the steel works closing in 2000 and the expected closure of the Sulphide Corporation works by 2006 the era of heavy industry is passing. Newcastle has always had an excellent string of beaches and the cliched view of it by outsiders as a steel town alone is less and less accurate each year.
The Port of Newcastle is 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 world's busiest coal export port and Australia's oldest and second largest tonnage throughput port, with over 3,000 shipping movements handling cargo in excess of 90 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), of which coal exports represent more than 90%.
On December 28, 1989, Newcastle experienced an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale which killed 13 people. Coincidentally, a small island now known as Nobby's Head was joined to the mainland, a distance of about 50 metres, with rubble from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Newcastle is also widely recognised by San Franciscans as having a similar culture to that city.
The University of Newcastle, formerly part of the University of New South Waleses established its autonomy in 1965, has a student population of just over 20,000 and offers over 150 undergraduate and graduate courses, delivered via five Faculties - Business and Law; Education and Arts; Engineering and Built Environment; Health; and Science and Information Technology.
Newcastle has a thriving sports culture centred on the Newcastle Knights Rugby League team. Other major spectator and participant sports include Netball, Basketball, Soccer, AFL, Rugby Union, Hockey and Surfing.
The annual surfing contest 'Surfest' is held in Newcastle. Four time world champion Mark Richards is a local boy who grew up sufing at Merewether Beach. Mark was granted an honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Newcastle in late September, 2004.
Newcastle has a large youth music culture. Bands and groups produce in both guitar based and computer based music for a pub based concert scene. Ironically Newcastle's youth culture is underwritten by appallingly high levels of youth unemployment. An annual combined festival of Arts, Young Writers and Students is held in October each year named This is Not Art.
Unlike those of its British namesake, who call themselves "Geordies", residents of Newcastle, NSW call themselves "Novocastrians", a word not widely understood elsewhere, certainly not outside Australia.
See also: List of cities in Australia
Population
The metropolitan area of Newcastle spreads over several Local Government Areas. The estimated poulation of the City of Newcastle at June 2003 was 144,375 (Australian Bureau of Statistics), but its neighbour, the City of Lake Macquarie, was actually larger, with an estimated 189,150 residents as of June 2003 (ABS). The combined population of the Newcastle area at the 2001 census was 470,610, making it the sixth largest city in Australia.
External links
- Newcastle city council website - http://www.ncc.nsw.gov.au/
- University of Newcastle - http://www.newcastle.edu.au/