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There
is no doubt about the special place the Knights
hold in the hearts and minds of the Hunter Region.
Our football club truly has become more than a
team.
Ever
since our inaugural year in 1988, the Knights
have forged a unique place in the culture of the
Hunter Region. Through the uncompromising toughness
and never-say-die attitude of our players in the
early years to the outstanding skill of more recent
times, an expectation of success has evolved.
The results are something the club's pioneers
could only have dreamt about.
Newcastle
Newcastle's
sports culture is centred on the Newcastle Knights,
a team that plays in Australia's premier rugby
league competition, the National
Rugby League. The Knights play at EnergyAustralia
Stadium, situated in the suburb of New Lambton.
After a recent upgrade, the stadium now has capacity
for almost 27,000 spectators. The stadium is the
only sports venue of its class in Northern New
South Wales.
The
Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most
populated area in the state of New South Wales
and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie
Local Government Areas. It is the hub of the Greater
Newcastle area which includes most parts of the
Local Government Areas of City of Newcastle, City
of Lake Macquarie, City of Cessnock, City of Maitland
and Port Stephens Council.
Situated
162 kilometres (101 mi) NNE of Sydney, at the
mouth of the Hunter River, it is the predominant
city within the Hunter Region. Famous for its
coal, Newcastle is the largest coal export harbour
in the world, exporting 80.2 million tonnes of
coal worth AUD $5.3 billion in 2005-2006. Beyond
the city the Hunter Region boasts massive coal
deposits.
History
Pre-European settlement
Newcastle
and The Hunter Valley were traditionally occupied
by the Awabakal and Worimi Aboriginal People.
Founding and settlement by Europeans
The
first European to explore the area was Lt. John
Shortland in September, 1797. His discovery of
the area was largely accidental; Shortland had
been sent in search of a number of convicts who
had seized the Cumberland as she was sailing from
Sydney Cove. While returning he entered what he
later described as "a very fine river"
which he named after New South Wales' Governor,
John Hunter. Shortland also returned with reports
of the deep-water port and abundant coal in the
area. Over the next two years, coal mined from
the area was the New South Wales colony's first
export.
Newcastle
was nicknamed "Hell" by the most brutal
convicts as it was a place where the most dangerous
convicts were sent to dig in the coal mines as
harsh punishment for their crimes.
By
the turn of the century the mouth of the Hunter
River was being visited by diverse groups of men,
including coal hewers, timber-cutters, and more
escaped convicts. Philip Gidley King, Governor
of New South Wales from 1800, decided on a more
positive approach to exploit the now obvious natural
resources of the Hunter Valley.
Besides
coal, vast cedar forests covered a huge tract
up the Hunter, a source of urgently needed building
timber for the infant Sydney colony.
Governor
King decided to establish a small post at the
river mouth, however this first settlement was
short lived. It was headed by one Corporal Wixtead,
who was then suddenly replaced by Surgeon Martin
Mason. Surgeon Mason's rule ended in a mutiny,
and Governor King closed the settlement early
in 1802.
A
settlement was again attempted in 1804 as a place
of secondary punishment for unruly convicts. The
settlement was named Coal River, also Kingstown
and then re-named Newcastle, after England's famous
coal port. The name first appeared by the commission
issued by Governor King on March 15, 1804, to
Lieut. Charles Menzies of the Royal Marines, appointing
him superintendent of the new settlement.
The
new settlement comprising convicts and a military
guard, arrived at the Hunter River on March 27,
1804, in three ships, the Lady Nelson, the Resource
and the James. The convicts were rebels from the
1804 Castle Hill convict rebellion, also known
as the second Battle of Vinegar Hill.
The
link with Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, its namesake
and also from whence many of the 19th century
coal miners came, is still obvious in some of
the place-names - such as Jesmond, Hexham, Wickham
Wallsend and Gateshead. Morpeth, New South Wales
is a similar distance north of Newcastle as Morpeth,
Northumberland is north of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Newcastle
remained a penal settlement for nearly 20 years.
The military rule was harsh, and there was possibly
no more notorious place of punishment in the whole
of Australia than Limeburners' Bay, on the inner
side of Stockton peninsula, where incorrigibles
were sent to burn oyster shells for making lime.
Under
Captain James Wallis, commandant from 1815 to
1818, the convicts' conditions improved, and a
building boom began. Captain Wallis laid out the
streets of the town, built the first church of
the site of the present Christ Church Anglican
Cathedral, erected the old gaol on the seashore,
and began work on the breakwater which now joins
Nobbys Head to the mainland. The quality of these
first buildings was poor and only (a much reinforced)
breakwater survives.
For
these works, and for his humane rule in the convict
colony, Captain Wallis earned the personal commendation
of Governor Macquarie. In the governor's opinion
the prison colony was too close to Sydney and
in any case the proper exploitation of the land
was not practical with prison labour. Therefore,
in 1823, military rule in Newcastle ended. The
number of prisoners was reduced to 100 (most of
these were employed on the building of the breakwater),
and the remaining 900 were sent to Port Macquarie.
Between 1826 and 1836, however, the convict-built
Great North Road established the overland link
with Sydney.
Freed
for the first time from the infamous influence
of the penal law, the town began to acquire the
aspect of a typical Australian pioneer settlement,
and a steady flow of free settlers poured into
the hinterland.
Early steamers
The
formation during the nineteenth century of the
Newcastle and Hunter River Steamship Company saw
the establishment of regular steamship services
from Morpeth and Newcastle with Sydney. The company
had a fleet of freighters as well as several fast
passenger vessels, including the PS Newcastle
and the PS Namoi. The latter vessel's first-class
cabins had the latest facilities and overnight
passage to Sydney, where passengers would arrive
fresh for the new day, was considered preferable
to the long and arduous railway journey right
into the inter-war period.
Because
of the coal supply, small ships plied between
Newcastle and Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and
Adelaide, carrying coal to gas works and bunkers
for shipping, and railways. These were commonly
known as "sixty-milers" based on the
nautical journey between Newcastle and Sydney,
and continued in service until recent times.
Coal and other industries
Coal
mining began in earnest in the 1830s, with collieries
working close to the city itself and others within
a ten-mile radius. Most of Newcastle's principal
coal mines (Stockton, Tighes Hill, Carrington,
the Australian Agricultural Company, the Newcastle
Coal Mining company's big collieries at Merewether
(includes the Glebe), Wallsend, and the Waratah
collieries), had all closed by the early 1960s,
being steadily replaced over the previous four
decades by the larger coal mining activities further
inland at places such as Kurri Kurri and Cessnock.
On
December 10, 1831 the Australian Agricultural
Company officially opened Australia's first railway.
On December 10, 2006 a plaque was unveiled on
the southern shore of Newcastle Harbour celebrating
this event.
Copper
About
1850 a major copper smelting works was established
at Burwood, near Merewether (now a suburb), an
engraving of which appeared in the Illustrated
London News on 11 February 1854. The English and
Australian Copper Company built another substantial
works at Broadmeadow circa 1890, and in that decade
a zinc smelter was built inland, by Cockle Creek.
Soap
What
was said to be the largest factory of its kind
in the Southern Hemisphere was constructed in
1885, on a 22 acre site between the suburbs of
Tighes Hill and Port Waratah, by Mr Charles Upfold
(1834-1919), from London, for his Sydney Soap
and Candle Company, to replace a smaller factory
in Wickham. Their soap products won 17 medals
at International Exhibitions, and at the Sydney
International Exhibition they won a bronze medal
"against all-comers from every part of the
world", the only first prize awarded for
soap and candles. Following World War I the company
was sold to Messrs Lever & Kitchen (today
Lever Bros), and the factory closed in the mid-1930s.
Steel
After
a major steel strike in the Sydney basin, the
New South Wales State Government encouraged BHP
to build a vast modern steel producing industry
with much American expertise. The land put aside
was prime real estate, on the southern edge of
the harbour. At one stage the idea of a Botanical
Garden was considered because of the waterfront
location and proximity to the wealthy suburb of
Mayfield. In 1915 the BHP steelworks opened, beginning
a period of some 80 years dominating the steel
works and heavy industry. As Mayfield and the
suburbs surrounding the steelworks declined in
popularity because of pollution, the steelworks
thrived, becoming the region's largest employer.
In
1999, the steelworks closed. Many workers, having
spent their entire working lives there saw Australia's
largest industrial shutdown complete as the last
blast furnace went out. As the former workforce
began to deal with the economic and emotional
impact, Newcastle began to experience a new image
as less of an industrial, smoke stack city.
World War II
Attack on Sydney Harbour
During
the Second World War, Newcastle was an important
industrial centre for the Australian war effort.
Consequently, it was considered to be a potential
Japanese target during the Second World War. On
the 31st of May, 1942 three midget submarines
crept into Sydney Harbour and killed 21 sleeping
sailors on an accommodation vessel at Garden Island,
east of the Harbour Bridge. By this time, there
was a great fear among the Australian people of
a full-scale Japanese invasion and cities and
towns along the eastern seaboard were forced into
strict wartime regulations.
In
the early hours of 8 June 1942 the Japanese submarine
I-21 briefly shelled Newcastle. Newcastle was
one of the most prepared cities in the country
and the people of Newcastle acted with composure.
Given the distance between the submarine and the
browned-out city, there was little precision in
the attack. Among the areas hit within the city
were dockyards, the steel works, Parnell Place
in the city's now affluent East End, the breakwall
and Art Deco ocean baths. There were no casualties
in the attack and damage was minimal.
Disasters
The
most tragic maritime accident of the twentieth-century
in Newcastle occurred during 1934 when the Stockton-bound
ferry Bluebell collided with a coastal freighter
and sank in the middle of the Hunter River. The
Bluebell Collision claimed three lives and caused
fifteen passengers to be admitted to the Newcastle
Hospital, two suffering severely from the effects
of immersion. However, the tragedy was but only
one chapter in Newcastle's very long history of
shipwrecks including the 1974 beaching of the
Sygna, the 2007 beaching of the MV Pasha Bulker
and the tragic sinking of the SS Cawarra in 1866
that claimed sixty-lives.
Earthquake
1989 Newcastle earthquake
On
December 28, 1989, Newcastle experienced an earthquake
measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale which killed
13 people, injured 162 and destroyed or severely
damaged a number of prominent buildings which
had to be subsequently demolished. These included
the large George Hotel in Scott Street (city),
the Century Theatre at Broadmeadow, the Hunter
Theatre (formerly 'The Star') at Merewether, and
the majority of The Junction school, also at Merewether.
Part of the Newcastle Workers' Club, a popular
venue, was also damaged but later restored. The
following economic recession of the early 1990s
meant that the city took several years to recover.
2007 storms
2007 Hunter region and Central Coast storms
MV
Pasha Bulker
On
8 June 2007 the Hunter and Central Coast regions
were battered by fierce storms which resulted
in extensive flooding throughout the areas. Nine
people eventually lost their lives in what was
described as being the worst series of storms
to hit New South Wales in 30 years.
During
the early stages of the storms the 225m long bulk
carrier ship, MV Pasha Bulker, ran aground at
Nobby's Beach after failing to heed warnings to
move offshore.
On
9 June 2007 the Hunter and Central Coast regions
were declared natural disaster areas by the state
Premier Mr Morris Iemma. Although further flooding
was predicted by the Bureau of Meteorology this
never eventuated to the extent predicted.
On
2 July 2007 the Pasha Bulker was finally refloated
on the 3rd salvage attempt despite earlier fears
that the ship would break up. After initially
entering the port for minor repairs it departed
for major repairs in Asia under tow on 26 July
2007.
Geography
Newcastle
is located on the southern bank of the Hunter
River at its mouth. The northern side is dominated
by sand dunes, swamps and multiple river channels.
A 'green belt' protecting plant and wildlife flanks
the city from the west (Watagan mountains) around
to the north where it meets the coast just north
of Stockton. Because of this, urban development
is mainly restricted to the hilly southern bank.
The small village of Stockton sits opposite central
Newcastle at the river mouth and is linked by
ferry. Much of the city is undercut by the coal
measures of the Sydney sedimentary basin, and
what were once numerous coal-mining villages located
in the hills and valleys around the port have
merged into a single urban area extending southwards
to Lake Macquarie.
Demographics
The
metropolitan area of Newcastle spreads over several
Local Government Areas. The estimated population
of the City of Newcastle at June 2004 was 145,633
(Australian Bureau of Statistics), but its neighbour,
the City of Lake Macquarie, was actually larger,
with an estimated 189,196 residents as of June
2004 (ABS). The combined population of the Newcastle
area at the 2001 census was 470,610. This includes
Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Port Stephens
and Cessnock local government areas.
Modern
times
The
Port of Newcastle remains 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 the world's largest coal export
port and Australia's oldest and second largest
tonnage throughput port, with over 3,000 shipping
movements handling cargo of 85.6 million tonnes
per annum, of which coal exports represented 80.2
million tonnes per annum in 2005/06.[5][6][10]
The volume of coal exported, and attempts to increase
coal exports, are opposed by environmental groups.
Newcastle
has a small ship-building industry, which has
declined since the 1970s due to failure to win
government contract tenders.
With
the closure of the steel works in 2000 the era
of extensive heavy industry has passed. Many of
the remaining manufacturing industries have located
themselves well away from the city itself, focusing
on cheap land and access to road transport routes
and lack the concentrated social impact of BHP
on the city's life.
Newcastle
has claim to one of the oldest theatre districts
in Australia, with its still standing Victoria
Theatre on Perkins Street the oldest purpose-built
theatre in the country. Sadly, the theatre district
that occupied the area around what is now the
Hunter Street Mall vanished during the 1940s when
much of Newcastle's cultural appreciation disintegrated
in the very industrial-oriented city.
The
city's population is growing. The old city centre
has seen some new apartments and hotels built
in recent years, but the rate of commercial and
retail occupation remains low as alternate suburban
centres have become more important. The CBD itself
is shifting to the west, towards the major urban
renewal area known as "Honeysuckle".
This renewal, to run for another 10 years, is
a major part of arresting the shift of business
and residents to the suburbs.
The
old central business district, located at Newcastle's
eastern end, still has a considerable number of
historic buildings, dominated by Christ Church
Cathedral, seat of the (Anglican) Bishop of Newcastle.
Other noteworthy buildings include Fort Scratchley,
the Ocean Baths, the old Customs House, the 1920s
City Hall, the 1890s Longworth Institute (once
regarded as the finest building in the colony)
and the 1930s art deco University House (formerly
NESCA House, recently seen in the film Superman
Returns). Residents of Newcastle refer to themselves
as "Novocastrians".
Domestic architecture
A
heritage area to the east of the Central Business
District, centred around Christ Church Cathedral,
has many fine Victorian terrace houses, embedded
in architecturally "sympathetic" later
housing developments.
Education
The
University of Newcastle (formerly established
in 1951 as part of the University of New South
Wales) obtained its autonomy in 1965 and now with
a student population of just over 20,000, it offers
over 150 undergraduate and graduate courses.
Together
with six major city universities (Macquarie University,
La Trobe University, Flinders University, Griffith
University and Murdoch University) The University
of Newcastle, with the identity of the only regional
university, formed IRU Australia (IRUA) in 2003,
one of the major university groupings in Australia.
The University of Newcastle is also one of the
first universities in Australia to provide Master
of Business Administration courses.
The
University of Newcastle was ranked 127 in the
world by the UK Times in 2005.
One year after, both Melbourne institute of The
University of Melbourne and the Shanghai Jiao
Tong University recognised The University of Newcastle
as one of the top ten universities in Australia.
Within the same year, Newsweek international ranked
the University of Newcastle one of the top 100
universities in the world. The University is one
of the only eight, as well as the only regional
Australian Universities to have achieved this
status.
Festivals
Newcastle
holds a variety of Cultural Events and Festivals,
many of which attract national and some even international
attention.
This
Is Not Art is a national festival of new media
and arts held in Newcastle each year over the
October long weekend. Since its humble beginnings
in 1998, it has become one of the leading arts
festivals in Australia dedicated to the work and
ideas of communities not included in other major
Australian arts festivals. The umbrella program
includes the independent festivals Electrofringe,
the National Young Writers' Festival, National
Student Media Conference, Sound Summit and other
projects that vary from year to year.
The
Shootout Film Festival, first started in Newcastle
in 1999. This is the film festival where film-makers
come together in one place to make a short film
in 24 hours. It is run annually in July.
Mattara,
founded in 1961, is the official festival of Newcastle
with a more traditional 'country fair' type program
that combines a parade, rides, sporting events,
band competitions and portrait and landscape painting
exhibitions.
Rainbow
Visions holds its annual Festival in October for
the local Gay and Lesbian Community. Set over
10 days the festival ends with annual Picnic day
where up to a thousand Gay and Lesbians gather
together with their family and friends.
The
Newcastle Jazz Festival is held across three days
in August, and attracts performers and audiences
from all over Australia.
The
Newcastle Regional Show is held in the Newcastle
Showground annually. There are a mixture of typical
regional show elements such as woodchopping displays,
showbags, rides and stalls and usually fireworks
to compliment the events in the main arena. Arguably,
the Newcastle show has experienced a period of
decline ever since the turn of the century, when
an industrial dispute arose between the event
organisers and the showman's guild who travel
the country providing services for such regional
events. The separation of the two parties resulted
in a sharp decline in the size and popularity
of the event.
The
Newcastle Entertatinment Centre, located inside
the Newcastle Showground is a popular venue for
regular events including wrestling, concerts and
monster truck shows.
Music
Newcastle
has an active youth music culture, as well as
a Conservatorium of Music which is part of the
University of Newcastle. It continues to support
local bands and has a large underground music
scene. Silverchair, the highly successful Australian
band, hail from Newcastle, as does the Australian
band The Screaming Jets.[12] It has a fertile
punk and hardcore scene in, and over the past
15 years has spawned many successful local acts.
The pioneering hardcore techno and gabber group
Nasenbluten also came from Newcastle and spawned
a vibrant and influential local scene and record
label Bloody Fist.
The
percussionist of the Australian rock band The
Screaming Jets is also teaching music industry
studies at Tighes Hill TAFE[citation needed].
Several Newcastle musicians have collaborated
with widely known Australian bands such as The
Whitlams (Nick Cecire) and Machine Gun Fellatio
(Kim Pink - Current music teacher at Hunter School
of Performing Arts).
Popular
music venues in Newcastle are The Queens Wharf
Brewery, The Lucky Country, The Lass O'Gowrie,
The Cambridge Hotel, The Bar on the Hill at the
University, The Civic Theatre, The Newcastle Panthers
and The Newcastle Entertainment centre.
Visual arts and galleries
Noted
Australian artists John Olsen and William Dobell
once lived in Newcastle and today the city Newcastle
is home to a wide range of public, commercial
and private galleries.[12] The Newcastle Regional
Art Gallery (located in Laman Street, just off
Darby Street) is home to an extensive collection
of works by contemporary and historical Australian
visual artists. It regularly presents local exhibitions
from its collection and hosts touring Australian
exhibitions. Gallery Director Nick Mitzevich is
the youngest gallery director in Australia and
has given the gallery a much more contemporary
focus since he took over in 2002. The gallery
is currently planning a major redevelopment which
is the subject of an architectural design competition.
Theatre
Newcastle
has a variety of smaller theatres, but the main
theatre in the CBD is now the Civic, at Wheeler
Place, (seating capacity about 1500), one of Australia's
great historic theatres built during 1929 in Art
Deco style. It hosts a wide range of musicals,
plays, concerts, dance and other events each year.
Newcastle previously boasted several large theatres,
among them the oldest purpose-built theatre in
Australia, the Victoria Theatre on Perkins Street
(built 1876, capacity 1750), saw touring international
opera companies such as the D'Oyly Carte Opera
Company, and other troupes, and played host to
some of the greatest stars of the age, such as
Dame Nellie Melba, Gladys Moncrieff, and Richard
Tauber, (it is now closed and derelict); the Century,
Nineways, Broadmeadow, (built 1941, capacity 1800)
although largely used as a cinema was a popular
Symphony orchestra venue (demolished 1990 after
being severely damaged by the 1989 earthquake);
the Hunter (capacity 1000) at The Junction, had
advanced modern stage facilities, but was eventually
sold and demolished to make way for a motel that
was destroyed by the 1989 earthquake. The decline
in theatres and cinemas from the 1960s onwards
was blamed on television.
Newcastle
has also been home to noted Australian actors,
comedians and entertainers, including Sarah Wynter,
John Doyle (part of comic act Roy and HG), Susie
Porter, Celia Ireland, Yahoo Serious and Jonathan
Biggins. The cast of the Tap Dogs show also come
from Newcastle.
Media arts
Newcastle
is home to the Octapod Association, a New Media
Arts collective established in 1996. Octapod is
one of Australia's most innovative regional arts
organisations and presents the annual This Is
Not Art Festival as well as a diverse range of
local festivals and projects. The arts web sites
Object Not Found and Art Crimes were also produced
in Newcastle.
Sport
Newcastle's
sports culture is centred on the Newcastle Knights,
a team that plays in Australia's premier rugby
league competition, the National
Rugby League. The Knights play at EnergyAustralia
Stadium, situated in the suburb of New Lambton.
After a recent upgrade, the stadium now has capacity
for almost 27,000 spectators. The stadium is the
only sports venue of its class in Northern New
South Wales.
The
Newcastle United Jets soccer team, which plays
in Australia's highest level comp the A-League,
also play at EnergyAustralia Stadium, and is starting
to fast gain popularity in the town. The Newcastle
United Jets are a highly regarded team throughout
Australia, in its first two seasons, they have
made back-to-back finals. Nick Carle, one of their
most prestigous players, won the A-League player
of the year in the 06-07 season. The Newcastle
United Jets finished 4th in their first season,
and 3rd in their second season. In the 06-07 season,
they bowed out in the Prelimenary Final against
Adelaide United, who eventually lost to Melbourne
Victory in the Grand Final 6-0.
Other
major spectator and participant sports include
Netball, Basketball, soccer, Australian rules
football, Rugby Union, Lawn bowls, Hockey and
Surfing.
The
Hunter Jaegers (Commonwealth Bank Trophy - Netball)
are based at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre.
Officially opened in June 1992, the Centre offers
5,000 square metres of clear span floor space
and is capable of catering for capacities from
2,000 to 6,500 for entertainment style events.
The Centre was built to house the now defunct
Newcastle Falcons National Basketball League team
and was also home to the Hunter Pirates before
a lack of sponsorship forced them to relocate
to Singapore after the 2005/06 season, where they
were renamed the Singapore Slingers. The Slingers
will play one home game at the Centre during the
2006/07 season.
In
Cricket, Newcastle's No.1 Sports Ground was for
many years a stopover on the tour itinerary for
visiting international teams as they faced the
Northern New South Wales XI. In 1981/82 the ground
was allocated a Sheffield Shield match when the
SCG was unavailable, and healthy crowds saw No.1
then become host to at least one first-class fixture
featuring the New South Wales Blues each year.
Newcastle also hosts a suburban competition of
its own and has been the birthplace of many New
South Wales and Australian representative cricketers.
Newcastle
Jockey Club Limited races 35 times annually at
Broadmeadow, a spacious 2000m turf track with
a 415m home straight. Broadmeadow Racecourse is
only a few minutes from the city centre, and is
acknowledged as one of the finest provincial racetracks
in Australia.
Newcastle
has an abundance of beaches and surf breaks for
which the city is internationally well known.
Newcastle hosts the annual surfing contest 'Surfest'
on the world professional surfing tour. Four time
world champion surfer Mark Richards grew up surfing
at Newcastle's Merewether Beach, and is a local
icon, appearing at many local functions, and supporting
local charities. Nobbys beach is a very popular
kitesurfing spot, especially during the warm summer
months when there are North Easterly sea breezes.
The
Newcastle North Stars are Newcastle's representatives
in the Australian Ice Hockey League championships.
Originally based in Newcastle West in the 1970-80s,
the North Stars now play out of the Hunter Ice
Skating Stadium in Warners Bay. The North Stars
have won national championships in 2003, 2005
and 2006 since joining the league in 2002. The
North Stars have also been awarded Newcastle's
Outstanding Senior Team of the Year for 2003 and
2004.Newcastle
Golf Club is a championship 18-hole, par 72 golf
course. It plays to 6160m, and is regarded as
one of the best in Australia - consistently appearing
in the top 15 best rated courses in Australia.
Media
Newcastle
is served by a daily tabloid, The Herald (formerly
The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate
and then The Newcastle Herald), several weeklies
including the Newcastle Star, The Post and the
bi-monthly The Hunter Advocate.
The
city is also served by several local radio stations,
including those owned by the ABC and SBS.
* AM stations
o 2HD (commercial)1143 AM
o 1233 ABC Newcastle (ABC Local Radio)
o 2HRN (community) 1629 AM
* FM stations
o KOFM (commercial) 102.9
o NXFM (commercial) 106.9
o New FM (commercial) 105.3
o 2NUR (community) 103.7
o Rhema FM 99.7 Newcastle (Christian) 99.7
* Nationally owned services
o Australian Broadcasting Corporation
+ 1233 ABC Newcastle AM local radio 1233 AM
+ ABC Radio National 1512 AM
+ ABC News Radio 1458 AM
+ Triple J (youth station) 102.1 FM
+ ABC Classic FM (classical music) 106.1 FM
o SBS Radio (foreign language service) 1413 AM
* Other stations
o 2KY Racing Radio (as part of state-wide network)
1341 AM
Newcastle
is also served by 5 television stations, three
commercial and two national services, and by Foxtel
pay television.
*
NBN Television (Nine Network affiliate, incumbent
station, established 1962)
* Southern Cross Ten (Network Ten affiliate, established
as a result of aggregation on December 31, 1991)
* Prime Television (Seven Network affiliate, established
as a result of aggregation on December 31, 1991)
* ABC Television (owned by the government, established
in the 1960s)
* SBS Television (owned by the government, introduced
in the 1980s)
Wi-Fi hotspots and hotzones
There
are several free public Wi-Fi hotspots and hotzones
in Newcastle allowing the public and business
to access free broadband Internet using a Desktop,
Laptop or Mobile Device.
Currently,
there is free Wi-Fi coverage along Beaumont Street
in a hotzone that stretches between Tudor Street
and Maitland Road.
The
NSW Government plans to provide the Sydney CBD
and other major centres of NSW including Newcastle
with free Wi-Fi by early 2008
Transport
The
Newcastle metropolitan area has an extensive system
of both road links and road based public transport
services (bus, taxi etc) which cover most areas
of both Newcastle and Lake Macquarie and which
extend beyond the metropolitan area itself. Rail
transport, however, is accessible to only a relatively
small percentage of the population along the major
rail transport routes and ferry services are restricted
to those commuting between Newcastle and Stockton.
Within the metropolitan area the car remains the
dominant form of transportation. At the time of
the 2001 Census, less than 4% of the population
caught public transport, of which around 2.5%
travelled by bus and 1% used the train or ferry
to commute to work. On the other hand, over 72%
of the population travelled by car to and from
work.
Road
Newcastle
is connected to surrounding cities by the Sydney-Newcastle
Freeway (South), New England Highway (West) and
the Pacific Highway (North). Hunter Street, the
main shopping street in the Newcastle CBD, is
the major link to the Pacific Highway from the
CBD.
Bus
Newcastle bus routes, New South Wales
Bus
services within Newcastle are operated by Newcastle
Buses & Ferries, a subsidiary of the State
Transit Authority of New South Wales. Trips within
a designated area of the Newcastle CBD on State
Transit-operated bus services are fare-free under
the Newcastle Alliance's Free City Buses programme.
The
network radiates from a bus terminal near CityRail's
Newcastle station, on the waterfront of Newcastle's
CBD. Major interchanges are located at the University
of Newcastle, Wallsend, Glendale, Warners Bay,
Belmont, Charlestown, Westfield Kotara and Broadmeadow
Station. To reduce journey times, bus-only lanes
are in operation on certain major roads in Newcastle.
Rail
Newcastle and Central Coast railway line, New
South Wales
Newcastle
is serviced by two CityRail lines providing local
and regional commuter services. The Newcastle
& Central Coast Line has hourly train services
to Sydney and more frequent services to the Central
Coast. The Hunter Line has twice-hourly services
to Maitland and less frequently to Scone and Dungog.
Countrylink (an intercity/interstate rail service)
operate two lines through the Newcastle area using
Broadmeadow Station. These provide services to
Moree, Armidale, Brisbane and Sydney.
Newcastle
once had rail passenger services to Belmont and
Toronto, on Lake Macquarie, Wallsend, Kurri Kurri
and several towns and villages between Maitland
and Cessnock, but these lines have today been
closed. Since the late 1990s, there had been intense
debate about the viability of the rail line into
central Newcastle. The New South Wales government
had planned to cut the line at Broadmeadow, ceasing
rail services into the city and to sell the land
where the railway ran for development. The State
government has subsequently decided, since Premier
Morris Iemma took power, and at least partly in
response to a huge public outcry, to keep the
rail service.
Water
Newcastle Port Corporation
The
Port of Newcastle is crucial to the economic life
of Newcastle and the Hunter Valley region beyond.
Over 70 million tonnes of coal is shipped through
the facility each year - making it the largest
coal exporting port in the world. The Port of
Newcastle claims to be Australia's first port.
Coal was first exported from the harbour in 1799,
11 years after the start of European settlement
in Australia.
Newcastle
Buses & Ferries operates a ferry service across
the Hunter River between Newcastle's CBD and Stockton.
Air
Newcastle Airport (Williamtown)
Newcastle
Airport is located 15 kilometres (9 mi) north
of the Newcastle CBD (27 kilometres (17 mi) by
road). The airport, which is a joint venture between
Newcastle City Council and Port Stephens Council,
has experienced rapid growth since 2000 as a result
of an increase in low cost airline operations.
It is served by Virgin
Blue, Qantas, Jetstar,
Brindabella Airlines, Norfolk Air, and Tiger Airways
(commencing 2008). The airport is shared with
RAAF Base Williamtown, a Royal Australian Air
Force base. The airport now has direct flights
to Norfolk Island. Broadmeadow Helipad is also
in service as it is used by the Westpac Life Saver
Rescue Helicopter Service. Newcastle Airport has
direct flights to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane,
Gold Coast, Canberra, Port Macquarie and Norfolk
Island.
The
closure of Belmont Airport, commonly referred
to as Aeropelican, in the Lake Macquarie suburb
of Marks Point has caused Williamtown to become
Newcastle's only major airport and residents in
the south of the Newcastle metropolitan area must
commute up to 55 kilometres (34 mi) by car to
reach Williamtown.
Outside
of the Newcastle Metropolitan area a number of
small, mostly private, airports service the Greater
Newcastle region. (Credit:
Wikipedia).
Media
websites
Newcastle
Herald
Newcastle
Newspapers Online
ABC
Mid North Coast NSW
NBN
TV
MyTalk.com.au
- Newscastle
Government
Lake
Macquarie City Council
Newcastle
Public Library
Directories
Regional
& Rural Directory
Coastal
Directory
Newcastle
Models
Travel
and Tourism
Profiles
Jennifer
Hawkins
Grant
Dwyer
Rock
Solid PR & Fan Relations
Greg
Tingle
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