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Newcastle
KNOWLEDGE OF Newcastle
The first European to explore the area was Lt. John Shortland in September, 1797. The discovery of Newcastle 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 Governor Hunter. As well as information, 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.
By the turn of the century the mouth of the Hunter River was being visited by diverse groups of men, including coalhewers, timber-cutters, and more escaped convicts. Governor King, who took office in 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. Its population comprised Corporal Wixtead being 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 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 old links with Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, whence many of the 19th century coal miners came, is still obvious in some of the place-names - such as Jesmond, Hexham, Wickham and Wallsend.
By the turn of the century the mouth of the Hunter River was being visited by diverse groups of men, including coalhewers, timber-cutters, and more escaped convicts. Governor King, who took office in 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. Its population comprised Corporal Wixtead being 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 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 old links with Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, whence many of the 19th century coal miners came, is still obvious in some of the place-names - such as Jesmond, Hexham, Wickham and Wallsend.
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