© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

Newcastle’s lost boat harbour

In its early days Newcastle was linked to its harbour. Its streets ran down to the water and it had a large undercover produce market at the harbour end of Market Street where farm products from the highly fertile river islands were traded. Incorporated in this market complex was a boat harbour, the headquarters of the watermen who used to take goods to the ships that came into port. The ferry wharves were also close by. But the demands of the state government meant this situation couldn't last. First, the government eliminated easy access to the…

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Wrecked on Nobbys

Long before the celebrated grounding of the Pasher Bulker in 2007, Nobbys Beach hosted another unexpected visitor which was, for its time, almost as popular a tourist attraction. Considering that it was wartime when the unlucky Maianbar washed ashore on Nobbys, and that not as many people had access to cameras as in 2007, the 1940 grounding of this ship is a surprisingly common subject encountered in Novocastrian family photo albums of the era. The Maianbar loading at Cundletown, on the Manning River. Photo from the book The Good Old Days, Volume 2, by Jim Revitt:…

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Lovely “Bobbie” the 1942 beach girl

In the dark days of World War 2, when Australia and Newcastle felt threatened by Japanese military might, the population needed something to take its mind off the war. And what better than a beach girl contest? A promotional badge for the 1942 Newcastle Beach Beauty Quest. These sixpenny "buttons" were sold by the contestants to raise funds. Actually, the competition (modelled on similar ones that had been held in Sydney throughout the previous decade) was the idea of the Newcastle Commercial Travellers' Club (an association of travelling salesmen), which had already organised some successful fund-raising…

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