A view of the Hunter River, showing Platts Channel and Spit Island, from the site of the former Murray Dwyer orphanage, circa 1930s.
Lost islands of the Hunter River
Kooragang Island is a name with little romance for most people in Newcastle, NSW. The name connotes a polluted wasteland near the mouth of the Hunter River, permeated by the toxic legacy of generations of heavy industry. But things weren’t always like that. Before white settlement there were several islands in the Hunter River estuary, forming a jigsaw of shapes cut and criss-crossed by creeks and tidal channels. The wetlands and mudflats were a prolific breeding ground for marine life and a feeding ground for local and migratory birds. The Aboriginal people hunted there and found…