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Mayfield

Read more about the article Shelley Beach, Mayfield: a casualty of industry

Shelley Beach, Mayfield: a casualty of industry

The rare photograph above, taken by Newcastle girl Doris Schuck in about 1919, shows Shelley Beach, on the Hunter River at Mayfield. Shelley Beach and its adjoining park were treasured by Newcastle people until overwhelming pressure from the BHP steelworks led to the public reserve being handed over to the corporate giant for reclamation and industrial expansion. These days the former park and beach are buried under tonnes of industrial fill in the approaches to the Tourle Street bridge, leading to what is now Kooragang Island.Shelley Beach fronted “Platt’s Channel”, once a broad arm of the…

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Read more about the article A Greek boy in Mayfield: Mike Trypas remembers

A Greek boy in Mayfield: Mike Trypas remembers

Mike Trypas still wonders what made his mother decide to uproot her family from the Greek island of Kos and transplant it in the foreign soil of distant Australia. His father would have been happy to stay and keep living the life of a "peasant farmer", working somebody else's land, but his mother must have known that leaving her old life would be the key to a better future for her four sons. Mike was just five when the family arrived in early June, 1955, after a month-long voyage aboard the MV Skaugum. His parents, Louizos…

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Read more about the article Prangs, crashes, accidents: Part 1
Volkswagen Beetle hit by a steam locomotive at Adamstown, NSW, January 14, 1963.

Prangs, crashes, accidents: Part 1

As a career fireman, transport collector Ken Magor naturally accumulated many photographs of accidents and disasters. Here are some of them, along with interesting stories that came to light after the photos were published. Car meets steam locomotive Collision between Volkswagen Beetle and steam locomotive at Adamstown, January 14, 1963. After this photo appeared in our book Destination Newcastle, I received a letter from Laurie Bowman, of Charlestown, who told how he had been working that day as an electrician at the BHP. He had just finished a day shift and, as usual, bought a copy…

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