© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

Newcastle NSW

Read more about the article Some of the oldest photos of Newcastle, NSW

Some of the oldest photos of Newcastle, NSW

Tracing advances in the technology of recorded images is fascinating, particularly in relation to specific places. Not only does the place change over time, but the nature of the images changes too. In the period since European settlement of Newcastle, NSW - originally a prison-labour camp for political and intransigent convicts - one can trace the evolution of images from freehand sketches, to engravings and then to photography. Early photographs are predictably rare. Newcastle was not a prosperous or appealing place at the time that photography was being born. Nevertheless, some quite old photographs (or images…

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Read more about the article The great Newcastle railway debate of 1856

The great Newcastle railway debate of 1856

WHEN the newly formed NSW Railway Commission proposed in 1856 to extend the Newcastle railway line from Honeysuckle Point to the city's east, many of the town's inhabitants were horrified. An angry public meeting was held and nearly a third of the town's population signed a petition begging the government to put a stop to what they saw as a destructive plan. Newcastle was designed and laid out around its harbour and to have access to this tremendous feature wiped out by a fenced-in railway line was considered an outrageous imposition. Leading Newcastle citizens including James…

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Read more about the article Great War treasures of Newcastle’s Christ Church Cathedral
Newcastle's Christ Church Cathedral in June 1979. Photo by Doug Brown

Great War treasures of Newcastle’s Christ Church Cathedral

From our book, The Hunter Region in The Great War The Church of England played an important role in Australia and no less in Newcastle at the time of the Great War of 1914-1918. People turned to their church leaders to help them see and understand moral dimensions to great events and they gathered as congregations to share good times and bad.While many churches across the Hunter retain relics of the Great War, the collection in Newcastle’s Christ Church Cathedral is almost certainly the most significant. Part of The Warrior's Chapel. Photo by Sylvia Ray The…

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