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…
