Boatshed homes on the Hunter River at Hexham in 1941. Photo by R. Donaldson for Pix magazine. State Library of NSW
When the system failed the river was life
When the Great Depression hit in the early 1930s, people who had forgotten what hunger felt like were suddenly and forcefully reminded. Around Newcastle and the Hunter, desperate people without jobs or income walked away from homes when they couldn't afford rent or rates. They sold their bank accounts (many of them frozen) for pennies in the pound. Hundreds of families set up makeshift homes wherever they could find undisputed space. Camps of huts built of whitewashed hessian and tin sheets flattened from kerosene cans sprang up on the outskirts of the towns. Some people "went…