Newcastle, New South Wales

Newcastle, also known as Greater Newcastle (locally /ˈnjuːkɑːsəl/ NEW-kah-səl; Awabakal: Mulubinba), is a large metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie and it is the hub of the Lower Hunter region, which includes most parts of the cities of Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Cessnock, and Port Stephens Council. Newcastle is also known by its colloquial nickname, Newy. A Newcastle resident can also be known as a Novocastrian.

Located at the mouth of the Hunter River, it is the predominant city within the Hunter Region. Famous for its coal, Newcastle is the largest coal exporting harbour in the world, exporting 143 million tonnes of coal in 2022. Beyond the city, the Hunter Region possesses large coal deposits. Geologically, the area is located in the central-eastern part of the Sydney Basin.

Newcastle and the lower Hunter Region were traditionally occupied by the Awabakal and Worimi Aboriginal people, who called the area Malubimba.

Based on Aboriginal-language references documented in maps, sketches and geological descriptions, eight landmarks have been officially dual-named by the NSW Geographic Names Board with their traditional Aboriginal names. They include Nobbys Head also known as Whibayganba; Flagstaff Hill also known as Tahlbihn; Pirate Point also known as Burrabihngarn; Port Hunter also known as Yohaaba; Hunter River (South Channel) also known as Coquun; Shepherds Hill also known as Khanterin; Ironbark Creek also known as Toohrnbing and Hexham Swamp also known as Burraghihnbihng.

In June 1796, a group of fishermen from the British convict outpost at Sydney, were driven by bad weather into a harbour at what is now Newcastle. They found considerable amounts of coal laying on the ground near the beach, some of which they brought back to Sydney. The fishermen had "conducted themselves improperly" while ashore and gotten into conflict with the local Aboriginal people. Two of the fishermen were wounded, one of them fatally.

Over a year later, in September 1797, Lieutenant John Shortland explored the area and named the Hunter River. This was largely accidental, as he had been sent to the region in search of a number of convicts who had seized a vessel called Cumberland while it was sailing from Sydney Cove. Leiutenant Shortland entered what he later described as "a very fine river", which he named after New South Wales' Governor John Hunter. He returned with reports of the deep-water port and the area's abundant resources of coal and cedar.

Over the next two years, influential colonists like Simeon Lord and James Underwood sent vessels and workers to the region to extract the valuable coal and cedarwood. Some of these workers skirmished with local Awabakal men, and an armed party under Henry Hacking was dispatched to investigate, which resulted in the shooting of several Aboriginal people. Coal mined from the area was the New South Wales colony's first export.

In 1800, fifteen convicts seized a small supply ship from the Hawkesbury River and sailed it to the mouth of the Hunter River where it was wrecked. Three of the surviving convicts became the area's first British residents when they were adopted into a local Aboriginal clan. A year later, Philip Gidley King, the Governor of New South Wales, decided to send a surveying expedition under Colonel William Paterson and Francis Barrallier to assess the feasibility of establishing an official settlement. Paterson returned with a positive account outlining the cedar and coal resources, and also the massive loads of oyster shell middens which could be utilised for much needed lime mortar.