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Kurri Kurri, New South Wales
Kurri Kurri is a small town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Cessnock LGA. At the 2021 census, its population was 6,174. Kurri Kurri is the largest town in a group of towns and hamlets, including Stanford Merthyr, Pelaw Main, Weston, Abermain and Heddon Greta, called Kurri Kurri - Abermain by the ABS. Its estimated population was 20,631 at the 2021 census. The population of the Kurri Kurri built-up area (which excludes some rural areas from Kurri Kurri - Abermain) was 20,015 at the 2021 census.
The town was founded in 1902 to service the local Stanford Merthyr and Pelaw Main collieries and mining communities. The town was named Kurri Kurri possibly meaning "the very first" in Awabakal. It was the first town in Australia that was fully planned before anything was built. The local Progress Committee was responsible for clearing streets and supplying local services with State permission. The fire station and the hospital were built by locals with locally sourced money.
There is no history of any Aboriginal inhabitants of this area, other than a visit to the outskirts by a small group prior to most of the building of the town. A family with some Aboriginal background lived in Kurri Kurri in the 1930-40s. The first European landholder was Benjamin Blackburn who was granted 400 acres on the Banks of Wallis Creek at Richmond Vale.
The Kurri Kurri Hotel (1904) is one of several built during the era of mining prosperity in the early 20th century. It is an impressive three-story building featuring prominent verandas with cast-iron lacework. The Empire Tavern was also built during this period. Kurri Kurri has numerous small miners' cottages from the same period.
According to the 2021 census of Population, there were 6,174 people in Kurri Kurri, compared to 6,044 at the 2016 census.
Mining at the South Maitland Coalfields began at East Greta in 1891, after an 1886 exploration by Sir Edgeworth David, a government geological surveyor, uncovered the potential of the Greta coal seam. More mines were opened in the early 1900s, supplanting those older pits at Newcastle where the Australian Agricultural Company enjoyed almost a monopoly. During this period there were a number of accidents including the death of six miners at the Stanford Merthyr Colliery in 1905, which is commemorated by a monument in the Kurri Kurri cemetery.
Richmond Main Colliery, also in the Kurri Kurri vicinity, was once the State's largest producer, at 3,400 tons per day, and which reputedly had the deepest shaft permitting access to two separate coal seams, the Scholey shaft, named after its founder, John Scholey. Following the serious slump in the coal industry Stanford Merthyr Colliery closed in 1957, Pelaw Main in 1962, and Richmond Main in 1967.
The power station at Richmond Main Colliery, which provided the electricity for Kurri Kurri and surrounding districts, remained in operation for some years after the mine's closure, until the entire district was attached to the National Grid.
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Kurri Kurri, New South Wales
Kurri Kurri is a small town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Cessnock LGA. At the 2021 census, its population was 6,174. Kurri Kurri is the largest town in a group of towns and hamlets, including Stanford Merthyr, Pelaw Main, Weston, Abermain and Heddon Greta, called Kurri Kurri - Abermain by the ABS. Its estimated population was 20,631 at the 2021 census. The population of the Kurri Kurri built-up area (which excludes some rural areas from Kurri Kurri - Abermain) was 20,015 at the 2021 census.
The town was founded in 1902 to service the local Stanford Merthyr and Pelaw Main collieries and mining communities. The town was named Kurri Kurri possibly meaning "the very first" in Awabakal. It was the first town in Australia that was fully planned before anything was built. The local Progress Committee was responsible for clearing streets and supplying local services with State permission. The fire station and the hospital were built by locals with locally sourced money.
There is no history of any Aboriginal inhabitants of this area, other than a visit to the outskirts by a small group prior to most of the building of the town. A family with some Aboriginal background lived in Kurri Kurri in the 1930-40s. The first European landholder was Benjamin Blackburn who was granted 400 acres on the Banks of Wallis Creek at Richmond Vale.
The Kurri Kurri Hotel (1904) is one of several built during the era of mining prosperity in the early 20th century. It is an impressive three-story building featuring prominent verandas with cast-iron lacework. The Empire Tavern was also built during this period. Kurri Kurri has numerous small miners' cottages from the same period.
According to the 2021 census of Population, there were 6,174 people in Kurri Kurri, compared to 6,044 at the 2016 census.
Mining at the South Maitland Coalfields began at East Greta in 1891, after an 1886 exploration by Sir Edgeworth David, a government geological surveyor, uncovered the potential of the Greta coal seam. More mines were opened in the early 1900s, supplanting those older pits at Newcastle where the Australian Agricultural Company enjoyed almost a monopoly. During this period there were a number of accidents including the death of six miners at the Stanford Merthyr Colliery in 1905, which is commemorated by a monument in the Kurri Kurri cemetery.
Richmond Main Colliery, also in the Kurri Kurri vicinity, was once the State's largest producer, at 3,400 tons per day, and which reputedly had the deepest shaft permitting access to two separate coal seams, the Scholey shaft, named after its founder, John Scholey. Following the serious slump in the coal industry Stanford Merthyr Colliery closed in 1957, Pelaw Main in 1962, and Richmond Main in 1967.
The power station at Richmond Main Colliery, which provided the electricity for Kurri Kurri and surrounding districts, remained in operation for some years after the mine's closure, until the entire district was attached to the National Grid.