Floods in the Hunter (Local Treasures Radio Broadcast Notes)
ABC Radio 1233 Broadcast – 19 June 2007 1.30pm
Presenter: Carol Duncan
Guest: Gionni Di Gravio, Archivist, University of Newcastle

(Originally Posted on Monday, 25 June, 2007 on the UONCC WordPress site, updated July 2021)

The recent devastating storms and floods and the beaching of the coal ship the Pasha Bulker has again drawn focus to the subject of flooding in the Hunter Region. I have been involved with the Coal River Working Party and the re-discovery of the the birthplace of the Australian coal mining industry in the long lost convict mines of Newcastle. Such work has made us very aware of the importance of the Region with regards to the climate change debate and where we choose to head in the future. I was therefore very interested in ascertaining from the historical record to what extent flooding was a natural and ongoing feature of the landscape and to what degree was climate change a factor in the current intensity of storms. The Hunter Region has a long history of recorded floods from Aboriginal dreaming stories to the earliest records of the white settlers dating from 1818-1820 to the present. Click for the complete “Floods in the Hunter” Broadcast Notes by Gionni Di Gravio

 

Digital Resources

1801 – Barrallier Survey

“COAL HARBOUR and RIVERS on the Coast of New South Wales Surveyed by ENSIGN BARRALLIER In His Majesty’s Armed Surveying Vessell – LADY NELSON. LIEUT JAMES GRANT Commander In June and July 1801 By Order of GOVERNOR KING.

For the original accounts of the Grant Survey mission to the Hunter Region in 1801 please consult https://hunterlivinghistories.com/history/.

 

1819/1870

“Mr Wyndham’s Memo on Floods” “Memo of Floods, taken from Maitland Mercury of 2nd April 1870” recording heights from circa 1819 to April 1870 at Dalwood, West Maitland and Morpeth.

See: https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2021/02/11/glenthorne/

 

1857  – Maitland Flood Scenes

1857 – Floods in the Lower Hunter

See: https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2019/05/08/floods-in-the-lower-hunter-1857/

 

1864 – Maitland Floods

See: https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2019/02/18/maitland-floods-1864/

 

1949. Thousand Homeless In Australian Floods (1949)

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/thousand-homeless-in-australian-floods

 

1949. Flood Disaster in New South Wales (1949)

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/flood-disaster-in-new-south-wales

 

1949. Floods Ravage New South Wales (1949)

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVAEEZGLM0C1MBR0RAMMWEKZCVKP-FLOODS-RAVAGE-NEW-SOUTH-WALES

 

1949. Australia Floods Aftermath (1949)

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/australia-floods-aftermath/

1870 – Floods in the Hunter Report – Testimony of John Eckford
Full title: Floods in the Hunter: report of Commission appointed to organise into and report respecting floods in the district of The Hunter River. Sydney: Thomas Richards, Govt. Printer, 1870. See: https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2019/06/17/floods-1870/

1870 – Floods in the Hunter (The Illustrated Sydney News 13 April 1870)

See: https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2019/02/25/floods-hunter-1870/

1893 – Flood Photographs

From Memento of Maitland floods, March 1893, May 1913 : 24 views. [Maitland, N.S.W. : s.n., 1913?] (Maitland : T.Dimmock). Cultural Coll/RB 551.48909944 MEME

 

1908 Flooding in Newcastle

 

 

1913 Flood Photographs

Souvenir of the Maitland flood 1913. Newcastle, N.S.W. : Davies & Cannington, [1913]. Cultural Coll/RB 551.48909944 SOUV

 

1949. Maitland Flood Film

1949. Thousand Homeless In Australian Floods (1949)

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/thousand-homeless-in-australian-floods

 

1949. Flood Disaster in New South Wales (1949)

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/flood-disaster-in-new-south-wales

 

1949. Floods Ravage New South Wales (1949)

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVAEEZGLM0C1MBR0RAMMWEKZCVKP-FLOODS-RAVAGE-NEW-SOUTH-WALES

 

1949. Australia Floods Aftermath (1949)

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/australia-floods-aftermath/

 

1955 – Maitland Flood – Jim Lucey Collection

See: https://livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/90

 

1955. Maitland Floods, 1955. (8mm film footage by Jeffrey Allen Burns)

 

1955 – Maitland Flood – South Maitland Railways – 1955 Flood Photographs
From: South Maitland Railways Limited Archives: A5578 (xiii) Photographs of floods 1955 and locomotives.

 

[1955] Floods in Australia
https://www.britishpathe.com/search/query/Flood+australia

1955. Australia’s Flood Havoc (1955)

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/australias-flood-havoc

 

1955. New South Wales – The Floods Retreat

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/new-south-wales-the-floods-retreat