First Complete Aerial Coverage for Greater Newcastle 1944
A team working through Transport NSW and Spatial Services NSW have successfully digitised a complete set of aerial photographs of Newcastle as it looked in 1944.
The Department of Main Roads (DMR) commissioned the aerial photography during World War II, as part of its aerial surveys.
This is the first aerial coverage of greater Newcastle, ever completed, so it is very significant.
The screenshot below illustrates the extent of the area covered by the aerial photography.
How Can You Access The Imagery?
The 1944 Newcastle imagery is on the new Heritage Air Photo Enhancement (HAPE) facility set up by NSW Spatial Services, at Historical Imagery (nsw.gov.au)
The website contains over 1 million single historic aerial photographs dating back to the 1930s.
On the site are also aerial mosaics dating from the 1940s.
To see the “Newcastle 1944” mosaic all you to do is to tick the relevant 1944 box in the mosaic listing.
After that, “uncheck” the “Historic Image Index” box, so you don’t have to see all of the yellow frames for each individual aerial image.
Fort Scratchley from the Air in 1944
Newcastle City Hall and Civic Park from the air in 1944
What a find! Great views of Texas in Carrington. Thank you.