This Sunday marks the 200th anniversary of the laying of the Foundation Stone for Macquarie Pier on August 5th 1818. Governor Lachlan Macquarie laid the foundation stone for the Newcastle breakwater, named in his honour by Commandant Captain James Wallis as “Macquarie Pier” during one of his three visits to Newcastle on the 5th August … More Happy 200th Birthday Macquarie Pier (a.k.a. Newcastle Breakwater)
View of the channel from the summit of Nobbys in 1818 Newcastle in 1818 by Edward Charles Close (Courtesy of the National Library of Australia) Click for a larger image The Life and Times of Macquarie Pier – Buried Testament to the “Father and Mother of Australia” by Gionni Di Gravio University Archivist and Chair, … More The Life and Times of Macquarie Pier
On the 13th August 2013 geophysicists from GBG Australia Pty Ltd (GBGA) carried out a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Earth Resistivity Tomography (ERT) investigation of Macquarie Pier (Newcastle Breakwater). The aim being to locate the start of the old masonry pier, which is buried under rubble, which could lead to the detection of the … More Quest for Macquarie Pier 2013
Next Tuesday (13th August 2013) from around 8.30AM geophysicists from GBG Australia will begin carrying out the GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) examination of the Newcastle Breakwater (Macquarie Pier). We hope to obtain a clearer picture of landscape below the ground at the origins of the Pier, and the possible location of the original Foundation Stone … More Penetrating Macquarie Pier Foundation Stone
The Macquarie Pier Commemorative Plaque was unveiled by Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, Governor of New South Wales at a ceremony at the Nobbys Surf Life Saving Club on the 4 August 2010 at 4 pm. The occasion was kindly sponsored and organised by the Fort Scratchley Historical Society, The Newcastle Port Corporation, … More Macquarie Pier Plaque Unveiled
In recognition of Macquarie 2010, The University of Newcastle’s Coal River Working Party will embark on the quest to find the Foundation and Inscription Stone laid in Newcastle by Governor Lachlan Macquarie back in 1818, and believed lost for over 190 years. Governor Lachlan Macquarie laid the foundation stone for the Newcastle breakwater, named in … More Quest for Macquarie Pier Foundation and Inscription Stone (1818)
Cook sights the “small round rock or island” According to the 1790 published account of Captain Cook’s Voyages Round the World, around noon on the 10th May 1770, Cook sights the “small round rock or island” later to be known to Europeans as “Nobbys” and to the Aboriginal people of Newcastle Mulubinba as “Whibayganba”. At … More Did Captain Cook Sight and Draw the “Small Round Rock or Island” now known as Nobbys Whibayganba on 10th May 1770?
Mr Gionni Di Gravio, University Archivist, was awarded the Order of Australia Medal at the beginning of the year. But COVID restrictions delayed the official Investiture Ceremony until recently. We are delighted to report that his Investiture Ceremony was celebrated at Government House Sydney on the 9th September 2020 at 4pm. A recording of the … More OAM Investiture Nationally Recognises University Service to Regional Histories
(This post has been transferred from ‘Newcastle Government Domain’ WordPress site- originally posted 16 December 2014) HISTORIC MILITARY BARRACKS (Adapted from thesis “Here is an asylum open . . . Constructing a Culture of Government Care in Australia 1801 – 2014”) By Dr Ann Hardy Newcastle’s former military barracks are located in the heart of … More Newcastle Military Barracks
It is with great sadness that we convey to you, the news that Russell Rigby, our Coal River Working Party/Hunter Living Histories friend and colleague, passed away this morning, 28 September 2019, at 1:30am. He leaves a gap in our lives that cannot be filled, and in the words of HLH colleague Mr. Robert Watson, … More Goodbye to our friend and colleague Russell Rigby