Fortress Newcastle – Final Report To everyone who assisted with executing the Fortress Newcastle Project, This is our final Fortress Newcastle Project report. A very pleasant luncheon and harbour cruise aboard William The Fourth was a fitting celebration of our successful exhibition at Fort Scratchley. See photograph above. The Exhibition The exhibition is now … More Fortress Newcastle Project – Final Report
The Fortress Newcastle Exhibition Launch The Newcastle Fortress Exhibition was officially launched on Friday 22 April 2022. It was an extraordinarily friendly and successful event, thanks to our Master of Ceremonies, Dr Peter Hobbins, Head of Knowledge at the Australian Maritime Museum, for his expert leadership of the ceremony. To Federal Member for Newcastle, Sharon … More Fortress Newcastle Exhibition and Films: A Great Success
Special Collections has partnered with the Fortress Newcastle team to create historic resources for the upcoming exhibition at Fort Scratchley in late April. The following has been collated by Rachel Vaughan. (UoS, Masters of Museum & Heritage Studies intern, GLAMx Lab) Over the past two years, there has been a great deal of discussion about … More The Fortress Newcastle Collection
Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot: A Proposal For Its Conservation and Adaptive Reuse This post honours the memory of the late Dr Bernard (“Bernie”) Curran AM. Bernie, at the time of his passing, was working with the rail heritage community to establish the Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot as a Newcastle regional heritage centre. This post has been … More Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot: A Proposal
Fortress Newcastle: Life Under Threat, the latest film in the Stories of Our Town Series, is now free to view from Remembrance Day, Thursday 11 November 2021. What was “Fortress Newcastle”? The “Newcastle Fortress” is the official term used to describe the Australian Government’s defence installations, established to protect Newcastle from enemy attack during the … More Fortress Newcastle Film (2021)
The Owen Gun Films The extensive testing and real world service scenarios that the Owen Sub Machine Gun underwent to ensure it was an effective weapon are portrayed in this film. The Owen Gun Private Evelyn Owen of Wollongong invented the Owen Sub Machine Gun prototype in July 1939. It was manufactured in the … More Service Tests of Modern Sub Machine Guns’ (1941) and other Historic Films on the Owen Gun (1940s)
Here is a summary of all Fortress Newcastle Project activities from 2020 to 2021 to keep everyone in the loop. Origin of “Fortress Newcastle” “Newcastle Fortress” is the description used by the Australian Government for its defence installations and operations established to protect Newcastle from enemy attack during World War II. Australia protected only two sites … More Fortress Newcastle Project Update
Richard Baines, on behalf of his family, has kindly provided the University of Newcastle’s Hunter Living Histories Initiative permission to publish his father’s World War 2 Prisoner of War Wartime Log and related items. DOWNLOAD RONALD BAINES WARTIME LOG https://livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/110514 DOWNLOAD WARTIME TRAVEL 1940-1945 R.P. BAINES A 401096 RAAF (6.4MB PDF File) (Transcribed by Melinda … More Great Escape “Diary”: Ronald Prior Baines R.A.A.F. Prisoner of War Wartime Log
FORTRESS NEWCASTLE PROJECT (November 2021 Update) ‘It can be said, that without our steel industry the invasion of Australia by Japan could not have been prevented’. D. O. Morris 1947 November 2021 Update See the completed Fortress Newcastle: Life Under Threat Film here: February 2021 Update: The Fortress Newcastle Project 2020 … More The Fortress Newcastle Project
Fortress Newcastle: A Call To Action Lessons from History: Can Newcastle and the Hunter & Central Coast Regions help in the fight against COVID-19? History repeats, and now is the time for our past achievements to help the world confronted with new challenges. The Newcastle Industrial Heritage Association’s story of “Fortress Newcastle” is one … More Fortress Newcastle: A Call To Action