David Murray’s “Words for the Heat of Deeds” – A Story of Newcastle’s Convict Years

Newcastle has a rich literary history, being the site that created the first full length autobiography ever written in Australia, and  the first dictionary ever compiled in Australia. These were the works of the infamous convict James Hardy Vaux and the 5th of July 2012 celebrated the bicentenary of this important milestone in Australia’s literary … More David Murray’s “Words for the Heat of Deeds” – A Story of Newcastle’s Convict Years

An Interesting Relic

“NEWCASTLE. (From Thursday’s Chronicle) AN INTERESTING RELIC. – On Friday morning last, as the workmen were employed in pulling down the walls of the Bank of New South Wales, in Watt Street, they found embedded between the plastering and the wall, a kind of small leaden case, containing a piece of white paper, about the … More An Interesting Relic

Proposed development on the Convict Lumber Yard

DA 08/1160 SECTION 60 APPLICATION-CONVICT LUMBER YARD STOCKADE SITE, 90-88 SCOTT STREET NEWCASTLE SHR 01537 We would like to express our concern at the proposed development application (DA 08/1160) currently before Newcastle City Council for the Convict Lumber Yard Site. We recommend that it remain open space and free of development. The University of Newcastle’s … More Proposed development on the Convict Lumber Yard

James Hardy Vaux – The Flash Language of Coal River

This month on ABC 1233 I will be discussing James Hardy Vaux’s Memoirs and Dictionary of the Flash Language. Both these works were penned in the Coal River (Newcastle) in the period of 1812-1814. Newcastle’s history continues to amaze, and none more that the story of James Hardy Vaux. This infamous pickpocket has provided Newcastle … More James Hardy Vaux – The Flash Language of Coal River