An on-going project gathering details of the lives of people who resided in the Hunter Valley, Newcastle and Central Coast in the early days of settlement



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Access information about Convicts, Settlers, Soldiers, Clerics and Townspeople of Newcastle, Hunter Valley and Central Coast from the Search Box on the right

Convict Search

Find your Convict - The British Convict Transportation Register dataset contains details of convicts transported to Australia in the 18th and 19th centuries including the name of the convict, place of trial, term of years, name of ship and date of departure, and place of arrival

Lates Pages

Newcastle Kindergarten
Sandgate Cemetery
A Ride on an Omnibus
Free Settler and Immigrant Pages updated
First Fleet Map updated
Detachments at Newcastle and Hunter Valley
Newcastle Local History

Follow the Links below

Find out more about Convict Ships, Immigrant Ships, Medical Practitioners, Convict Ship Surgeons, Inns and Hotels, Bushrangers, Priests and Pastors, Hunter Valley Place Names, Australian Slang and more.....

1788 Event

1788

Arrival in Australia of the First Fleet

Arrival of the ships of the Second Fleet

1790

Arrival in Australia of the Second Fleet

Escape from the colony of William and Mary Bryant

1791

Remarkable escape from the colony of convicts William and Mary Bryant

Discovery of the Hunter River

1797

Lieut. Shortland Discovered the Hunter River while in pursuit of escaped convicts

Expedition to the Hunter River on the Lady Nelson by Lieut William Paterson, James Grant and George Caley

1801

Expedition to the Hunter River undertaken by Lieut. William Paterson, James Grant, Ensign Barrallier and George Caley

First Settlement and Coal mines at Newcastle

1802

First Settlement and coal mines were established at Newcastle under Corporal Wixstead

Battle of Castle Hill

1804

A Convict uprising at Castle Hill in March 1804. Some of the convicts involved to be sent to Newcastle

Newcastle

1804

In March 1804 a Settlement was established at Newcastle under Lieut. Charles Menzies

Location of Limburning near Newcastle

1808

Lime burning had commenced as early as 1808 at Limburner's Bay near Newcastle where there was an immense deposit of oyster shells

Newcastle Penal Settlement, engraving by Walter Preston

1810

Lieut. John Purcell of the 73rd Regiment was appointed commandant at Newcastle penal settlement in February 1810

Convict James Hardy Vaux

1811

Convict James Hardy Vaux compiled Australia's first Dictionary - The Vocabulary of the Flash Language while serving a sentence at Newcastle in 1811

Convict Pirates escaping from Newcastle penal settlement

1814

Lieut. Thomas Thompson was commandant at Newcastle when four convicts made a daring escape on the sloop Speedwell

Convict Henry Wrensford established the first school at Newcastle

1816

A school was established at Newcastle under convict schoolmaster Henry Wrensford

Newcastle Gaol

1818

Newcastle gaol was constructed in 1816 - 1818 on a site overlooking the ocean during Lieutenant James Wallis's tenure as Commandant

John Thomas Bigge

1819

Arrival in Sydney of Commissioner John Thomas Bigge - appointed to conduct an enquiry relating to Transportation, Disembarkation and Servitude

Nobbys breakwall

1823

By 1823 Newcastle had been closed as a penal settlement and most convicts, excepting those working on the breakwall, were removed to Port Macquarie.

Henry Dangar

1823

A survey of the township had been completed by Henry Dangar by 1823 and the district was thrown open for settlement



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