More old photos of Newcastle.

The Newcastle Herald has continued its practice of running old photos of Newcastle from the University of Newcastle cultural collection with support from  the Vera Deacon Regional History Fund.Two recent examples include:

• 8 March 2018 THROWBACK: Hunter Street, Newcastle photos from the archives
• 29 March 2018 Throwback Thursday: Remembering Hunter's history, shops, arcades and malls | photos

I love old photos because of the things they reveal. I study them and look at the detail. Sometimes there is a more emotional response.

Back in 2008 I wrote a short nostalgic post Newcastle's poshest hotel - the Great Northern. So much has changed in Newcastle that I find it difficult to place things in my memory. These photos actually triggered real memories. On that visit, I can remember my brother and I escaping from the hotel and going down to the waterfront. It wasn't far. As country kids, the waterfront was exciting, a very different world. In two photos I suddenly saw where we must have walked. .

Images of the 1989 Newcastle earthquake

At 10.27 of the morning of 28 December 1989, a 5.5 magnitude earthquake hit Newcastle, Camera men Barry Nancarrow and Martin Adum recorded the event. Now the web site Newcastle Inspired has reproduced their images.

The forgetting of Newcastle

I have been working my way through a discussion paper entitled Framing the Future: Developing and arts and cultural policy for NSW. I will no doubt comment on the whole document in due course. Here I want to comment on one element, the theme entitled Arts and Culture for, by and across the whole of NSW.  The introduction states:

The location of arts and audiences has a strong influence on content, participation, delivery and engagement in culture.

NSW localities have different cultures, facilities and opportunities. It is important to ensure that opportunities to create and experience are spread across the State to ensure all contribute to and benefit from a rich cultural life. Locally relevant approaches are required to support arts and culture in different regions.

To amplify this theme, the specific geographic locations covered are:

• Regional NSW
• Sydney, Western Sydney and Greater Metropolitan Sydney.

Sydney, Western Sydney and Greater Metropolitan Sydney are treated as three separate entities. And, what, you may ask, is Greater Metropolitan Sydney? Why Newcastle and the Central Coast. It may also include Blue Mountains, but that's not clear.

Now what, you may ask is proposed.

The proposed goal for this theme is:

Sydney is an acknowledged cultural leader in the Asia-Pacific region, drawing on the unique
offerings of the CBD and the broader Sydney region.

Two questions are set for consideration:

• What is required to make Sydney the acknowledged cultural leader in the Asia Pacific?
• How can the NSW Government best work with councils in the CBD and greater
  Sydney in creating a rich cultural environment across the whole of the Sydney region?

These are the proposed directions:

Enhance the cultural identity and year round programming across Sydney with a coordinated
year round program of events and integrated promotions, and integrate major events, festivals, cultural programming into the NSW Government brand strategy

Enhance value, access and encourage repeat attendance at arts and cultural venues in Sydney
by proposals to:
— Investigate development of a Sydney Culture Pass to encourage visitation to Sydney’s arts,
museums and cultural sites
— Investigate and improve transport to key sites on Sydney’s arts and cultural ribbon
— Investigate ways to increase participation of children in State Cultural Institutions’ programming.

Co-promotion, shared programming and coordination between key organisations in Sydney CBD, Western Sydney and Greater Sydney

Strategic partnerships by the three tiers of government for priority localities to consolidate
investment of resources

MMMM. What can I say? Well, consider this to begin with:

• There is no recognition of the separate cultural identities of Newcastle or the Central Coast
• There is no recognition of Newcastle's role as a cultural centre for surrounding areas and beyond. Indeed, the boundaries effectively truncate Newcastle from the rest of the Hunter.
• There is no recognition that Newcastle is actually in competition with Sydney, is striving to further develop its own very distinct cultural identity and needs integration with Sydney as an outrider like it needs a hole in the head.

See what I mean?

Remembering Hunter Street

This photo came from Sean.

I do remember Hunter Street, although I am far too young for this photo.

Growing up, Newcastle was the North's big city. When I first went there from Armidale, I felt that it was such a big place!

Of course in population terms Newcastle is still a big place, But is somehow seems to have shrunk, to have lost its core identity. The suburbs stretch for miles, but the city center is flat.

Of course, this has happened in other places. I was in Armidale last weekend, and Beardy Street was almost deserted, squeezed by the shopping centers on each side. But, like Armidale, Newcastle has shrunk in public consciousness. This photo reminds us of when Newcastle was actually a big place.  

New state sentiment continues to bubble in Newcastle

My thanks to Greg Howell for this one.

NSW premier O'Farrell inspected the upgrades to Cardiff Railway station. In comments, State of Shame wasn't impressed:

just heard O'Farrell on the radio claiming that there is no money for the Art Gallery and that the city should work out what it wants first.

OK Baz, how about this. The city knows what it wants - $7m to complete the original development as planned. You could find that from the nearly $1 billion that your government didn't even know it had. You know - remember the auditor general found it? You thought that your government was $300m in deficit, but the auditor general found that your accounting practices were sloppy and your government was actually in far better financial shape with $650m in surplus? Surely you remember that?

Or you could simply trim the $1bn Opera House refurbishment budget by a tiny 0.7% and direct the savings to the Newcastle Art Gallery. Not an option? Think creatively Baz - I am sure that you could find $7m from somewhere in NSW $60bn a year budget. That is a tiny 0.01% of NSW spending.

Oh that's right - not an option because it isn't in the capital is it?

Newy put it this way:

He has a hide showing his head anywhere north of Hornsby. $770m program? On a proportional basis that would mean that about $70m of that money should be spent in the Hunter. What have we got - Cardiff supposedly $14m. That is a $56m shortfall. That is just the tip of the funding shortfall iceber (arts, sports etc).

The Hunter and the north generally need to secede from NSW and form a independent self governing state. Tell O'Farrell and his Sydney centric cronies to rack off until they can divvy up the pie equitably - in other words rack off for good because we know that will never happen.

Ken Scott agreed:

I agree 100% with Newy that we should secede and become our own independent state. How to go about it is a problem as it was in the late 60's when Askin would not let this "milking cow" go on it's own.

Cardiffresident was not impressed with Newy:

Some people would even complain that the lump of gold they inherited was too heavy to lift.

It's interesting how this low level discontent, the support for self government, just keeps bubbling away. I have been following it now for a number of years, and its a constant thread. 

Why Newcastle's Urban Insider is just so good

Yesterday's post, Why new state New England must have its own tourism strategy, dealt with the need for us to have a tourism approach independent of that applied in NSW.

Tourism is all about experiences. An experience is not just a good meal or a cup of coffee on its own, but those things in a context. You can get a good meal or a cup of coffee anywhere. Generally you remember them because something else is added in.

One of the things that I have tried to do in my writing is to draw out a little of the richness of New England life and history. Here I am trying to add a context, something that will make both New Englanders and visitors aware of our special features.

I have often spoken of the unrecognised features of Newcastle, the things that add specific richness to that city, a richness that can be enjoyed by locals and visitors alike. Sadly, things that are unrecognised die or are demolished. It is only later that we become aware of what we have lost.

From time to time, I have referred to Newcastle's Urban Insider. This relatively new e-magazine focuses on the texture of Newcastle life. It's great.

Just consider this feature by Matthew Endacott, Curtain Up Newcastle! The Theatre Town That Was. I have written a little on Newcastle's theatre tradition trying to understand something of its history. Matthew's article extends my knowledge.

The point about Newcastle's theatre tradition lies not in the comparison with other places, but in the fact that it is Newcastle's tradition. It is special to Newcastle.

To my mind, the brilliant thing about Urban Insider lies not in its immediate benefit to those living in Newcastle, although that's substantial. Rather, it is part of a process that is accumulating the Newcastle experience and making it available to a world well beyond Newcastle. 

UK Daily Telegraph on Newcastle

My thanks to Greg for this one.

What has the Australian city of Newcastle got that Sydney and Melbourne haven’t?

According to the UK's Telegraph, its ramshackle glamour on apricot beaches!

It's actually not a bad story although, as some commenters pointed out, it still suffers from the confusion that you have to get to Newcastle from Sydney. That's not true, of course, given the flights from other cities to Newcastle. The story also fails to recognise that Newcastle is an entry point not just to the Hunter, but to the broader North.

Still, it's nice to see Newcastle and the Hunter getting further recognition.

Selling New England to itself

in Cold Chisel, Silverchair & the Newcastle musical tradition, I wrote (as the names suggests) a little about Newcastle's musical tradition. This drew comments from Greg about Newcastle's broader cultural tradition, including its excellence in dance. Now Greg has added a postscript comment to that post:

Late Mail: In the final of the McDonalds Performing Arts Challenge at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday night, Dan Wilkinson from Newcastle was runner up in the solo classical. Dan dances with the National College of Dance (NCD) in Lambton.

In the final of the contemporary group section NCD went one better to win. Dancers from Newcastle continue to excel!

Well done!

At the end of July, Newcastle's Urban Insider carried a two part interview by Cormack O'Connor with Byron Williams from The Herd - The Inside Word with Byron from The Herd: Part 1; The Inside Word with Byron from The Herd: Part 2. The pieces covered Byron's work with the young people's mental health group Headspace as well as the band.

Wikipedia classifies The Herd as a Sydney band. Reading the interview, I'm not sure that's absolutely accurate any more. In any event, I was interested in Byron's comment on the Newcastle musical scene. I quote one part:

Why have you decided to be based in Newcastle?

I just sort of realised when I was in Sydney that I was only using 1/8 of the city, so I thought why not move somewhere that’s like 1/8 the size of Sydney and use it all. Also the beaches and lifestyle. Everything that Newcastle stands for I’m passionate about. Newcastle has a great live music scene, I like live music. I’m really into the beach and surfing and the architecture. Newcastle has a lot of the things I’m really passionate about and less traffic. Lots of my friends and The Herd are in Sydney but it’s just down the highway, I’m getting used to that train ride. I’ve even got my favourite seat marked out (laughs).

What is something you’d like to see happen in the Newcastle area?

I’d like to see this beautiful city centre thriving. The Renew Newcastle scheme is going really well but just walking around here having only recently moved into the city, it’s just beautiful. It makes no sense why it isn’t thriving so that’s what I’d really like to see. Maybe a couple of new venues, a couple of old venues revitalised.

The Cold Chisel post inspired last week's Armidale Express column. There, teasing my Armidale audience a little, I said in part:   

Newcastle has a great musical tradition, something that I have really only become aware of quite recently.

It’s not just Silverchair, Newcastle’s best known band, but band after band.

Further, while Newcastle’s musical tradition has that somewhat gritty element common to other aspects of the city’s cultural life, the tradition extends beyond this into every element of music.

I know that Armidale prides itself on being the cultural capital of the North, but Newcastle would give the city a run for its money any day.

I went on to say that, In fact, what we have across the broader New England are remarkably vibrant but varied cultural activities little recognised in the metro centres. It’s not just Armidale or Newcastle or Tamworth, each interesting if different, but a range of other centres as well.

One of the difficulties with current institutional structures is that information doesn't flow very well within New England. With newspapers, for example, most New Englanders read their local paper and then sometimes a Sydney or Brisbane paper. Big events such as Country Music Week are large enough to get into general media coverage, but otherwise someone in Armidale will not be aware of, say, the Newcastle scene unless they have family or business connections there.

Our own inherent parochialism doesn't help.

Sydney or Brisbane's good, but if it's in Armidale or Newcastle or Glen Innes then it's second rate. We complain when outsiders treat our activities as second rate or, just as bad, ignore them entirely, but then we apply that same blind test to others within New England.

It's not just that we can't expect others to take us seriously if we we don't take ourselves seriously. We actually lose access to much of our own richness and variety.  

That is one of the reasons why, in tourism terms, I often start with internal New England promotion, marketing one part of New England to other parts. It's silly, really.

Someone in Sydney will drive for up to three hours to go to an event. We won't drive for an hour and a half to go to an event in a neighbouring town. We have lost the richness in our own backyard.

Cold Chisel, Silverchair & the Newcastle musical tradition

During the week there was an email exchange with Matt on my long standing desire to create a proper New England guide book, one that covers all of Northern New South Wales.

As will be clear to anyone who read this blog, I love the texture of New England life.

This photo  of Australian band Cold Chisel comes from Newcastle's Urban Insider.

As I wrote in Round the New England blogging traps 21 - a few photos, Cold Chisel's song writer Don Walker came from New England.

Because of its industrial tradition, Newcastle has a gritty tradition. The band Silverchair came from Newcastle, while Cold Chisel had a very strong following there. If Walker's Flame Trees is about Grafton,  "Star Hotel", an attack on the late-70s government of Malcolm Fraser, was inspired by the Star Hotel riot in Newcastle.  It somehow seems appropriate that Cold Chisel should plan to begin its new national tour in Newcastle!

It is very hard for a single writer to capture all the elements of the ever changing textures of New England life. They are simply ignored by the dominant metro media. They just don't see the links, or the geographic or historical context.

That is one reason why I want a proper guide book. When I look at the influence of, say, the Lonely Planet guide books, they create a structure for others to enjoy the history and life of a particular area.

Further, once created, they  (the guide books) acquire a life of their own because of the constant feedback to the guide book creators.

Who in Australia knows about the Newcastle musical tradition? Since they don't, local bands and venues have no chance to build on the tradition through visitor attraction. Just a small example, but it's one replicated across every aspect of New England life.

Postscript

Greg made an interesting comment on this post that I think worth repeating in full.    

Hi Jim, I was at the Star Hotel on that night in 1979. Cold Chisel were indeed very popular in Newcastle and to this day some will even claim that Cold Chisel played. For the record it was actually local band Heroes.

The hotel was due to be closed permanently and Heroes were the last act to appear before it's demise. The Star was a popular live venue and it was standing room only as the pub was packed with emotion charged youth such as myself eager to send it out on high.

Unfortunately, the police were also there and on the nose of closing time shut the power and tried to empty the pub. It was a spark to a powder keg and the patrons reacted angrily - spilling over onto King Street, confronting the police, hurling missiles, upturning and setting fire to cars in what become an infamous confrontation played out on national news bulletins.

In addition to a thriving music and art scene, Newcastle is also a hotbed for dance. International artists such as Marilyn Jones, Dein Perry and Damian Smith all came from Newcastle and there are many Newcastle trained dancers on the international stage. Also Newcastle boy Rhys Kozakowski was one of the four boys who performed the lead role in the Australian musical stage production of "Billy Elliot".

Many high profile dance companies and schools around the world have Newcastle trained dancers in their ranks and Newcastle is recognised internationally as a breeding ground for excellence in dance.

At the concert hall of the Opera House this weekend is the final of the MacDonald Performing Arts Challenge (Sydney Eisteddfod). The tradition continues with two of the eight finalists in the solo section from Newcastle. Newcastle is also represented as one of the six finalists in the group section.

The arts tradition in Newcastle is alive and thriving and the city punches well above it's weight. It is ironic that Newcastle is perhaps better know internationally in this regard than right here in our own country.

Well done Newcastle, but it also demonstrates again the point I made in this post about out of sight, out of mind. 

Urban Insider presents Newcastle

One of the things that really annoys Novocastrians is the dismissive way their city is treated in some other places and especially Sydney. In fact, and as I have tried to present on this blog, Newcastle has a fascinating life style that combines the urban with sea and bush.

Urban Insider is part of Newcastle's fight back. The audience for this site is first Newcastle people wanting to know more about what's on in their city. But it also presents Newcastle to a broader audience like me who like or might like the place and want to visit.

Urban Insider is the detail of Newcastle life written by those who are there - coffee, parks, art galleries, new precincts. While the site is still quite new, it should grow to be a valuable resource. It will also help draw people from elsewhere in New England to go there rather than Sydney for a lifestyle break.   

Craig Wilson & innovative newcastle

I had intended to write my follow post today to Introducing failures in NSW tourism branding and indeed started it yesterday. Then blogger crashed, limiting my ability to do anything, so the post will now come up tomorrow.

In the meantime, Craig Wilson has put up a post, My plan for creating an innovative city, looking at ways of making Newcastle a centre for new technology innovation.

I have written on the need for Newcastle to reinvent itself. What do you think of Craig's suggestions?  

Newcastle is neither fish nor fowl nor good red herring

My post New England & the death of a thousand semantic cuts drew quite long comments from Greg. The following is an edited excerpt from Greg's comments. My own views follow at the end.

Greg wrote:

The thing that gets up my nose is the way that the term "regional" is used as a general term for non-capital city Australia.

I interpret regional as referring to towns and small cities of less than 100,000 people.

So where does a city like Newcastle fit into that picture? It is neither a large capital city nor a small regional city. It is a metropolis of about 1/2 million people with particular (neglected) needs in terms of transport, police, health care etc. Yet it does also have a hinterland which is rural/country/regional with which it is closely connected. It has elements of both city and country but is probably neither. It is in a no mans land and falls between the cracks of such broad descriptors Over the last of city/country or metropolitan/regional.

Because of not really fitting either category but having elements of both it's needs nearly always go unaddressed when discussions of metropolitan vs. regional issues emerge.

It is probably obvious what I am driving at in the comment above, but just to put it another way - Newcastle tends to be regarded as regional whenever there is discussion of city issues (ie. capital), but it also tends to be equally regarded as being city when there is discussion of regional issues (ie. country). So it tends to fall through the cracks as being neither one nor the other.

Greg is right, of course, and it's a real problem. Let me illustrate.

Over the last twenty years in Government tourism promotion there has been a two brand strategy, brand Sydney and brand NSW. Newcastle simply gets lumped into brand NSW.

In terms of many State Government planning strategies, Newcastle is simply lumped in with Sydney as part of Greater Sydney. This actually puts a divide between Newcastle and its hinterland. It affects not just planning, but the statistical data on which planning is based.

In terms of the ARIA remoteness indicators on which so much planning and funding is based, Newcastle is lumped in with Sydney as major city. Nearby Maitland is inner regional. Parts of the Hunter are outer regional. For funding purposes, Newcastle is sometimes classified as regional, at other times not.

Where does Newcastle really fit into all this? The answer is that it doesn't. It is neither fish nor fowl nor good red herring. In all, it's a mess. 

    

 

Tinkler rides to Newcastle's rescue - again

I have to say that it's helpful to have a local billionaire.

I have written about the future of the Newcastle CBD a number of times on this blog. I am not a Novocastrian, but as a New Englander interested in Newcastle as the North's big city, I have mourned the loss of Newcastle's CBD as a vibrant centre.

Having saved the Jets and Knights, it appears that Newcastle billionaire is interested in the CBD, with Buildev apparently acquiring a large section of the CBD from GPT. Buildev is not just owned by Mr Tinkler, but he is the person attention has focused on.

Neil Goffet's Newcastle Herald story,Tinkler town: mall and all, provides the details.

Have a browse through the comments. There are a lot of them. The sense I get is an overwhelming feeling of relief that someone is actually doing something after failures by Newcastle City Council, much more by the Sydney Government, to actually do anything to help. I hope that Mr Tinkler and his colleagues can deliver. 

Newcastle the missing years is great!

While I was in Newcastle this Saturday, Greg Howley  gave me a rather magnificent present, Greg and Sylvia Ray's Newcastle The Missing Years.

This book is great! You don't need to be from Newcastle to enjoy the photos of the 1930s and 1940s. I see from a review of the launch and the comments that the book has been a huge success.

Beyond my own interest in Newcastle, I was struck by a couple of things. This is a very urban, industrial book. It shows Newcastle as it was, a substantial city. I suspect Sydneysiders in particular will get a surprise. Generally, they are not used to thinking of another rival urban centre.

A few years back, I took my then quite young daughters to Newcastle just to show them the city. While there, I tried to buy a book on Newcastle to add to my New England history collection. I searched and searched, but the only book I could find was William Claridge's  ‘The Pommy Town Years: Memories of Mayfield and Other Tales of the Twenties’. I value the book, but I was disappointed.     

Newcastle gets fed up!

It appears that there is a new site to channel the growing anger in Newcastle at that city's treatment - http://www.fedup.org.au/.

I haven't had time to review it yet, but it looks interesting.

Newcastle Herald - Premiers & Promises

With the election looming, there has been a fair bit of negative coverage of the current government in terms of its treatment of the Hunter. My house move has made it difficult for me to properly cover this. However, I thought that the Newcastle Herald editorial of 8 March was worth repeating in full.

"Premiers and promises

08 Mar, 2011 04:00 AM

WITH the state election just around the corner, it seems that premier Kristina Keneally has belatedly discovered an interest in the city of Newcastle.

If Labor is re-elected, Ms Keneally has promised, the state government will stump up funds to help the city bid for a bigger sum from the federal government to relocate some university facilities. If re-elected, Labor will also provide $10 million for a paediatric intensive care unit at John Hunter Children's Hospital.

Those are welcome promises, to be sure. They don't compare, however, to the solid $31 million commitment made last week - before the government went into powerless caretaker mode - to the marginal seat of Coogee for improved cancer services. Or the $24.6 million arts and education precinct also nailed down last week for Parramatta, in western Sydney.

With Newcastle cancer patients facing some of the longest treatment delays in the state and with Newcastle's art gallery still begging, after all these years, for help with its long-overdue redevelopment plans, this city could have done with some of that Sydney-bound largesse.

Ms Keneally's new interest in Newcastle evidently isn't intense enough to induce the expenditure of actual money.

And now, to put that reluctance to spend funds outside of Sydney in a little more perspective, the Urban Development Institute of Australia has released a study asserting that the Hunter Region has been shortchanged billions of dollars in infrastructure spending over the past decade.

Echoing a similar study a few years ago by the Hunter Business Chamber, the latest report notes that regional spending in most state portfolios falls well short of the amount that would be expected if expenditure across NSW was proportional to population.

Coal royalties

While the Hunter has about nine per cent of the state's population, its share of infrastructure spending is said to be typically well under half that figure.

One suspects that, if spending on infrastructure that is purely designed to support industries that earn money for the government was to be deducted, the proportion would be even lower.

What aggrieves many Hunter people about this state of affairs is the fact that the region provides a very hefty chunk of revenue to the NSW government, not merely through regular state taxes but also through coal royalties and dividend payments by Hunter-based government trading corporations.

Not only is this contribution to state finances not recognised in the region's share of infrastructure funding, and not only is the actual share apparently parlously low even on a basic per capita basis, but the government appears genuinely reluctant to commit even the small amount it does spend in the Hunter.

It is probably too late for Ms Keneally to benefit from this knowledge, but Hunter people have been growing steadily more resentful at being ripped off by the government in Macquarie Street. Visits and smiles are always pleasant, but real funding equity would be infinitely preferable.

Twenty percent of state government revenue isn't it?, 9 percent of the population and 3 percent of spending..."

Ends

I also thought that I might repeat the comments.

"Twenty percent of state government revenue isn't it?, 9 percent of the population and 3 percent of spending...

Posted by fnord, 8/03/2011 12:11:01 PM, on The Herald

Fnord, mate its about 30/10/5

This government has got to go and McKay with it - if she couldn't do anything while she was a minister, she certainly won't have a chance in hell on the opposition benches.

Posted by Wisdom of Australia, 9/03/2011 7:31:10 AM, on The Herald

I applaud those at the Herald for consistantly highlighting these issues. If more people of our region read the Herald and understood these reported issues, I suspect that circumstances here would be very, very different..

Posted by Mark, 9/03/2011 10:17:27 AM, on The Herald

I can't believe in any longer what the Labor is saying. They've had enough time to prove themselves to us and to fulfill their commitments they had given to us during the past election campaigns. Before they expects us to buy their promises, they should first evaluate their past records; they should tell us the commitments which they fulfilled, if there are any. I am fed up with their election campaigns, coming to us just before the elections. Election campaigns should not give them the right to lie and to cheat public. Any candidate who is elected based on their commitments should be questioned for not fulfilling their commitments given during the campaigns. If such an inquiry can't be possible by law, it should be possible by public on ethical grounds if we are a genuine democratic society. Walking away from their promises after securing their seats should not be made that easy.

Posted by FG, 9/03/2011 2:07:18 PM, on The Herald

If the Hunter has been short changed billions in a decade, I'd like to know just what the tally would be since 28th December 1989 (earthquake day).

The investment in Newcastle since that day should have been disproportionately high, not disproportionately low, in order to encourage the city to recover from the one of the most devastating events in NSW or Australian history.

Then there is the dis-investment in Newcastle. Local authorities have been corporatised, asset stripped and jobs & decisions moved to Sydney (Shortland County Council, Hunter Water, Macquarie Generation etc). The Hunter has become a branch office under Sydney rule.

We are beyond the point of begging for a fair share. The time has come to DEMAND secession from NSW.

Posted by Newy, 10/03/2011 1:14:57 PM, on The Herald

No point complaining. It's locked in. That is the way NSW operates.

Sydney expects the infrastructure investment and Newcastle doesn't. It is far easier to put up with Newcastle complaints - it is little more than a bindi in the foot of the capital. However if billions were diverted from projects in Sydney to Newcastle there would be a backlash in the capital that no government could withstand.

I will be opening the batting for Australia in an ashes test at Lords before Newcastle receives a fair share of infrastructure spending from NSW.

Posted by 12th man, 10/03/2011 1:47:36 PM, on The Herald

Newcastle is the small kid that turns up each week but never gets picked in the first eleven. He just keeps hoping that he will eventually be noticed and thrown a cap. Trouble is that Syd is the team captain, star and the coaches kid. He makes all the rep teams, always wins the best and fairest and everyone sucks up to him because he gets the girls. Nobody ever notices the other kid that just keeps plugging away. He should do what Adam Gilchrist did - move interstate. Hard as he tries he will never get noticed with the sky blues.

Posted by six and out, 10/03/2011 2:06:40 PM, on The Herald

Since statistics are mostly compiled along state lines, how is it possible to work out whether and by how much Newcastle & the Hunter is subsidising the capital? It might not be that bad - or it could be a whole lot worse.

It doesn't end there either because NSW complains that it is penalised when it comes to Commonwealth Grants. So the Hunter gets a double penalty. It is short changed by it's state which is in turn short changed by the Commonwealth. Newcastle gets smacked between the eyes for being the second city of the biggest state.

Let's face it - Sydney has no interest in the Hunter being anything but a big coal pit and a massive royalty earner for the capital. How dumb are we?

Posted by big bang theory, 10/03/2011 2:22:44 PM, on The Herald

Big Bang Theory - Check out the ABS website - you can get statistics for just about anything down to suburb level. And as for State government revenue and expentiture - its basically site based and obviously very easy to calculate on a regional level. The stats are out there.

Posted by fnord, 10/03/2011 10:06:08 PM, on The Herald"

Newcastle as it was - 1945

My thanks to Greg Howley for alerting me to this one. The following video posted on-line by Bob Cook is simply called Story of a  City - Newcastle 1945.


Story of a City - Newcastle 1945 from bob cook on Vimeo.

For those who don't know Newcastle, the video brings out very clearly the character of the city as it was in 1945. It also helps explain some of the differences in life and character between Newcastle and the coal fields and areas of New England further north.

This is a self-contained industrial world; political Labor Party and unions, a company town, a very large urban centre by New England standards. The inability to properly bridge this gap cost us the 1967 self-government plebiscite.

Looking at the video from a modern perspective, the steel works is long gone. The busy CBD thronged with people, the CBD I knew when I first stayed in Newcastle, is now something of a wasteland. Many things have been added to Newcastle since the film was originally made, the university is one example, but too many there has been a loss of character and identity.   

NBN promotional video 1999

I thought that Newcastle readers might like this earlier NBN promotional video. The date on the video is 1997, but other material suggests that it might have been 1999.

Wednesday Forum: Re-imagining Newcastle

While this post will still appear with a Wednesday date, it is in fact coming up later because of other pressures.

Last Forum, Wednesday Forum: improving public transport, drew no comments. That happens.

This time I want to deal with a different issue, the best way of re-imagining Newcastle. 

To help you here, assume that there is suddenly a New England state. Newcastle as the biggest city, bigger still if we include the surrounding urban areas, suddenly has an opportunity to carve out a new and independent role free of previous constraints. What would you advise?

To further help you here, a few questions:

1. As one of Lonely Planet's new top ten global cities, how would you promote Newcastle's role not just as a destination in its own right, but as entry point to New England?
2. Should Newcastle aim to turn its airport into a promoted international airport? This has benefits, but there may also be environmental implications.
3. Newcastle has its own gritty cultural tradition, one not well recognised outside the city. How would you promote this?
4. There appear to be rivalries and tensions among Hunter Valley councils. How do you promote Newcastle in such a way as to benefit other areas?
5. While Newcastle has its own business community, the city is in many ways a branch office economy. What might be done to encourage the creation of new Newcastle or Hunter headquartered businesses?
6. What are the main impediments to be overcome if Newcastle is grow not just in economic but in life style terms?

Dan Castle's film Newcastle

A short post to record two things:

• A Newcastle film that I did not know, Dan Castle's 2007 film Newcastle
• A rather good piece from the SMH that refers to the film, Mathew Endacott's Second city does not deserve to be second rate.