Year 2 – 8 February 2025 -Newcastle
I woke early to see a magnificent sunrise and took a picture and had an early tea. Once everyone was up we had breakfast and then headed ashore for our further exploration of Newcastle. We caught the bus and ferry and before long arrived at Queens Wharf.
We first headed over to The Station which was the old railway station and they had restored it very well and it is now a market with stalls and tastefully done. It had first opened as a railway station on 9 March 1858 and the last train left its platforms on the 25 December 2014.
Behind the station was the old Customs House which had now been turned into a bar and we all thought that was a good way to recycle Customs!!. Behind that was the old convict lumber yard and I forgot to mention that in my blog after the museum visit that there were convicts in Newcastle. Between 1802 and 1820 Coal, timber, salt and burnt shells worth over £13,000 was produced and made for transportation by convicts on this site.
Not far from the yard was Fort Scratchley, sitting on the top of a hill. It was built believe it or not because of the threat of Russia and the Crimean war and was completed in 1882 but was used in anger in WW2 with its large 6-inch guns. It became the largest and most diversified coastal fortress in Australia. It actually was the only fortress in Australia to fire on an actual enemy in WW2.
I21 was one of twenty fast long range B1 class submarines which the Japanese Navy had and they sent two to the South Pacific and they had the ability to launch little aircraft for spotting purposes. If you recall my blog when I was in New Zealand, one of them came and laid mines in Auckland which caused NZ to build Stone Batter, which I visited with the one-kilometre tunnels. It could have been the same submarine possibly but on 8 June 1942 at 02.17 hours I21 surfaced in Stockton Bight just outside the harbour in Newcastle and opened fire on Newcastle with its deck gun. For 16 minutes it shelled Newcastle with the prime targets being the dockyards and steelworks. The submarine fired behind Nobby’s Lighthouse which was a bit of a blind spot and it used low flash cordite which was not easy to see.
Captain Wallace (in charge of the guns at Fort Scratchley) was woken from his bed and informed of the attack. Eventually they saw a flash from the submarine and they could now see and engage the enemy and Captain Wallace gave the order to fire. They fired at the submarine and it then disappeared and never returned. Japanese official reports stated that it fired 34 shells at Newcastle but only three exploded. Captain Wallace was the only Australian in Australia that ordered the firing of live ammunition at an enemy during WW2.
We went into the fort and walked around and the guns are still in situ (obviously not now working). We had a great view from here over Nobby’s Beach and Nobby’s lighthouse (which was originally an Island) at the end. The Macquarie pier runs from Nobby’s lighthouse and Newcastle. It took 55 years to build and it was built by convicts and it was not completed until 1873. It was mainly made from cut stone blocks.
We walked down to the coast path and came to The Ocean Baths which were built and first used in 1912. It is essentially a large sea swimming pool constructed on and in the rocks on the shore. The large amount of rock excavated was used was walkways and promenades. The present Art Decco design was completed in the 1930’s and a children’s pool was added. Whilst it looked inviting and a safe place to swim (away from sharks and jelly fish) we decided to continue our walk as there were further baths later on.
We therefore walked along Newcastle Beach and up on the coastal walkway. The picture of the day is the four of us with Newcastle Beach behind and the Ocean Baths in the distance. We continued up the hill and came to Shepherds Hill (another battery with guns and linked with and was part of Fort Scratchley). For some time, it was the first radar site used by the Royal Australian Air Force.
We then came across the Bogey Hole (also known as the Commandants Baths- said to come from the Dharawal word to bathe) which is another and much smaller sea bath. It was hewn from a sandstone/conglomerate rock shelf at the base of the cliffs at Shepherds Hill and built between 1819-1884. We therefore decided to have a swim and the water was cool and refreshing. You can imagine the waves crashing over it in bad weather.
We walked on and came to an Anzac Memorial on the cliffs commemorating those who gave their lives in various wars. Beyond this was Bar Beach but this just had a café. I looked up nearby and found somewhere called Cook’s Hill. It turned out to be a bowing club and we walked in and ordered a drink at the bar. We overlooked the bowling greens and watched them play. I went in and asked whether we could play and it was $5 each. Malcolm and Mark had never played. We therefore played for about an hour which was quite fun and something different.
We decided not to stay for lunch and from where we were we could walk from the other end of Darby Street which we had visited yesterday. We walked down it and found a café to have some lunch which was nice. We then walked up to Christ Church Cathedral which overlooks Newcastle. The current cathedral was opened in 1902 but is on the site of former churches over the previous century or so. After WW2 those who lost relatives gifted their gold and rings and there are various items made from that gold. It was a large church and can easily accommodate 1,000 worshippers.
We walked from there back to the ferry and over to Stockton where we did some provisioning and returned to Stormbird. We have felt we have seen quite a bit of Newcastle and will move on tomorrow to Port Stephens about 25nm up the coast.
Need/Opportunity Year Two
I am in need of more crew from April to September so if of interest do email me at hine.nick9@gmail.com
In year two I will be going from New Zealand to Sydney and hen up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com