The ‘Settlement of Newcastle’ - Part 1

When we were undertaking research to fully appreciate the history of Bathers Way and, locations along the route, we delved into the State Library of NSW photo archives.

As well as photographs from Newcastle’s early days, we were thrilled to discover these etchings and paintings of the ‘Settlement of Newcastle near Sydney’ and miscellaneous sketches from as early as 1812. It is fascinating to see familiar topographical features that have been gradually shaped by the city sprawl and functional requirements of a working harbour over the previous 200 years. The contrast is particularly striking between the scale of the supersized ships we see today to the crowd of sailing ships shown here, from around 1875.

All images courtesy of the State Library of NSW.