Hexham, New South Wales

Settlement occurred at Hexham in the 1820s when the land was granted to Edward Sparke. Hexham was named after the market town of Hexham, England with both towns being near to a Newcastle and sharing a history with one another; many of the coal miners from Newcastle upon Tyne and elsewhere in Northumberland moved to New South Wales at the time of settlement.

The history of Hexham is closely associated with that of the nearby suburbs of Tarro (originally Upper Hexham), Ash Island, Tomago and Minmi.

Geography

Hexham measures approximately 6.7 km (4.2 mi) from north to south and 6 km (3.7 mi) from east to west, covering an area of 18.7 square kilometres (7.2 sq mi). The suburb is bordered to the east by the Hunter River and by Ironbark Creek to the south, while to the west the suburb consists mainly of unproductive swampland and floodplains. Almost all settlement exists within a narrow corridor stretching along the Pacific Highway between the Main North railway line and the Hunter River. This corridor, which is occupied mainly by highways and industrial areas, covers an area of only 1.1 square kilometres (0.4 sq mi). Within the zone residential development is confined to 3 small areas measuring only 0.137 square kilometres (0.053 sq mi) in total.^[7]

Transport

Roads

Hexham is located at the junction of the Pacific Highway to Brisbane via the coastal route, the New England Highway and is close to the northern end of the Pacific Motorway. The Hunter Valley Dairy Co-operative took advantage of this key location to establish a large milkbar and take-away food complex (known as "the Oak") to serve locals and longer distance travellers.

Hexham is located just upstream of the Hunter River delta and its various islands, and as such it was a relatively convenient place for crossing to the north bank of the river. A punt was established in the 1800s, followed by a steam punt, which eventually carried motor traffic. As traffic levels grew after World War I, Hexham became a bottleneck for road traffic. A decision was made in the late 1930s to construct a bridge, however construction was delayed by World War II. Eventually the first two-lane bridge was opened in December 1952. The first bridge is a steel truss bridge with a central lifting span, designed to allow shipping to travel upstream. By the 1970s, this bridge was becoming a bottleneck and the decision was made to increase capacity by building a second bridge for all northbound traffic. This concrete high-level fixed bridge was built just upstream of the original bridge (converted to carry southbound traffic only) and was opened in August 1987.

Railways

Hexham has its own railway station on the Main north line, which passes through the area. It was the riverine terminus of the privately owned Richmond Vale Railway line, an early coal hauling railway from Minmi and Stockrington which crossed the government railway at right angles. Coal loading at the wharf ended in 1967 and the railway line to the adjoining workshops was closed in October 1973. The remaining section of the Richmond Vale Railway was closed in September 1987.^[8]

Shipping

Hexham was once a riverport of some importance in the lower Hunter and was known as Port Hunter. In the colonial days travellers from Newcastle to Maitland could travel to Hexham by boat and then disembark to travel by road to Maitland via Upper Hexham (Tarro), Four Mile Creek and Green Hills, the road being more direct than the river which had many bends after Raymond Terrace.

Coal loading at Hexham began about 1850.

One timber wharf was located on the south bank, downstream of the first Hexham bridge. This was originally used by J & A Brown from the mid-1800s to load coal brought by train from Minimi across Hexham Swamp. As J & A Brown's operations expanded coal was loaded at this wharf from their other coal mines. Ship loading at the J & A Brown shiploader ended on 1 November 1967.^[8]

A shiploader served by road adjacent the road bridge over the Hunter River was constructed by J & A Brown Abermain Seaham Collieries Ltd at their Hexham Engineering Workshops in 1959 for by R & W Miller.^[9] This loader has ceased operating with the last ship being loaded in August 1988, the last in 138 years to load coal at Hexham and was soon dismantled.

Another timber wharf was located on the south bank about 600 m (1,969 ft) upstream from the current bridges across the Hunter River. This was near the Wheatsheaf Hotel, once operated by John Hannell, whose tomb is nearby. When it was constructed, the first Hexham bridge was built with a centre lifting span so small ships could travel to this wharf, even in the 1960s. (Similarly, the Stockton Bridge further downstream was built with a high arch so ships could travel upstream to Hexham by the north channel of the Hunter River to load coal at Hexham.) This wharf was eventually used by the Bellbird-Hetton Colliery to load coal. (It has a depot to the west, across the Pacific Highway and Great North Railway, at the end of what is now Woodlands Road.) This loader was later taken over by Peko-Wallsend in the 1960s, which also built six 610 t (600 long tons) coal silos (painted green) on the river bank and conveyors across the railway and highway to expedite loading. These facilities were demolished in the 1980-90s.

The ships serving Hexham were small and known as "60 milers", based on the distance they travelled to Sydney carrying coal for gas-making. In its later days, ships sometimes became stuck in the river travelling from Hexham.

Milk was also transported by small boats to the Hunter Valley Dairy Co-operative factory after it was opened at Hexham in 1927.

Industries

Hexham's central location, with ready access to river, road and rail transport, has made it a key crossroads in the lower Hunter and influenced its industries. Originally it was a site of farming by the Sparke family. As a crossroads, hotels soon followed, with three in operation in the 1800s: the Wheatsheaf, Hexham and Travellers Rest.

Later it was a key locality for coal loading by J & A Brown and the Bellbird-Hetton Colliery. With coal loading came coal washeries and engineering workshops.

Its central location was again important to the establishment in 1927 of a dairy processing factory by the Hunter Valley Dairy Co-operative, which established the "OAK" milk brand, which is now owned by Parmalat. Its central location has seen the establishment of petrol stations, fast food outlets, warehouses and saleyards for heavy vehicles and caravans.

The Hexham Bowling Club provides a range of entertainment services for locals and travellers.

Mosquitoes

The mosquito species Ochlerotatus alternans is common in the area and adults, famed for their size and ferocity, are referred to as "Hexham Greys".^[10] The most famous Hexham Grey is "Ossie the Mossie", (sometimes spelled as "Ozzie the Mozzie") a large model of a mosquito that sits atop the Hexham Bowling Club sign at the corner of the Pacific Highway and Old Maitland Road in Hexham.^[11] The previous "Ossie" was replaced with a new "Ossie" (pictured) in 2005.^[12] Ozzie disappeared from the sign in early February 2010 and was replaced in April 2010.

Notes

^ The density presented is that of the whole suburb. However, almost all of the population resides in only about 0.13 square kilometres (0.05 sq mi), or about 0.7%, of the suburb. Most of the suburb consists of unpopulated swampland with some industrial areas between the Pacific Highway and the Hunter River.^[7] The population density of the residential portion of the suburb is much higher at 1,126/km² (2,920/sq mi).
^ Average elevation of the suburb as shown on 1:100000 map 9232 NEWCASTLE.
^ Area calculation is based on 1:100000 map 9232 NEWCASTLE.

References

↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Hexham (State Suburb)". 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 18 June 2008. Map
1 2 3 "Suburb Search - Local Council Boundaries - Hunter (HT) - Newcastle City Council". New South Wales Division of Local Government. Retrieved 18 June 2008.
1 2 "Hexham". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 18 June 2008.
↑ "Wallsend". New South Wales Electoral Commission. 24 March 2007. Retrieved 18 June 2008.
↑ "Cessnock". New South Wales Electoral Commission. 24 March 2007. Retrieved 18 June 2008.
↑ "Newcastle". Australian Electoral Commission. 19 October 2007. Retrieved 18 June 2008.
1 2 3 "Hexham". Land and Property Management Authority - Spatial Information eXchange. New South Wales Land and Property Information. Retrieved 18 June 2008.
1 2 Andrews, Brian Robert (2007). Coal, Railways and Mines - The Story of the Railways and Collieries of J & A Brown. Iron Horse Press. ISBN 978-0-909650-63-6.
↑ Andrews, Brian Robert (2009). Coal, Railways and Mines - The Colliery Railways of the Newcastle District and the Early Coal Shipping Facilities - Volume 2. Iron Horse Press. ISBN 978-0-9805106-7-6.
↑ "Mosquito Photos Ochlerotatus alternans". NSW Health. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
↑ "The Big Mozzie at Hexham Newcastle N.S.W". webshots travel. Retrieved 18 June 2008.
↑ "Ozzie the Mozzie buzzes back in to town" (PDF). Shortland Pipeline (newspaper). 24 April 2007. p. 2. Retrieved 21 February 2010.

"Newcastle Nobbys Signal Station AWS". Climate statistics for Australian locations. Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 18 June 2008.

Towns, suburbs and localities of the City of Newcastle, Hunter Region, New South Wales

Towns, suburbs and localities	Adamstown Adamstown Heights Bar Beach Beresfield Birmingham Gardens Black Hill Broadmeadow Callaghan Carrington Cooks Hill Elermore Vale Fletcher Georgetown Hamilton Hamilton East Hamilton North Hamilton South Hexham The Hill Islington Jesmond The Junction Kooragang Kotara Lambton Lenaghan Maryland Maryville Mayfield Mayfield East Mayfield North Mayfield West Merewether Merewether Heights Minmi New Lambton New Lambton Heights Newcastle Newcastle East Newcastle West North Lambton Rankin Park Sandgate Shortland Stockton Tarro Tighes Hill Wallsend Warabrook Waratah Waratah West Wickham

Rivers and other waterways	Glenrock Lagoon Hunter River Williams River

Other places and points of interest	Beaumont Street Broadmeadow Basketball Stadium Christ Church Cathedral Fernleigh Track Fort Scratchley Hunter Street John Hunter Hospital Mount Sugarloaf National Stock Exchange of Australia Newcastle Civic Theatre Newcastle Customs House Newcastle Entertainment Centre Newcastle International Sports Centre Newcastle Museum Nobbys Head Royal Newcastle Hospital State Dockyard Stockton Beach University of Newcastle Victoria Theatre

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