216 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



only Government men under the direction of professional miners. These latter were paid 

 at the rate of three shillings and sixpence per clay, and the coal was sold in Sydney at 

 a cost of ten shillings per ton, or more accurately a ton of coal was bartered for ten 

 shillings-worth of wheat, corn, mutton or pork. In 1821, the last year of the Adminis- 

 tration of Governor Macquarie, the district was thrown open for settlement, and at that 

 date its history proper begins. \Ye cannot here trace all the steps of its progress ; we shall 

 at once pass from the puny efforts of sixty years ago to the marvellous results of to-day. 



The passage from Sydney is effected at present by steamer two good lines 

 ministering to the wants of Newcastle in this particular though the North-Eastern Line of 

 Railway from Strathfield to Waratah, recently completed, has largely superseded ocean transit. 

 The harbour is protected by a breakwater, connecting on one side of the entrance the 

 main-land with the rocky hummock known as Nobby's Head and stretching beyond it 

 into the open sea, and by a second dyke of great stones on the other side reaching 

 towards Nobby's from the oyster-bank narrowing the entrance and increasing the scour. 

 Even on a comparatively quiet day a silver line marks the course of this weather-wall, 

 and when the wind blows roughly from the south or east huge white-crested billows may 

 break over it, momentarily disturbing the calm of the Port. On a very boisterous clay 

 it is interesting to note, from the the hill-top of the peninsula-head, the difference between 

 the rough sea breaking on the coast causing the big steamer weathering the farthest 

 point to heave and pitch and the smoothness of the protected haven. 



Upon the arrival of the steamer at her moorings, and on an ordinary working day, 

 the traveller will view a scene .of animated labour. On the main wharf there are the 

 steam-cranes lifting the coal and depositing it in the hold ,of some dingy collier or ocean 

 mail-boat. Past the steam-cranes, and continuing the sweep of the wharf, are staiths for 

 loading the smaller kinds of vessels, and beyond these again are the staiths of the Austra- 

 lian Agricultural Company. The accommodation for ships coaling here was found to be 

 altogether insufficient, and so Bullock Island, lying directly opposite the embouchure of the 

 River and close to the shore, was connected with the main-land by a railroad ; eight large 

 cranes were erected upon the fore-shore, and these are worked by a powerful hydraulic 

 apparatus located in a neat stone building about a hundred yards to the rear. Along- 

 side the wharves gather all the Melbourne regular liners, Sydney traders, ships and 

 steamers by the dozen, taking coal to the other colonies, the Islands, California and 

 India. The connection between the Government line and the collieries is maintained by 

 various private lines. 



A good comprehensive view of the shipping of Newcastle is to be obtained from 

 a point on the wharf a hundred yards to the eastward of the Customs House, though 

 if a perfect panorama be desired it is better to climb Nobby's Head, or up to the 

 summit of Monument Hill. From the latter point a good view or the town also is to 

 be had. It is set in a rather cramped nook, its development resembling that of a 

 fig-tree which has chanced to take root in a little earth-patch, with rock all below and 

 beyond. It has grown in whatever direction it could find space ; straggled along the 

 harbour front ; climbed boldly up the escarpment of the shore. It lies on the seaward 

 face of Monument Hill, with its one important street curving round the hill-foot 

 roughly parallel to the wharves, and the other streets coming straight down the steep 



