77//T TOWNS OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 



221 



has transferred the principal portion of its plant to South \Varatah, or Raspberry Gully, 

 adjoining the village of Charlestown, where a new mine has been opened out. Hut 

 \Varatah is not dependent on its coal alone. The clay has been found suitable for 



pottery, and cop- 

 per and tin smelt- 



i n g works are 

 successfully con- 

 ducted, while in 

 the vicinity of the 

 town large quan- 

 tities of oranges, 

 grapes, bananas 

 and other varie- 

 ties of fruit are 

 raised. The 

 population of the 

 district of which 



Waratah is the centre is close upon 

 three thousand. Charlestown proper 

 is but a small village of about rive 

 hundred inhabitants, but with every 

 prospect of future growth and pros- 

 perity. It is situated on the road to 

 Belmont, a little marine village pic- 

 turesquely planted on the shores of 



Lake Macquarie, and a prospective watering-place; for the Newcastle and Hunter River District. 



Lambton, an important suburb of the northern coal-city, is distant five miles from 



Newcastle. The colliery here belongs to the Scottish Australian Mining Company, which 



has been working on this site for the past thirteen years ; it employs the larger 



THE LUCERNE HARVEST IN THE 

 MAI II. AND DISTRICT. 



