Newcastle as we know it today was founded on coal – the ‘black diamond’ first mined by convicts close to the mouth of Coal River, now the Hunter River, in the 1790s. Australia has made money out of coal exports from Newcastle ever since with the first coal shipment leaving Newcastle in 1799 bound for India.

This month’s Patron Postcard shows the locations of underground mines in Newcastle in 1866. There was much more to come.

Newcastle Coal Fields 1866

“A considerable quantity of coal was discovered and specimens were brought hither.

This coal was found by Lieutenant John Shortland , Jr., on the south bank of the Hunter River in September, 1798. The first discovery of coal near the modern city of Newcastle had been made in June, 1796, by some fishermen, who had been forced by bad weather to shelter in the estuary of the then unknown Hunter River.” – Hunter Living Histories

An eye sketch of Hunter’s River 1797 – Hunter Living Histories

Steam cranes loading coal in Newcastle 1866 – Hunter Living Histories

The bases of some of these cranes can still be seen around the Port of Newcastle today – Lost Newcastle

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