Wallsend, New South Wales
| Wallsend Newcastle, New South Wales | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Railway Goods Shed building (1860s and 1870s) and a Newcastle Wallsend Coal Company NWCC wagon (to the right) | |||||||||||||
| Population | 12,307 (2011 census)[1] | ||||||||||||
| • Density | 1,009/km2 (2,613/sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 2287 | ||||||||||||
| Area | 12.2 km2 (4.7 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Location | 11 km (7 mi) WNW of Newcastle | ||||||||||||
| LGA(s) | |||||||||||||
| Parish | Kahibah | ||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Wallsend | ||||||||||||
| Federal Division(s) | |||||||||||||
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Wallsend is a western suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia 11 kilometres (7 mi) from Newcastle's central business district. It is part of the City of Newcastle local government area.
Wallsend also contains one of the three Newcastle Mosques, on Metcalfe street.
Origins
Lieutenant Edward Close, an engineer and founder of Morpeth, recorded that part of the Wallsend area was called Barrahinebin by the Aboriginal custodians. Close reported that Barrahinebin was used to describe the area bounded by the Hunter River, Ironbark Creek and Mount Sugarloaf.[2]
Wallsend was named after a North of England coal mining township, initially built at the end of a Roman defensive wall, a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne. The name was given to the area by Alexander Brown in the 1850s when he purchased land bounded by what are now Newcastle Road, Boundary and Croudace Streets and beyond Gunambi Road. The company he formed to operate the colliery which opened in January 1861 was called the Newcastle-Wallsend Coal Company.[2][3]
The suburb began as two mining towns, Wallsend and Plattsburg. Wallsend was the more developed and as it grew it linked to Plattsburg via Nelson Street. Wallsend was proclaimed a separate municipality in early 1874 but the two areas had re-joined by 1915. The coal mined at Wallsend was of very good quality and the township prospered creating the commercial hub it is today.[4]
Modern Day Wallsend
Today Wallsend has outgrown the historic main street and received investment and expansion from local business and national companies. The main street of Wallsend has also experienced a changing face of business with new restaurants and real estate agencies,[5] as well as home building companies[6] occupying previous local businesses that have migrated to the larger Plaza Stockland shopping centre.
References
- ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Wallsend (State Suburb)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
- 1 2 Norm Barney, "Growth Driven By Rich Coal Deposit", Newcastle Herald (supplement) 11 Nov 1997 page 7.
- ↑ Hunter Valley Place Names and their Meanings
- ↑ Newcastle City Council, Discover our Suburbs
- ↑ Local Newcastle Agency
- ↑ Home Builders Wallsend
External links
- Wallsend Town Committee: www.wallsendtown.com.au - "Wallsend Town will be a safe, vibrant, family friendly business district that values its history whilst embracing its exciting future "
Coordinates: 32°53′53″S 151°40′05″E / 32.898°S 151.668°E