Sunday, February 25, 2024 – Photo of the Day – Newcastle, Australia

The didgeridoo is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo has been played for at least 1,500 years, and is mostly associated with the Aboriginal tribes of Arnhem Land in Northern Australia.

Where in the World Are We?

In Newcastle on the East Coast of Australia in the South Pacific Ocean

NEWCASTLE, AUSTRALIA
AUSTRALIA’S SECOND OLDEST CITY AND LOCALLY NICKNAMED NEWY

Before its ‘discovery’, Newcastle and the surrounding area were inhabited by the Awabakal and Worimi aboriginal
tribes who called the site ‘Malubimba’. But when Lieutenant John Shortland explored the area in September 1797, he
immediately noticed its immense mineral wealth, which was quickly exploited.

First Kingstown, then Coal River, then Kingstown again, and finally Newcastle, the place, before becoming a town, was
above all a camp – nicknamed Hell Hole – where the country’s most dangerous criminals lived and worked in the coal
mines and forestry operations. In 1822, the penal settlement was opened up to farmers, and the very rigid military
rules were lifted in 1823 when 900 of the 1,000 prisoners were transferred to Port Macquarie. It was from this date
that Newcastle began to develop as a ‘normal’ Australian town.

The economy grew around coal and Newcastle became a major industrial centre, eventually becoming the largest coal-exporting port in the world. Steel and shipbuilding also made the city famous, and it became known as Steel City.
Despite this industrial reality, today Newcastle is one of Australia’s hippest cities. Gentrification began when the steel
mills closed in 1999. Nowadays the old wharves and warehouses form part of the lively Honeysuckle precinct, which
buzzes with hotels, cafés, and restaurants. The town’s vibrant markets, galleries, artisans, and restaurants are brimming
with creativity in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere that has become the town’s hallmark.

Flanked by the Pacific Ocean, six beaches on its eastern side, and a harbor on its west side, Newcastle has much to
offer the visitor in clean streets where parrots and pelicans replace pigeons. Beach lovers will be well catered for, mural
hunters will be in paradise, gourmets won’t want to leave and shopaholics will come back loaded.

NEWCASTLE OCEAN BATHS
Newcastle Ocean Baths is one of the city’s outstanding historic landmarks with its distinctive and architecturally significant Art Deco pavilion. The Ocean Baths were constructed and in use before World War One, though not formally opened until the 1920s. The baths’ popularity has never waned throughout the decades, and thousands of Novocastrians remember it
fondly as the place where they first learned to swim. Construction began in 1910 with the construction of the pavilion beginning in 1922.

SIGHTS

• Newcastle Memorial Walk
• Bogey Hole
• Newcastle Museum
• Blackbutt Nature Reserve
• Fort Scratchley
• Nobbys Beach
• Christ Church Cathedral
• Merewether Beach

Check out today’s Chronicle