NSWRail & telegraph
Cardiff
A navvies’ camp on Winding Creek became a coal and railway town named after the Welsh capital.
1883Railway navvies camp at Winding Creek
WHAT STARTED IT
Construction of the Sydney–Newcastle railway brought a navvies’ camp to Winding Creek in 1883, and the platform built there opened the valley to coal mining. Collieries such as Lymington and South Wallsend worked the area, while miners’ families grew peaches, plums and poultry on surrounding selections.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
The platform called Winding Creek was renamed Cardiff in 1889, a name suggested by a Welsh resident after confusion between Lymington and Flemington. In 1928 the government railway workshops moved from Honeysuckle to Cardiff, employing 1,915 people at their 1947 peak.
TURNING POINTS
1883Railway construction begins and a navvies’ camp is set up at Winding Creek.
1889A railway notice dated 10 April announces that the Winding Creek platform will be known as Cardiff.
1891A post office opens at the South Wallsend Coal Company’s timekeeper’s office, and the public school opens.
1902A deviation replaces the original steep line, and a new station follows in 1904.
1928The NSW Government Railway workshops move from Honeysuckle to Cardiff.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A Lake Macquarie suburb and shopping centre of about 6,300 people on the Newcastle line. The workshops and small pits that shaped it have largely gone, but the town grew because transport was good and land was cheap.