NSWPort & river
Carrington
A low, tidal island was built up into Newcastle’s coal-loading wharf.
1860sSettlers move onto Bullock Island
WHAT STARTED IT
Bullock Island, at the mouth of Throsby Creek, was low and largely covered at high tide, but engineer E. O. Moriarty chose it as the centre of public coal handling for Port Hunter. Ballast dumped from visiting ships along a mudbank formed the Dyke, where land was reclaimed and wharves built.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Hydraulic coal cranes worked from a central engine house, built in 1877–78 with plant from Armstrong’s of Newcastle upon Tyne, loaded coal from railway wagons straight into ships. Residents who had settled the island from the 1860s petitioned for incorporation, and the Municipal District of Carrington was proclaimed in 1887 under Governor Lord Carrington.
TURNING POINTS
1860sEuropeans begin settling the island, then called Onebygamba, Chapman’s Island or Bullock Island.
1877The hydraulic engine house and crane bases on the Dyke are built.
1887The Municipal District of Carrington, about 440 acres, is proclaimed on 30 March after a petition by 214 residents.
1938Carrington is merged into the City of Greater Newcastle.
1967The last coal is loaded by the Dyke’s hydraulic cranes.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A small harbourside suburb of about 2,100 people, hemmed in by port land. The hydraulic engine house survives and is on the State Heritage Register.