NSWMining
West Wallsend
The town grew from the boundaries of one colliery.
1888West Wallsend Colliery opens
WHAT STARTED IT
The West Wallsend Coal Company, formed about 1885, bought 2,972 acres of coal land and sank shafts into the Borehole seam. Shaft-sinkers had already settled around the pit when the company auctioned town allotments on its estate in 1888, linked by its private railway to the main northern line at Cockle Creek.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Taken over by the Caledonian company in 1895, the colliery employed about 450 men at its 1921 peak before closing during the 1923 industry slump. Passenger trains ended in 1930 and the branch railway was cut back, leaving a quiet former pit town below Mount Sugarloaf.
TURNING POINTS
1888The colliery and its private railway to Cockle Creek open on 3 July.
1889The public school opens.
1895The Caledonian Coal Company takes over the colliery.
1923West Wallsend Colliery closes in mid-September after its miners are given 14 days’ notice.
1930Pickets halt the company’s passenger train on 13 January; it is the last passenger service to West Wallsend.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A small town and suburb in the City of Lake Macquarie, close to the freeway and Newcastle’s western suburbs. Its old centre grew from the colliery township.