NSWPort & river
Wickham (NSW)
Harbour flats between the town and Throsby Creek became a suburb of railway works and wool stores.
1871Municipality of Wickham proclaimed
WHAT STARTED IT
Wickham grew on the low ground west of Newcastle town, between the Maitland road, Throsby Creek and the harbour channel opposite Bullock Island, beside the Great Northern Railway. Harbour, railway and wool trade gave it work, and tidal water once reached the site of its wool sheds.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Ninety residents petitioned for a municipality in 1870, and Wickham was proclaimed in February 1871 with James Hannell as first mayor. Slab cottages, a slaughteryard and scrub gave way to industries such as Hudson Brothers’ railway wagon works and A. Goninan and Co’s engineering shops.
TURNING POINTS
1871Wickham is proclaimed a municipality in February, with James Hannell as its first mayor.
1882The foundation stone of the Wickham School of Arts is laid.
1886Hudson Brothers, railway wagon builders and timber merchants, are at work in Wickham.
1906A. Goninan and Co’s engineering works stand among timber yards in Wickham.
1938Wickham is merged into Greater Newcastle.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
An inner Newcastle suburb of about 1,600 people beside the harbour. It was merged into Greater Newcastle in 1938, and its former council chambers, school and industrial sites recall its separate past.