History of the University of Newcastle - a few notes

I have been browsing round trying to find material on the history of the University of Newcastle. While I found things of interest about people that I did not know or had forgotten with Newcastle connections, it proved remarkably difficult to find consolidated historical material about the University itself. I also could not find a decent photo to go with this story.

A few notes follow just to get some chronology down. With one exception that I will give in a moment, I am not giving links. The material is just too fragmentary.

The one exception? The Hunter Valley Research Foundation has a useful page setting out a chronology of some Hunter Valley historical events.

I have actually been intending to do a story on the Foundation. Founded in 1956 under the direction of Cyril Renwick, Professor of Economics at Newcastle University College, the Foundation has made a significant contribution to the Hunter, as has Professor Renwick himself.

A few dates follow.

1949 - Newcastle Teachers' College established as, I think, the third teachers' college in NSW. Griffith H Duncan became Principal of the College, a position he was to hold until 1975.

1951 -Newcastle University College established as a college of the NSW University of Technology (now University of New South Wales) on the Tighes Hill Newcastle Technical College campus.

As an aside, the NSW University of Technology itself was created in 1949 from the Sydney Technical College. 1958 the University changed its name to The University of New South Wales, and broadened its areas of study starting with a Faculty of Arts.

In Newcastle, Ralph Barsden who was Principal of the Newcastle Technical College from 1940 to 1959, also became Warden of the new University College, a position he was also to hold until 1959.

1965 - University of Newcastle gained autonomy - Shortland campus construction commenced.

1973 - Newcastle Teachers' College becomes College of Advanced Education.

November 1989 - College of Advanced Education and University of Newcastle amalgamated under the University of Newcastle name.

University of Newcastle releases its mid year offers

The University of Newcastle has released a record 1106 offers for mid-year enrolment.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Services), Dr Sue Gould, said the University of Newcastle was releasing the second largest number of offers in NSW.

According to Dr Gold, data from the Australian Graduate Survey shows that 82 per cent of the University's bachelor degree graduates under 25 find jobs within four months of finishing their degree. This is above the national average.

"Students are increasingly turning to the University of Newcastle's mid-year enrolments to start their studies. Mid-year entry means they do not have to wait until next year to commence studying and kick start their career."

The most popular degree programs are the Bachelor of Nursing and Bachelor of Teaching/Bachelor of Arts.

University wide:

• Total number of offers: 1106
• Total number of commonwealth supported offers: 1043
• Total number of domestic full fee paying offers: 63

By individual campus:

Callaghan campus

• Number of offers: 836
• Number of commonwealth supported offers: 784
• Number of domestic full fee paying offers: 52

Ourimbah campus

• Number of offers: 236
• Number of commonwealth supported offers: 227
• Number of domestic full fee paying offers: 9

Port Macquarie campus

• Number of offers: 34
• Number of commonwealth supported offers: 32
• Number of domestic full fee paying offers: 2

New England's Wild Weather

Photo: Sydney Morning Herald. The bulk carrier Pasha Bulker forced aground on Newcastle's Nobby Beach. Story.

On the morning of Friday 8 June, Tamworth's Northern Daily Leader reported on a discussion that if no water flowed into Chaffey Dam, Tamworth's businesses would be forced to close in nine month's time. The Chaffey Dam, Tamworth's main water supply, lies on the Peel River whose headwaters are a short distance away in the south-western edge of the New England Tablelands around Nundle (and here).

Later that day, a low pressure cell off Newcastle unleashed cyclonic conditions and torrential rain on Southern New England.

Conditions since can best be described as chaotic.

Heavy rain led to flooding. High winds created chaos during which the Pasha Bulker was driven ashore on Nobbys Beach. Two other bulk carriers just escaped. In all, an interesting experience after drought.

Whether this storm will be sufficient to solve Tamworth's water supply problems is unclear. Rainfall data is not yet available and in any event follow up rain will be required. Still, signs are now encouraging that the drought that has gripped the western side of New England is coming to an end.

Postscript 16 June

I did not write a full post on the impact of the wild weather on the Lower Hunter itself because it was so fully covered elsewhere. I was surprised, however, at the scale of the damage.

Major Hunter floods are not uncommon. Yes, this was the biggest downpour for thirty or so years, but even so. I was left wondering about changes in the human especially built landscape over the last thirty years, including things such as changes in the electricity distribution system.

Was it just a case of localisation, very bad weather in a narrowly defined location, or did changes in settlement patterns contribute to the scale of damage?

Returning to Tamworth, I see from the Northern Daily Leader that the weekend rain nudged Chaffey Dam's storage up from 13.9 per cent to 14.9 per cent.

Chaffey Dam's storage level had reached an all-time low of 13.9 per cent last week – prior to 2015, the lowest previous level was 19 per cent in 1995.

The dam's volume has not reached 100 per cent since 2002. When it does reach full capacity, water covers an area of 542 hectares and can reach a depth of about 30 metres. It now sits at about six metres at its deepest point.

Newcastle's poshest hotel - the Great Northern

I tried to find an old photo of the Great Northern Hotel, but the small snapshot on the left was the only one I could find. The record of the photo suggests the 1940s, but looking at the Morris I think that the photo is later than that.

Looking back, it is hard to imagine my excitement when we went to stay at this pub. This was a seriously big hotel. It had a lift!

I am not sure how long we stayed. It was a little while. Early in the morning, brother David and I would go down to the waterfront to look at the trains and ships. This was exciting stuff.

The Great Northern actually was a pretty posh place. When Tooths upgraded the hotel in 1938, it was the largest single hotel expansion in the company's history.

It is probably hard for Newcastle people to believe now, but even though competition from Sydney had sucked out much of the city's Northern commercial life, the city was still New England's metropolis.

The next photo shows a much later picture of the hotel. You can see its size.

Memories.

Aeropelican - a classic New England airline case

Apology: My apologies to anybody whoreceived multiple feeds on this one. I ran into some editing problems.

Photo: Aeropelican Metro 23 19 passengers

In an earlier post I mentioned that Newcastle airline Aeropelican was to begin services between Inverell and Sydney, with connections also to Newcastle at the weekend.

Now I see from the Northern Daily Leader (Tamworth) that Aeropelican is thinking of establishing a service linking Tamworth, Armidale and Newcastle.

The Aeropelican story is a fascinating one that is in many ways typical of the story of civil aviation in New England, although this story is perhaps most remarkable in that Aeropelican came back.

In 1957 the late Keith Hilder operated a DH90 aircraft out of Broadmeadow aerodrome, an inner suburb of Newcastle, which was also the home of the Royal Newcastle Aero Club.

Following advice to the Club from the Australian Department of Civil Aviation that the Broadmeadow field was to close, a search began for alternative sites, with a final choice between Rutherford and Pelican.

The Club chose to go with Rutherford, but Keith decided to develop an alternative site at Pelican around 20k south of Newcastle that he hoped might be used as a base for Sydney-Newcastle air services in competition with the existing service using the RAAF base at Williamtown to the north of Newcastle.

The 27 acre site lay between the sea and Lake Macquarie, was swampy and covered with tea trees, cabbage palms and general scrub. In 1959 after a series of complicated moves Keith obtained a 25 year lease over the site and began development. The land was cleared, drains dug, and thousands of tons of chitter from the nearby mines brought in to provide fill. Soil was then added and grass planted, forming a grass strip.

While all this was in process, Keith applied for a Flying School and Air Charter Licence. After long delays, this was finally granted in July 1962. With flying training and charter operations underway, Keith turned his attention to obtaining a license to operate scheduled services between Sydney and Pelican. Again there were long delays, with a full license not being granted until June 1971.

Services began using an 8-passenger Cessna 402 aircraft. Then in April, 1976 Aeropelican introduced its first DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 100 aircraft to its fleet of Cessna 402's. However, Keith Hilder never really saw the DHC-6 in scheduled operation, as he was admitted to hospital 2 days after the arrival of the aircraft, dieing 3 June, 1976.

The Hilder family continued developing both the Flying Training School and the scheduled air service. The first DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft proved ideally suited to the short sector high density flying demanded by the route, with a second Twin Otter purchased in 1977 and a third in 1978.

In 1980 the Hilder family decided to sell the entire Aeropelican operation to Cootamundra based Masling Airlines, then owned and operated by Jack Masling, another pioneer of regional aviation. Then in August 1981 Aeropelican was acquired by a company jointly owned by TNT and News Limited, ultimately becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Ansett Australia.

To this point Aeropolican's history, growth followed by merger or sale, had conformed to the traditional pattern of New England's airlines. However, it was to avoid the final stage, disappearance.

Aeropelican operated in a specific market niche and Ansett maintained it as a separate identified operation. Following the collapse of Ansett, Aeropelican was placed into voluntary administration. It was then sold in April 2002 to International Air Parts Pty Ltd, allowing the company to resume its independence as a specialist niche operator between Newcastle and Sydney, although flights now go to Williamtown rather than the old pelican field.

This Newcastle-Sydney route, one that I have flown in fact landing at the Pelican strip, is one of the most visually beautiful in Australia.

Now Aeropelican is spreading its independent wings, hopefully avoiding the problems that others have experienced.

History of the Newcastle Stock Exchange

Founded in 1937 as a rival to the Sydney Stock Exchange, the Newcastle Stock Exchange (NSX) became the home exchange up to 300 companies.

Many of these were local and regional businesses that went on to become significant Australian companies, including Brambles Industries Limited, Coal and Allied Industries Ltd, NBN Ltd, New Redhead Estate and Coal Company Ltd, Newcastle Gas Company Ltd and Steggles Holdings Ltd.

Changing economic structures caused the NSX to go into decline. Bigger companies migrated to the Sydney Stock Exchange, with few coming behind.

I am not sure when the old NSX ceased to operate, although I suspect that it may have been in the 1980s. This period saw the disappearance of many locally owned businesses through acquisition.

The Stock Exchange was reactivated as a new entity in 2000 to fill a perceived gap for small and medium size companies that simply could not afford the costs and onerous requirements of listing on the Australian Stock Exchange.

On 21st December 2006 NSX changed its name to National Stock Exchange of Australia Limited to provide a national platform for a variety of regional markets.

The NSX aims to be the premier market for small to medium, prominent regional businesses and sub exchanges like the NSX Bendigo Stock Exchange and NSX Wollongong Exchange.

Newcastle's Information Blackhole

Photo: Newcastle

Sometimes I feel that writing this blog is a little like a prisoner trying to escape, chipping away with a small blunt knife at a giant wall, finally getting through the first wall only to find another one. The point?

As part of my writing I wanted to find out information about Newcastle. Not the type of static information found on Council or visitor web sites, but information and views on current issues of concern to the City. While this blog covers a wide period from New England's pre-historic past to the present, I do like to keep current. I also want to identify linkages and commonalities in needs, interests and concerns across area.

Dear me this is hard to do with Newcastle, the place appears to be an information black hole. Let me share my frustrations with you by taking you along the search path.

The logical starting point is obviously the on-line edition of the main local paper, in this case the Newcastle Herald, a major Fairfax publication. This should be a treasure trove of information.

So click on the Herald web site. Now what do you find? A very small number of very short stories cross-linked to the story in the printed edition of the paper. Almost useless to someone trying to keep in touch with the city from outside.

Okay, the paper has a search facility. Drought has been a problem in the Lower Hunter, so lets type drought in the archive search box. Maybe this will help. The result takes you through to the Fairfax News Store where you can view an article at $2.20 per view. Now this is absolutely useless to me. I have no idea as the real relevance of the story and, in any case, there is no way I am prepared to pay this just to keep in touch.

I could, I suppose, take out a subscription to the physical paper. But again, I cannot really afford this.

Now compare this with the Northern Daily Leader, a Rural Press publication. Here you will find main current articles plus a good search facility. Not all things are on line, but it is a good base. I do fear for the future, however, now that Rural Press and Fairfax are in the process of merging.

So let's think about TV. Newcastle based NBN has a good TV news. Does its site help you find new items about the area served? No, it is I think one of the worst web sites I have seen.

Prime also carries regional news. Their site is better in a general sense, but still no way that I can find news.

So both newspapers and commercial TV are hopeless as sources of current news about Newcastle for those outside the area. Where to next? The ABC.

ABC does have a Newcastle site, a site with a working, free search facility. Now that's an advance! While not perfect, this does at least allow me to get some news, if very imperfectly.

Well, what about blogs?

Increasingly I use blogs as a major information source across a range of dimensions because they contain current information. Australia does lag behind the US in blog uptake, but on the national percentages at least 1,000 Newcastle people should blog. Many of these will be purely personal, others commercial, but there should still be something.

Now here Google blog search results follow. Here I got depressed because this blog kept on showing up! For obvious reasons, I have excluded my own comments!

A blog search on Newcastle NSW blog blogs brings up three pages of posts, but none really relevant. A similar search on Newcastle NSW politics brings up 44 posts. From here we have just one:

• Michael Osbourne's blog - Michael is a Green candidate for Newcastle City Council

A blog search on Newcastle NSW life drew 46 posts. However, while I did find two Newcastle based personal blogs, their focus did not meet my information needs.

A blog search on Newcastle NSW drought drew a smaller number of posts, again none really relevant. I then did a search on I Live in Newcastle.

At this point I gave up, still depressed both at Newcastle's information black hole and the fact that, in the blog world at least, my very limited comments on Newcastle have such apparent visibility.

Later - 4 November 2015

I have finally filled the Newcastle information gap through blogs. See my New England Australia blog list.