Editing Newcastle, New South Wales (section)

===British colonisation===
[[File:Captain John Shortland.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Lieutenant [[John Shortland]], British explorer of the Newcastle region]]

In June 1796, a group of fishermen from the British convict outpost at [[Sydney]], were driven by bad weather into a harbour at what is now Newcastle. They found considerable amounts of [[coal]] laying on the ground near the beach, some of which they brought back to Sydney. The fishermen had "conducted themselves improperly" while ashore and gotten into conflict with the local Aboriginal people. Two of the fishermen were wounded, one of them fatally.<ref name="collins">{{cite book |last1=Collins |first1=David |title=An Account of the English Colony of NSW |date=1798 |publisher=Cadell & Davies |location=London |url=https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/e00010.html}}</ref>

Over a year later, in September 1797, Lieutenant [[John Shortland]] explored the area and named the [[Hunter River (New South Wales)|Hunter River]]. This was largely accidental, as he had been sent to the region in search of a number of convicts who had seized a vessel called ''Cumberland'' while it was sailing from [[Sydney Cove]].<ref name="newc">{{cite web|url=http://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/discover_newcastle/visit_our_libraries/discovery_and_founding_of_newcastle|title=Discovery and founding of Newcastle|publisher=[[Newcastle City Council]]|access-date=24 September 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724032922/http://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/discover_newcastle/visit_our_libraries/discovery_and_founding_of_newcastle|archive-date=24 July 2008}}</ref> Leiutenant Shortland entered what he later described as "a very fine river", which he named after New South Wales' Governor [[John Hunter (Royal Navy officer)|John Hunter]].<ref name="smh">{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/new-south-wales/newcastle/2005/02/17/1108500198331.html|title=Newcastle|work=[[Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=8 February 2004|access-date=24 September 2008|archive-date=8 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140608064059/http://www.smh.com.au/news/New-South-Wales/Newcastle/2005/02/17/1108500198331.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He returned with reports of the deep-water port and the area's abundant coal. Over the next two years, coal mined from the area was the [[New South Wales]] colony's first export.<ref name="smh"/>

Newcastle gained a reputation as a "hellhole" as it was a place where the most dangerous convicts were sent to dig in the coal mines as harsh punishment for their crimes.<ref name="smh"/> By the start of the 19th century, the mouth of the Hunter River was being visited by diverse groups of men, including coal diggers, timber-cutters, and more escaped convicts. [[Philip Gidley King]], the [[Governor of New South Wales]] from 1800, decided on a more positive approach to exploit the now obvious natural resources of the [[Hunter Valley]].<ref name="newc"/> In 1801, a convict camp called King's Town (named after the governor) was established to mine coal and cut timber. In the same year, the first shipment of coal was dispatched to Sydney. This settlement closed less than a year later.<ref name="smh"/>

A settlement was again attempted in 1804, as a place of secondary punishment for unruly convicts. The settlement was named Coal River, also Kingstown and then renamed Newcastle, after [[Newcastle upon Tyne|the English city]].<ref name="womens_weekly"/> The name first appeared by the commission issued by Governor King on 15 March 1804 to Lieutenant [[Charles Menzies (Royal Marines officer)|Charles Menzies]] of the [[Royal Marines|marine detachment]] on {{HMS|Calcutta|1795|6}}, then at [[Port Jackson]], appointing him superintendent of the new settlement.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newcastle.edu.au/service/archives/coalriver/pdf/sg25thmarch1804.pdf |title=Sydney Gazette |date=25 March 1804 |access-date=24 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725070335/http://www.newcastle.edu.au/service/archives/coalriver/pdf/sg25thmarch1804.pdf |archive-date=25 July 2008 }}</ref> The new settlement, comprising [[convict]]s and a military guard, arrived at the Hunter River on 27 March 1804 in three ships: {{HMS|Lady Nelson|1798|6}}, the ''Resource'' and the ''[[James (ship)|James]]''.<ref name="newc"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7509|title=The Logbooks of the Lady Nelson by Ida Lee|author=Ida Lee|publisher=[[Project Gutenberg]]|access-date=2 January 2008|archive-date=7 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007221408/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7509|url-status=live}}</ref> The convicts were rebels from the 1804 [[Castle Hill convict rebellion]]. The link with [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], England (its namesake) and also whence many of the 19th-century coal miners came, is still obvious in some of the place-names—such as [[Jesmond, New South Wales|Jesmond]], [[Hexham, New South Wales|Hexham]], [[Wickham, New South Wales|Wickham]], [[Wallsend, New South Wales|Wallsend]] and [[Gateshead, New South Wales|Gateshead]]. [[Morpeth, New South Wales]] is a similar distance north of Newcastle as [[Morpeth, Northumberland]] is north of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Under Captain [[James Wallis (British Army officer)|James Wallis]], commandant from 1815 to 1818, the convicts' conditions improved, and a building boom began. Captain Wallis laid out the streets of the town, built the first church of the site of the present [[Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle|Christ Church Cathedral]], erected the old gaol on the seashore, and began work on the breakwater which now joins [[Nobbys Head]] to the mainland. The quality of these first buildings was poor, and only the (much reinforced) breakwater survives. During this period, in 1816, the [[Christ Church School (Colony of NSW)|first school]] was built in Newcastle.<ref name="smh"/>

Newcastle remained a penal settlement until 1822, when the settlement was opened up to farming.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national/north-road/information.html|title=Old Great North Road more information|publisher=[[Government of Australia|Australian Government]]|access-date=24 September 2008|archive-date=18 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080818051627/http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national/north-road/information.html|url-status=live}}</ref> As a penal colony, the military rule was harsh, especially at Limeburners' Bay, on the inner side of [[Stockton, New South Wales|Stockton]] peninsula. There, convicts were sent to burn oyster shells for making lime.<ref name="newc"/> Military rule in Newcastle ended in 1823. Prisoner numbers were reduced to 100 (most of these were employed on the building of the breakwater), and the remaining 900 were sent to [[Port Macquarie]].<ref name="smh"/>