Newcastle

Newcastle was founded as a penal settlement in 1804 to hold convicts considered too dangerous for Sydney. The city sits at the mouth of the Hunter River, on Awabakal and Worimi country. The Awabakal name for the area is Mulubinba, meaning 'place of the swamp fern'. After the convicts came the coal miners, and Newcastle grew into the largest coal-export port in the world, a title it still holds.

The city has remade itself since the 1989 earthquake (the deadliest in modern Australian history) and the steelworks closed in 1999. The waterfront, Honeysuckle, and the historic terraces of The Hill are now busy with cafes, breweries, and the Newcastle Art Gallery. The 6 kilometre Bathers Way coastal walk links Nobbys Beach (with its iconic 1858 lighthouse), Newcastle Beach, the ocean baths, Bar Beach, Dixon Park and Merewether Beach.

Newcastle is two hours by car or train from Sydney and is the gateway to the Hunter Valley wine region (an hour inland) and Port Stephens (an hour north).