A factory has been partially destroyed during a fire near Newcastle.
About 5.30pm today (Tuesday 14 June 2022), emergency services responded to reports of a fire at a factory on Parker Street, Carrington, about 5km north of Newcastle.
The premises were self-evacuated before the arrival of emergency services.
NSW Ambulance paramedics treated a 49-year-old male employee for minor smoke inhalation. He was taken to Mater Calvary Hospital as a precaution.
There were no reports of any other people being injured.
The fire was extinguished by NSW Fire & Rescue about 8.10pm.
Officers from Newcastle City Police District established a crime scene and have commenced an investigation into the circumstances of the fire; however, it is not being treated as suspicious.
Damaged sustained to the factory is believed to about $1m.
There is no health risk to the community.
A report will be prepared for the information of the NSW Coroner.
City of Newcastle (CN) is preparing for a forecast weather event with large swell coinciding with a high tide which has the potential to cause damage along Newcastle’s coastline.
This event, which is expected to peak overnight Sunday 12 June, is likely to impact sections of Newcastle’s coastline that received damage previously following large swell and severe weather events in March and April.
CN will continue to monitor its coastal facilities and assets along the Newcastle coastline including areas in Stockton where emergency works have previously been undertaken in response to weather event damage caused earlier in the year.
Further closures of accessways onto Stockton Beach may be required for public safety. A current list of beach accessway closures at Stockton Beach can be viewed here.
CN reminds the community to follow safety warnings and to abide by all road and beach closures.
To stay up-to-date on weather warnings visit the Bureau of Meteorology at www.bom.gov.au and for information about any emergencies visit the State Emergency Service at www.ses.nsw.gov.au or phone 13 25 00.
Work to reduce the impact of flooding near University Drive at Waratah West is underway, with construction commencing on an upgrade to stormwater infrastructure at Boatman Creek.
Notorious for flooding after heavy rain, the low section of the busy University Drive has seen vehicles including buses get stuck travelling along the crossing of Boatman Creek.
The solution being constructed will better manage the flow of water after heavy rain by removing the existing culvert, excavating new creek embankments, and naturalising the newly widened channel north of University Drive with sandstone and landscaping, as well as construction of a new bridge on this stretch of the cycleway and shared path.
City of Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said that the work will improve resilience to flooding around this section of Boatman Creek, and also renew active transport connections in the area.
“By addressing the history of flooding in this area, this project will help reduce disruption to traffic on this important road connecting our community with the University and the nearby Mater Hospital,” Cr Nelmes said.
“As well as the benefits relating to flooding, construction of the new bridge for pedestrians and cyclists over the new embankment is important for maintaining this vital transport link between Newcastle City and the University.”
Deputy Lord Mayor Declan Clausen said the upgrade is an important part of plans to improve the management of stormwater across the city.
“It’s exciting to see this project progressing, alongside stormwater projects being planned and delivered in Wallsend to address longstanding issues with flooding, and several projects currently being delivered in The Junction to improve flows into Cottage Creek”.
Construction is scheduled for completion in early 2023.
Three teens have been charged following investigations into traffic and property-related offences in the Hunter region.
Operation Mongoose was established in April 2022 to investigate property offences, break and enters, and vehicle thefts throughout the Oxley and Port Stephens/ Hunter Valley Police Districts.
About 10pm last night (Thursday 2 June 2022), two teenage girls entered a home on Carandotta Street, Mayfield, and allegedly stole a BMW hatchback.
Just before midnight, officers attempted to stop the stolen vehicle travelling west on Raymond Terrace Road, Woodberry. When the vehicle failed to stop, a pursuit was initiated, however due to safety concerns, it was terminated near East Maitland.
A short time later, the vehicle was located abandoned on Melbourne Street, East Maitland. With the assistance of the Dog Unit, the two 15-year-old girls were arrested in a nearby property.
The first teenage girl was charged with aggravated break, enter and steal in company, and carried in conveyance without consent of owner.
The second teenage girl was charged with aggravated break, enter and steal, take & drive conveyance without consent of owner, and police pursuit – not stop – drive recklessly.
Additionally, about 2:50am this morning (Friday 3 June 2022), officers attended a home on Gostwich Avenue, Woodberry, and arrested a 14-year-old boy before being taken to Raymond Terrace Police Station.
He subsequently charged with aggravated break and enter, take and drive conveyance, larceny, enter vehicle without consent of owner, enter prescribed premises without lawful excuse.
All three teens were refused bail to appear before a children’s court today (Friday 3 June 2022).
A serving police officer has been charged with property offences.
In July 2021, officers attached to the Newcastle City Police District commenced an investigation into an alleged incident where property was damaged.
Following extensive inquiries, a 38-year-old senior constable – attached to a command in the Northern Region – was issued a Court Attendance Notice for destroy or damage property
He is due to appear in Newcastle Local Court on Monday 11 July 2022.
TALENT OUTSHINES DISTANCE FOR HUNTER ‘YOUNG ARCHIES’ FINALIST To have your artwork hanging in the NSW Art Gallery before you finish high school is quite an achievement. For it to be there because you have been selected as one of 70 Young Archies finalists out of more than 2400 entries nationally is even more impressive. “I’m so honoured, I couldn’t wait for the day, I couldn’t wait to see it up on the website,” selected artist Juliette Kostalova said. “I’m yet to go see it at the gallery, I’m too far away.” The Year 12 student from Rutherford Technology High School, near Maitland in the Hunter Valley, is one of just three students from a regional public school to be named as a finalist for the prize. Her self-portrait Solus has been nominated among the 16-18-year-old category and was created specifically for the competition. Luella Chiswick, from Lisarow Public School on the Central Coast, and Freda Schaeffer, from Martins Gully Public School near Armidale, are among the five to eight-year-olds whose works Aerlie and Captain Bobbie were selected. A total of 25 students from NSW public students are finalists in the competition. Without question, the Archibald Prize for portraiture is the best-known art prize in Australia. A decade ago, the Young Archies were established and have been embraced by budding artists of all ages. “I’m so nervous, I do want to win but the entries this year are so good,” Juliette said. The winner of the Young Archies will be announced Saturday, 18th June 2022.
A multi-sensory experience that has attracted more than eight and a half million people across 75 cities around the world will be the centrepiece of City of Newcastle’s second New Annual festival in September.
Presented in a specially designed 2,300-square-metre gallery known as The Grand Pavilion, which will be set up at Newcastle’s premier major event space, Foreshore Park, Van Gogh Alive features more than 3,000 high-definition images of the artist’s work, projected at a scale that allows visitors to experience the paintings like never before.
Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said attracting Van Gogh Alive is a coup for Newcastle that will enhance the city’s reputation for hosting world-class events while boosting the local economy by attracting thousands of visitors.
“We’re excited to partner with Andrew Kay Management to bring the impressive Van Gogh Alive to a regional city for the first time in Australia as part of our New Annual festival,” Cr Nelmes said.
“Spanning across a ten-day period and featuring over 50 events across the city, New Annual will showcase local and visiting artists sharing music, dance, theatre, performance, and visual art in a celebration of creativity.
“The versatility of Foreshore Park ensures we’re able to attract major events such as this unique immersive experience in Newcastle, which will attract an influx of visitors to our city at a time when the local tourism industry needs it most and as local operators and businesses recover from the pandemic.”
Newcastle artist James Drinkwater described Van Gogh, who was his favourite painter as a child, as being “in the pantheon of the greats” and welcomed the opportunity to see this show in Newcastle. He said the city was “coming of age” culturally and believed an event such as this one would make art more accessible to the wider community.
“This event is a marker of the times and acts as a conduit between the wonderful and complex social spectrum of Newcastle,” James said.
Created and produced by Grande Experiences, Van Gogh Alive is co-produced by Andrew Kay in association with BBC and Alex Fane in the Grand Pavilion.
Bruce Peterson, owner of Grande Experiences, said “After mesmerising a global audience of over 8.5 million people and selling-out cities all over the world, including Rome, London and Beijing, we’re incredibly excited that Van Gogh Alive now comes to Newcastle. This is an unforgettable cultural experience for all the family.”
Andrew Kay of Andrew Kay Management, said “Van Gogh Alive has been an international hit, thrilling audiences across the globe since the first experience launched at the Art Science Museum in Singapore in 2011.”
Van Gogh Alive provides audiences with the opportunity to plunge themselves in the life and work of Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, Vincent van Gogh, through a vibrant symphony of light, colour and fragrance, set to an evocative classical soundtrack.
An interpretive area provides an educational introduction to some of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings, before the cutting-edge technology of the SENSORY4 TM Gallery transports visitors inside the artist’s greatest works, with images projected onto virtually every surface.
Newcastle will host Van Gogh Alive from 21 September until 23 October at Foreshore Park, while the New Annual program will run from 23 September to 2 October throughout the city.
Further information about City of Newcastle’s flagship cultural festival is available at newannual.com
City of Newcastle has awarded a tender to remediate a former landfill site at Shortland.
The former Astra Street landfill opened in 1974, taking waste from across the Hunter until it was closed in 1995.
Preliminary investigations undertaken in 2021 indicated that the scale of work required to improve the 20-year-old capping and drainage on the 37-hectare site would be significantly more complex and costly than previously expected.
City of Newcastle Acting Director of Infrastructure and Property Joanne Rigby said the project was an important priority for protecting the long-term health of the nearby RAMSAR- listed Hunter Wetlands, with $18.6 million allocated in the draft 2022/23 Budget towards the costs of the remediation work.
“City of Newcastle is committed to not only ensuring today’s waste is managed with the environment front-of-mind, but that historic sites like Astra Street at Shortland also adhere to modern environmental management standards,” Ms Rigby said.
“These works will allow City of Newcastle to help protect and maintain the local environment well into the future, safeguarding the water quality of surrounding wetlands and aquatic ecosystems, increasing biodiversity values and promoting long-term native vegetation growth.”
City of Newcastle has been working with the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) on a plan to remediate the site to ensure adherence to modern environmental management standards.
Two detailed design alternatives for the capping solution were developed being a geosynthetic clay lining, and a clay capping solution.
The successful tenderer will deliver a clay capping solution to meet environmental requirements reducing cost and risk compared to the alternate geosynthetic clay lining solution.
Works will include the final capping and reprofiling of the site, drainage improvements to aid in management of surface water and sediment runoff, followed by revegetation and landscaping.
Work is scheduled to commence in July and is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.
An archaeological dig that kicked off at Newcastle’s oldest European cemetery this week will delve deeper into the heritage of the site ahead of its planned revitalisation.
Located high on the hill behind Christ Church Cathedral, Cathedral Park is the resting place of more than 3300 of the city’s earliest European inhabitants, and prior to settlement was the site of an Aboriginal camping ground for thousands of years.
City of Newcastle Manager Regulatory, Planning & Assessment Michelle Bisson said the archaeological dig was an essential part of the process to ensure the history of the site was protected and preserved.
“City of Newcastle has engaged the Archaeological Management and Consulting Group (AMAC) to undertake a series of excavations to test for the presence of historical archaeological relics or Aboriginal archaeological objects in areas subject to planned landscaping and heritage interpretation works,” Ms Bisson said.
“This test excavation program will be supervised by Registered Aboriginal Parties (RAPs) from the local community.
“Appropriate safety measures will be put in place by City of Newcastle to ensure the park will remain open to the public for the duration of these archaeological works, which are required before we can progress with the next stage of the proposed landscaping project.
“The archaeologists on site are also happy to engage with the public and answer any questions they may have.”
Cathedral Park was used as a burial ground by the penal settlement from 1816 until 1884 and is the final resting place of notable early settlers including Newcastle’s first Mayor, James Hannell, former Mayor James Kemp, and magistrates John Bingle and Major Archibald Clunes Innes. The 1826 grave of Mary Martin is thought to be the oldest remaining headstone on the site. Several Aboriginal infants and adults are buried at the cemetery and entered on the burial registers, including the 1860 burial of an Aboriginal man named Jacky Jacky.
After falling into disrepair, the site was acquired from the Church by City of Newcastle in 1966 for the establishment of a public park.
Since 2012, City of Newcastle has been carrying out a number of improvement projects as part of a masterplan proposal to transform Cathedral Park into a showpiece destination. The plan is designed to respect the site’s heritage while also making the most of its spectacular views over the city and harbour and its position adjacent to the Christ Church Cathedral, which attracts upwards of 80,000 visitors each year.
The proposed future landscape and heritage interpretation works will help stabilise the surviving headstone monuments in line with their state heritage significance and recreate the original cemetery layout where possible, while also creating a beautiful, contemporary and engaging public space that integrates parkland and heritage interpretation uses.
Other plans include the erection of an infant memorial as well as a monument remembering the 60 people who died in the Cawarra shipwreck of 1866, 31 of whom were buried on this site. A rotunda is proposed for the site of ‘Mulimbah’ to acknowledge the former Colonial Georgian style family home and garden built by Simon Kemp in the 1840s and to tell the story of early Novocastrians and their way of life.
A $12 million social housing funding agreement between the City of Newcastle and NSW Land and Housing Corporation was endorsed by councillors at last night’s Ordinary Council Meeting.
The landmark agreement sets out a commitment from the NSW Government to match City of Newcastle’s contribution of approximately $2 million annually for the next three years.
The funds will be invested in the delivery of new social and affordable housing in Newcastle, in priority locations such as Wallsend.
Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said the endorsement by councillors is a significant step towards fast tracking social and affordable housing outcomes for people in Newcastle, while also supporting investment and jobs growth.
“With over 10,000 families suffering from housing stress across the city, housing affordability in Newcastle is close to crisis point, which is why this issue is a priority of the Newcastle 2040 Community Strategic Plan and the Newcastle Local Housing Strategy 2020,” Cr Nelmes said.
“This historic partnership between City of Newcastle and the NSW Government will increase the supply and range of social and affordable housing to ease the stress of the most at-risk community members, while supporting investment and creating more jobs in Newcastle.
“Affordably priced housing plays a critical role in the health and wellbeing of people and their families, and social housing provides an important safety net for the community.”
NSW Minister for Planning and Minister for Homes Anthony Roberts said the agreement would deliver positive social and affordable housing outcomes for the people of Newcastle.
“The NSW Government is currently investing more than $250 million to fast-track the delivery of more social and affordable housing across the state – but we can’t do it alone,” Mr Roberts said.
“We’re thrilled to be working with the City of Newcastle to address housing supply and affordability, and we hope this investment will encourage more of our local government partners to do the same.
“We need to work across all levels of government to keep pace with the growing need for social and affordable housing.”
Research undertaken by City of Newcastle shows that one in three people don’t believe there are enough diverse housing options for everyone across the city, and one quarter of people don’t believe they can afford a reasonable standard of housing in the area.
The latest forecasts show the population is set to increase by 41,150 residents to 202,050 by 2041 in the Newcastle local government area (LGA), which will stimulate demand for almost 20,000 new dwellings.
“The NSW Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) owns 4,300 social housing dwellings across the Newcastle LGA, and City of Newcastle is working in close partnership with LAHC to fast-track projects such as the renewal of existing properties in Waratah West and Wallsend,” Cr Nelmes said.
“Construction has already commenced on the redevelopment of two ageing homes on Landa Parade Waratah West that will be transformed into a low-rise, accessible building that features six two-bedroom units and four one-bedroom units for up to 16 residents.
“City of Newcastle and NSW Land and Housing Corporation wants to ensure future social housing continues to be built in the right places with good access to jobs, services, public transport and open space, and through this partnership with the NSW Government our organisations will lead the way to deliver better outcomes for the community.”
