02 May, 2014
The Kent
Acrobatic dogs balanced on two front legs on impossibly slim
posts, somersaulted, danced and waved goodbye. Responding to the skilful hands
of trainer Mr Bill Massey, the small dogs enthralled kids and adults alike. [1]
30 April, 2014
Inside Gow's Drapery - the Gow Girls
The first trainload of migrants passing through Hamilton
waved wildly to the crowds of spectators gathered along Beaumont Street. Men
and women alike, the ‘new Australians’ stretched precariously out of windows
the length of the train, as if they wanted to physically touch the people
welcoming them. They were on their way from Newcastle to a migrant camp inland,
thence to a job, and hopefully, a new and better life.
15 April, 2014
Nina's IGA - Family Kiriakidis
If you walk into Nina’s IGA expecting a one-size-fits-all
suburban grocery, be ready to be surprised. Nina’s is anything but average.
12 April, 2014
From sandy track to Eat Street - the becoming of Beaumont Street
It’s the cosmopolitan Eat Street of Newcastle – and so much
more. Say ‘Beaumont Street’ and ‘multicultural eats’ springs to mind – not just
the first comers the Italians and Greeks, but nowadays Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese,
Chinese, Korean, Himalayan, Mexican, Turkish, Lebanese and Fijian.
04 April, 2014
The old Hamilton flour mill
The towering silos of the Hamilton Flour Mill had stood as
Hamilton’s most prominent landmark for over 90 years in Hudson Street, Hamilton.
Just one month short of his 90th birthday, Charles McIntyre, the oldest mill owner in Australia, died. His life had been devoted to the Mill, and he had never married. Thus ended a lineage of four generations of millers extending over 170 years. [1] These are remarkable records.
21 February, 2014
Northern Star Cafe
The character of the Northern Star Cafe on Beaumont Street has been
formed over almost sixty years, infused with the history and aspirations of its
Greek, Italian and Australian owners. Today, like any 60 year old, it knows who
it is. It will have a few regrets - like all of us - and escapades best left
hidden, but it enjoys the status of a Hamilton icon.
04 February, 2014
Sydney Junction Hotel - a family story
For six turbulent years
a young English emigrant, son of a publican, pursued his small business dream
as the licensee of the Sydney Junction Hotel, Hamilton. The magic of the coming
of rail to Newcastle lit up his dream with the promise of prosperity.
21 January, 2014
Hamilton's gay history
‘The police were
great. They were really good. I mean to say, there was the wine bar at
Hamilton, and we all used to go up there. And one night, I staggered out of the
...Star, and I was going to the wine bar. I was walking to Hamilton, and the
police said to me, “Would you like a lift?” and I said, “Only if I can ride in
the back”. So they put me in the back of the paddy wagon and pulled up at the
.wine bar, and I got out and said, “Thanks boys!” and everyone in the wine bar nearly
had a nervous breakdown!’ [1]
05 January, 2014
'A great fall of roof' - the Hamilton mine disaster
He denied he’d been
warned, that the conversations had ever taken place. After all, James Sharp was
acting Overman at the Hamilton Pit, and his word would be sure to stand over that
of the miners before the Coroner. Sharp had the authority.
29 December, 2013
The story of Donald's Corner
When you were growing up in Hamilton’, I asked memoir writer Margaret Colditz ‘where was the money?’
‘The money’, she responded without a second’s pause, ‘was in Donald’s Corner’.
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