Catherine Hill Bay, New South Wales

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Catherine Hill Bay
city =
state = nsw

---

caption = Catherine Hill Bay coal loading wharf
lga = City of Lake Macquarie
lga2 = Wyong Shire
postcode = 2281
pop = 153 (2006 census)
area = 2.1
est =
parish = Wallarah
stategov = Swansea
fedgov = Shortland
dist1 = 9
dir1 = S
location1= Swansea
near-nw = Nords Wharf
near-n = Cams Wharf
near-ne = Caves Beach
near-w = Nords Wharf
near-e = "Pacific Ocean"
near-sw = Crangan Bay
near-s = Moonee
near-se = "Pacific Ocean"

Catherine Hill Bay is a coastal bay and village on the southern peninsula forming Lake Macquarie, south of the Pacific Ocean entrance channel at Swansea in New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the City of Lake Macquarie local government area. The village is the oldest continuous settlement in the City of Lake Macquarie.

A surf club is sited overlooking the beach that is quite popular for recreation.

Mining

The settlement was first made after land was purchased on 1 April 1865. The town of Cowper was created, to serve as a base for coal mining by the New Wallsend Company in 1873 with the first shipment on 17 December of that year. The name Catherine Hill was adopted to commemorate the schooner "Catherine Hill" that had run aground in 1867.

Later, the Wallarah Coal Company mined and shipped coal from the area including its nearby Crangan Bay mine. This was taken over by the Coal and Allied Group.

A railway originally was used to transport the coal to the wharf [Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, February, 1973, pp25-44] ; later, trucks and automated loading belt systems were used.

Rutile was mined from the beach sands during the 1960s.

Development

The local residents, most living in older style and small miner's cottages, are currently opposing rezoning and redevelopment for up-market housing. Environmentalists are also concerned as the heathlands around the village contain a large variety of wildflowers, some dwarfed into unusual forms from the exposed coastal conditions.

References

External links