Waratah, New South Wales

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Waratah
city = Newcastle
state = nsw


caption = Waratah Village shopping centre.
lga = City of Newcastle
postcode = 2298
pop = 4,287 (2006 census) [Census 2006 AUS|id=SSC14476|name=Waratah (State Suburb)|accessdate=2007-10-04|quick=on]
area = 2.1
est = 1871
parish = Newcastle
stategov = Newcastle, Wallsend
fedgov = Newcastle
dist1 = 7
dir1 = WNW
location1= Newcastle
near-nw = Waratah West
near-n = Mayfield
near-ne = Mayfield
near-w = Waratah West
near-e = Georgetown
near-sw = Lambton
near-s = Lambton
near-se = Broadmeadow

Waratah is a north-western residential suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, located convert|7|km|mi|0|lk=on from Newcastle's central business district and bounded on the north by the Main North line. Waratah station was opened in 1858cite web
title = Main North Line
publisher=www.nswrail.net
url = http://www.nswrail.net/lines/show.php?name=NSW:main_north
accessdate = 2006-11-22 ] and is served by CityRail's Hunter line.

History

Waratah was once a major Municipality in its own right, with an elected council and mayor, incorporated in 1871. Two notable mayors, both elected to the office three times each were John Scholey and auctioneer N.B.Creer, both of whom resided at North Waratah (now Mayfield, New South Wales). Scholey was instrumental in the establishment of the Waratah Bowling Club of which he was also Patron.

Originally Waratah had as its industrial base a large colliery bearing its name [Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, November, 1963 pp173-178] . The largest industry in Waratah today is the Commonwealth Steel Coy, which abuts the railway.

The suburb contains a major acute hospital, the "Mater Misericordiae", owned by the Roman Catholic Sisters of Mercy, who, until recently occupied all the most senior nursing positions. Nearby is an established major 79-bed independent Home of the Elderly, "Maroba".

chools

* Callaghan College - Waratah Campus (formerly Waratah High School (Years 7-10) [http://www.waratah-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/]
* Waratah Public School (State sector) [http://www.waratah-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/]
* St. Philip's Christian College [http://www.spcc.nsw.edu.au/]
* Corpus Christi (Roman Catholic Primary School) [http://www.mn.catholic.edu.au/schools/details/schooldetail.cfm?menukey=56&schoolcode=153]

Local landmarks

* Mater Hospital [http://www.hunter.health.nsw.gov.au/servs_facil/nmmh.htm]
* Maroba [http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~mbbva/nursing.html]
* Comsteel has a large production facility in Waratah.
* The Waratah Rugby Union Football Club
* Waratah Oval
* Waratah has one shopping centre containing a Coles and a Kmart store, amongst others. Every Christmas it is renowned for an exuberant lighting display. A smaller strip of shops is still surviving in Station Street, approximately 200 metres away and contains two pubs ("The Royal" (Purple) and The Town Hall (Orange)) and some smaller shops.

References

External links