Newcastle, Australia Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

NEWCASTLE was founded in 1804 for convicts too hard even for Sydney to cope with, but the river is the real reason for the city's existence. Coal was brought down it from the fields of the Hunter Valley, to be exported around the country and the world, and the proximity of the mines encouraged the establishment of other heavy industries . The production of steel here ceased in late 2000 and most of the slag heaps have been worked over, but the docks are still functional, particularly with the through traffic of coal from the Hunter Valley. New South Wales' second city, with a population of around a quarter of a … more »