Part Two – post 1920s - Newcastle City Council

We are building a civic monument second to none outside the City of Sydney. 

… It will result in increasing civic pride in the minds and lives of the citizens of 

this great city. It will bring about a realisation of its civic importance as well as 

its commercial manufacturing and industrial prominence. 

10 Morris Light 

Figure 22: Drawing of Newcastle Town Hall 1929 

Morris Light (possibly Licht) was born at Kovna in Russia about 1856. Leaving 

Russia due to persecution of Jews, he travelled to Scotland where he set up a drapery 

business from about 1879 to 1884. He then came to Australia. After spending some 

time in Moss Vale he came to Carrington in 1886 and began business as a draper in 

Cowper Street. He later added a furniture department to his venture. In 1887 he 

married Sarah Jacobs. 

In 1900 he moved his premises to Hunter Street West (the ‘House of Lights’) and in 

1923 moved again to a grand ‘emporium’ – Morris Light and Son Ltd - nearby. He 

had also opened a large branch store in Vincent Street Cessnock. Morris Light is 

reputed to have introduced consumer credit to the Newcastle retailing scene and he 

offered credit under his own interest-free terms. He was acknowledged as a proficient 

businessman. 

Few other men equalled his record in the public life of Newcastle. He first entered 

local government in Carrington in 1888 and was elected mayor in 1902 and 1903. 

After moving his business to Newcastle West he was elected to Newcastle Council in 

1904 and remained an alderman until his death in July 1929. He was mayor for the 

1924-1925 term. The electrification of the tramways of Newcastle was credited to his 

endeavours, as well as much of the incentive for achieving the Town Hall 

development. Morris Light also held several other public positions in the city. 

Newcastle Civic and Cultural Precinct History ~ Cynthia Hunter ~ January 2003 page 29

In the early 1920s Morris Light set out on a world tour followed by a second tour to 

South Africa where his sister lived. He collected much information pertaining to local 

government, the whole of which he placed at the disposal of the district’s councils. 

He was a great supported of the Town Hall project before his travels but his 

experience in overseas countries convinced him that for a city the size and importance 

of Newcastle, a Town Hall was an absolute necessity. Upon his return he set to work 

to develop a self-supporting model, which was eventually adopted. He is credited 

with ending years of indecision about a Town Hall. Shortly after his election as 

mayor, he brought forward the mayoral minute that initiated the works program. 

It was a pitiable circumstance that Morris Light’s death occurred prior to the 

completion of the grand civic buildings that he played so great a role in achieving. 

Many people at the time though that the Town Hall itself was a fitting memorial to 

him. 

Morris Light, who lived to the age of 74 years, was survived by his wife, a son and 

three daughters. Prior to his death he lived in Ocean Street Merewether. He was a 

notable member of the Jewish community. He is buried in Sandgate Cemetery. 

Indicative of the esteem in which the citizens of Newcastle held him, over 3000 

people were reported to have gathered at the gravesite on that occasion. 42 

After Morris Light’s death, his son carried on the successful business until his own 

death in 1950. The Light stores were subsequently sold to Grace Brothers. 

In 1993, the University of Newcastle received a bequest of about $1.5 million under 

the will of Reta Light, Morris Light’s youngest and last surviving daughter, ensuring 

that her family name continued to be linked with the attributes of generosity and civic 

pride ascribed to her father. 43 

11 Celebration 

Opening the Town Hall and Civic Theatre was accompanied by a week-long event 

called ‘Civic Week’. The Theatre attracted most interest and here opening night was 

a gala affair unparalleled in the history of Newcastle. 

12 Civic Theatre 

Civic Theatre was designed as a fully equipped live theatre. However its primary use 

was as a cinema under lease to Hoyts. Talking pictures arrived in Newcastle in 1929 

and the Civic Theatre showed them from opening night. 

Civic Theatre remained predominantly a movie house until 1973 when Hoyts 

terminated their lease at a time when many cinemas closed. Newcastle City Council 

then upgraded the theatre to attract live productions of international standard, such as 

the Australian opening of Jesus Christ Superstar in 1975, ballet, plays, orchestral 

concerts and other performances. Upgrading took several years and included 

improved backstage facilities, new lighting and other equipment, and a new curtain. 

The Civic could seat about 1600 people and was the largest regional live theatre in 

Australia. 

42 Newcastle Morning Herald 27, 29 and 30 July, 1929 

43 Newcastle Herald 17 May 1993 


In the 1980s it became apparent that major restoration was essential in order to attract 

the performances necessary for efficient operation. In 1989 Council appointed 

architects to draw up plans. 

Dame Joan Sutherland launched a public appeal for funds in July 1991. This, together 

with council allocation enabled stage one of major works to be commenced in 1992. 

Later stages of the work were assisted with government funding. The total 

undertaking included replacement seating in and restoration of the main auditorium, 

air conditioning, a new ground floor restaurant, a new performance space, new 

dressing rooms and facilities, and fire safety upgrade. Outside, Wheeler Place was 

converted into a landscaped pedestrian plaza. During the works period, the public 

were invited to tours of inspection of the theatre. Civic Theatre reopened in 

November 1993. 

Figure 23: Civic Theatre complex in 1929 

13 The Wintergarden or Exhibition Hall 

The 1929 building complex that comprised the Civic Theatre, shops, offices and work 

or sample rooms also contained ‘a fine room with ticket and other offices, retiring 

rooms, servery and other conveniences’ above the shops on the first floor. This 

Exhibition Hall Wintergarden was available for public use. When opened in 1929 a 

description noted that the Wintergarden combined ‘beauty, dignity and simplicity. 

For the most part it is in chaste white relieved by pale gold. It has a splendid jarrah 

parquetry floor suitable for dancing, an orchestral reserve, and a roomy servery. 

Overlooking Hunter Street, the Wintergarden seems an ideal ballroom’. 44 

In the 1960s this space may have been used for council business. 

In 1972 council rented the Wintergarden as an annex to the Conservatorium of Music. 

Although renovations were proposed they did not eventuate. Council subsequently 

leased the Wintergarden to the Hunter Valley Theatre Company (HVTC) in 1978 and 

assisted the Conservatorium to move to the Mackie’s Warehouse Building. 

HVTC formed in 1976 as a semi-professional theatre company. The first play was 

staged at the 950-seat Duncan Theatre at Newcastle University. Search for a 200-seat 

theatre led to council considering leasing the Mackie Warehouse to the HVTC, but the 

44 Construction and Local Government Journal 27 April 1927, Newcastle Morning Herald 30 

November 1929 


former Wintergarden was the better option and conversion plans followed for a Civic 

Playhouse. 

The 1992 restoration plan for the Civic Theatre included as a later stage of work the 

enlargement of the performance space of the Civic Playhouse with a link to the Civic 

Theatre facilities. However, this work was not undertaken at the time and HVTC 

occupancy terminated in July 1996. Civic Playhouse closed in 1998/9 because the 

facility no longer met fire safety and access regulations. In April 1999 and again in 

August 2001 investigations were made into refurbishment of the Civic Playhouse with 

reconfiguration of the seating. 45 A public forum had debated the status and future of 

the Playhouse in May 2000. 46 Options for reopening the Civic Playhouse are still 

under investigation. 

Figure 24: Part of lithograph of Newcastle in 1889. Darby Street is diagonally placed. The land 

section bounded by Darby, Hunter, Auckland and King Streets is represented as well built upon and for 

diverse uses. Larger buildings face Hunter Street. The eastern part of Civic Park is fenced but not yet 

industrialised. A coal train passes along Burwood Street towards Hunter Street 

45 Newcastle Herald 19 April 1999, 21 August 2001 



14 Civic Park - acquiring the land 

The table below is a summary of the stepwise process of council’s acquiring the land 

that makes up Civic Park. The individual parcels are indicated in the accompanying 

plan. 

1921 Lot 6 Acquired by council for a railway siding associated with 

electricity works in April 1921. In 1957, consolidated with 

Civic Park. 

1929 Lots 46 & 47 Resumed in November 1929 for the purpose of the erection 

of administrative and other buildings for the Electricity 

Department of the Newcastle City Council 

Transferred to the General Fund (January 1939) 

1938 Lots 4 & 7 Acquired by council for ‘civic purposes’ from R 

Breckenridge and others October 1938 

1946 Lot 9 Acquired by council for ‘Civic Purposes’ from James Sandy 

P/L August 1946. The area required for widening Darby 

Street was dedicated a public road in September 1966 and 

the residue were dedicated as ‘Public Reserve’. 

1947 Lot 3 Acquired by council for consolidation and for ‘Civic 

Purposes’, from Union Trustee Company of Australia Ltd in 

June 1947 

1958 Part Burwood Acquired by council from AA Company in June 1958 

Rail Line 

1964 Lots 2, 5 & 8 Acquired by council from G H Varley P/L February 1964 

for open space and road widening 

1964 Lot 1 Acquired by council from Newcastle Building and 

Investment Company Ltd in August 1964 for open space 

and road widening. 

1979 Civic Park Civic Park dedicated as Public Reserve. 

1987 Civic Park Zoned 6(a) Open Space (Newcastle LEP 1987) 

Figure 25: The 

accompanying plan 

with allotments 

numbered, and this 

summary of 

acquisition, is from 

the Report of the 

Town Clerk No 24 of 

7 November 1978, 

moved to Newcastle 

Region Public 

Library in April 1986 


When interviewed in 1964 about the Thomas Cook’s house Lucerna, Mrs Cutts 

recalled that before 1900 ‘Civic Park was a swamp and horse paddock’. 47 The land 

was mostly vacant when the 1889 Illustration was drawn (Figure 24). The land was 

still mostly vacant when surveyed in 1896 (Local History Library Map, C 919.442/34- 

26, Newcastle and Suburbs Sheet 28, copy not included). 48 

Subsequently timber millers and merchants Andrew Cook and Robert Breckenridge 

used the low-lying land on either side of the coal railway as timberyards. Several 

engineering workshops, including Varley’s, were built on the Darby and King Streets 

frontages. 

In 1921 Newcastle Council bought the first piece of this land as a railway siding for 

the delivery of coal to the Sydney (or Tyrrell) Street power generation plant. When 

the Town Hall was nearing completion, lots 46 and 47 (Figure 25) were bought for the 

Electric Supply Department but were used instead in association with beautification 

of the surrounds of the Town Hall. 49 Mr W Grant of the Sydney Botanical Gardens 

provided a simple and inexpensive landscape plan. This was the origin of Civic Park. 

Figure 26: Early 

beautification of 

Civic Park 

included an 

avenue of fig trees 

along the Burwood 

coal railway line 

In summary, the evolution of Civic Park began with the land owned by the AA 

Company prior to 1900s and the land use associated with the AA and Burwood 

Companies railways. Timberyards were established on either side of Burwood 

Railway in the early 1900s. Property resumed in 1920s by Council for the Electrical 

Supply Department was used instead for beautification of the Town Hall surrounds 

and provided the park nucleus. The railway corridor was resumed in the 1950s. 

Properties along Darby Street were resumed in the 1960s. A number of landscape 

plans followed and the James Cook Memorial Fountain opened in 1970. 

15 Christie Park 

The land immediately west of Town Hall was vacant in 1929. In the 1930s council 

purchased additional land here extending to the Auckland Street corner for offices for 

47 Interview with E M Cutts, descendant of Henry Dangar, about ‘Lucerna’, Newcastle Morning 

Herald 28 November 1964 p. 8 

48 Newcastle Local Studies Library map C 919.442/34-26 

49 Newcastle Morning Herald 12 December 1929 


the Electric Supply Department. Christie Park was subsequently created in the 

intervening space, allowing for an access road around the Town Hall and Civic 

Theatre. 

Figure 27: photo shows 

paths and palm planting 

in the space between the 

Town Hall and Nesca 

building, also planting in 

Civic Park 

At the time of preparation of the Civic Park Plan of Management 1989, Christie Place 

was described as owned by Newcastle Council and zoned 5(a) Special Uses (Public 

Buildings). This provision allowed for possible development or access associated 

with Nesca House and other council owned property extending through to Hunter 

Street. 

The Shortland Memorial, erected as a fountain near Newcastle Beach in 1897 and 

subsequently removed to Reid Park in 1938 to allow beach improvements, was 

removed again to Christie Park in 1978. The ‘fountain’ use was not restored in 1938, 

or in 1978. 

Christie Street, a private road owned by council, provides a thoroughfare from King 

Street to Wheeler Place. This lane is used to provide rear stage access to the theatre 

for large delivery vehicles, and to the Civic Arcade building. 

Christie Park is used as a pedestrian thoroughfare, a rest area and is often visited at 

lunchtime by city office workers. The park enhances the setting of the surrounding 

cultural and civic buildings. 

16 The Electric Supply Department and Nesca House, 1939 

Newcastle Municipal Council began generating electricity in 1890. Their generating 

plant was east of Darby Street between Tyrrell and Queen Streets. Administration 

was by the council’s ‘Electricity Supply Department’ or ESD. The ESD expanded 

and by the early 20 th century, provided electricity to many suburban council areas as 

well as Newcastle. In the early 1920s the council bought the first land in Civic Park 

(lot 6 Figure 25) for a rail siding for the delivery of coal to the generating plant. 

Cook’s timber yard (lot 47) was purchased several years later for ESD and other 

purposes of which park use was actually chosen. Apparently in the late 1920s an 

electric appliances showroom was built on the corner of Hunter Street and Wheeler 

Place. Administration of the ESD moved into the Town Hall after 1929 until Nesca 

House was built in 1939. 


Figure 28: image of the 

ESD showroom adjoining 

the Bennett and Wood 

building in Hunter Street 

In the mid-1930s, Council acquired land on the Auckland Street corner and decided to 

build new headquarters for the ESD here. A blacksmith and wheelwright formerly 

occupied a large shed on the corner site. The site adjoined the former Salvation Army 

barracks and an Oddfellows Hall. 

Sydney architect Emil Sodersteen designed and supervised the modern building in 

association with Newcastle architects Pitt and Merewether. The building was 

completed in 1939 and became known as the Newcastle Electricity Supply Council 

Administration or Nesca. 

Figure 29: Nesca 

House. This image is 

probably earlier than 

Figure 27, as indicated 

by the landscaping of 

Christie Park 

The Electricity Commission (State government) took over council’s role in 1957 and 

the Shortland County Council (SCC), a regional organisation, replaced the ESD. The 

Nesca building (which passed to the SCC) was enlarged in 1959 and 1970 and 

extensively renovated in 1983 and 1984. 

In the 1970s plans were made to move the undertaking, then known as ‘Shortland 

Electricity’, to Wallsend. This move occurred in stages and was completed by 1990. 

A new corporate structure was called ‘Orion Energy’ and following amalgamation 

with other suppliers, ‘Energy Australia’. 

Nesca House was available for other uses from the late 1980s and in 1991 Newcastle 

City Council considered buying back the building for more office space but did not 

proceed with the purchase. The vacated Nesca House was used as professional 

offices, and part occupied by the Conservatorium of Music. The University of 

Newcastle bought the building in 1992 for use by the Faculty of Law and the 

Conservatorium of Music. 


17 Civic precinct development in the 1930s 

In the late 1930s when Nesca House was built, other new developments were 

occurring in the civic precinct. These included Morpeth House (1936), the Australian 

Provincial Association Ltd building west of the civic shops (1937), the new 

Clarendon Hotel (1940), and another unusual wedge shaped building to replace the 

Newcastle Permanent Building, Investment, Land and Loan Society headquarters. 

Figure 30: The 1937 

Australian Provincial 

Association Building, 

west of the civic shops, 

now Civic Arcade 

Contractor C Johnson erected Morpeth House, a three-storey commercial building in 

the Art Deco style in 1936 for Mr A Saroff of Cessnock and West Maitland. There 

were two entrances to Hunter Street and the building appears to have been used for 

retail purposes. Up-to-date facilities in the building included an electric lift, plate 

glass windows and excellent natural lighting and ventilation. 

The National Trust in 1990 described the row of buildings between Burwood Street 

and the Bennett building as representative of: 

… many aspects of Newcastle’s development during the second half of the 19 th 

century and the first half of the 20 th century. Commercial, retail and residential 

interests are represented, illustrating changing social forces, building uses and 

architectural progress. The group is very varied in appearance yet retains a 

harmony of scale and a great townscape attractiveness. 50 

Figure 31: Hunter 

Street streetscape 

between Wheeler Place 

and Burwood Street. To 

the right of the Fred c 

Ash building is the 

Bennett and Wood 

building, and to the left 

is the 1940s Clarendon 

Hotel. Photo taken on 

day of demolition of 

buildings east of the 

Clarendon. The 1970s 

bank, right, has also 

been demolished, for an 

enlarged Wheeler Place 

50 Quoted in ‘Newcastle Civic Site Heritage Impact Statement’ by Godden Mackay 1996, p. 71 


18 1940s plans for a civic square and cultural centre 

In 1938, after many years of negotiation, several district municipalities were joined 

together to form the Greater Newcastle Council. To commemorate the event, the 

mayor and all new aldermen resolved that the ‘Town Hall shall be known in future as 

the City Hall’. 51 

Proposals for a cultural centre for Newcastle in the vicinity of the Town Hall and 

Civic Theatre progressed in the late 1930s and revived after the war. The 

accompanying plan for a civic centre was prepared in 1945 by the city architect Mr 

Parkinson. It was a long-range view of possible development and was presented for 

discussion to a public meeting. In this plan, Wheeler Place has been extended to 

make Civic Park a true square with a war memorial as centrepiece. 

Several sites for a cultural centre were under consideration at the time. Parkinson’s 

scheme suggests the site between Wheeler Place extended and Darby Street and future 

public buildings to house a variety of government offices were suggested along 

Laman Street. 

The council preferred the elevated Laman Street site for the cultural centre. 

Government buildings, or any other large buildings west of Darby Street were 

rejected in favour of preserving extensive views to and from the cultural centre. 

Figure 32: Parkinson’s 

1945 plan as reproduced 

in the Newcastle Morning 

Herald 20 October 1945 

By 1947 the Northumberland County Council, set up by the State government to 

provide planning expertise for post-war renewal, made public its plans for the future 

development of Newcastle. One of the county council plans for the civic area is 

shown below (Figure 33). In this plan elimination of the Burwood coal railway has 

allowed resumption of part of Dawson Street. Auckland Street has been extended 

south. The Baptist Tabernacle is moved to another site in Auckland Street. King and 

Darby Streets are widened as tree-lined ‘boulevards’. The land bounded by Burwood, 

Darby and King Street is a green wedge that links and opens up the civic centre area 

to the harbour and allows replanning of the road traffic system. A large roundabout 

was proposed for the space taken today by the Taxation Offices. Civic Park occupies 

the whole land section except for St Andrew’s Church, forming a fine civic square. A 

51 Newcastle Morning Herald 25 March 1938 


walkway and flight of stairs links the Town Hall with the cultural centre sited in 

Laman Street. 

The Northumberland County Council scheme also promoted an alternative site for the 

cultural centre – one facing King Street near Union Street. This potential site was to 

be enhanced by resuming a ‘square’ extending between King and Hunter Streets that 

opened views to the harbour. The proposal showed a way to break up Newcastle’s 

long parallel street pattern. 

Greater Newcastle Council was not in favour of the Northumberland County 

Council’s plans for the extension of Auckland Street, the green wedge and the traffic 

roundabout and rejected the cultural centre site in King Street. 

The Northumberland County Council built offices on the north west corner of King 

and Auckland Street. The county council ceased its work in 1964 and was succeeded 

by the State Department of Environment and Planning. This building (or part thereof) 

is now owned by Newcastle University and used by the Conservatorium of Music 

(Figure 34). 

Figure 34: former offices and crest of the Northumberland County Council 

Figure 33: 

Northumberland County 

Council Plan as 

published in Newcastle 

Sun 20 May 1949 


19 Land acquisition in the 1950s and 1960s 

In these years Newcastle Council acquired a number of allotments including the 

improved and vacant land that allowed the extension of Civic Park to Darby Street. 

Other negotiations brought boundary adjustments at the rear of the Presbyterian 

Church that would ‘tidy up the south west corner’ of Civic Park. Properties bounded 

by Laman, Dawson, Queen and Darby Streets were acquired, also the extensive land 

of the Fred c Ash company. The former Australian Provincial Association Ltd 

building containing the Civic Arcade was then owned by council, the year of 

acquisition is not presently known. The Burwood coal railway was nearing the end of 

its operative life and trucks ceased running in 1954. Creation of an enhanced Civic 

Park linking to an envisaged cultural centre was central to the acquisition of these 

land sections. 

Figure 35: Proposed landscape plan for Civic Park in 1957, as reproduced in the Newcastle Morning 


20 A cultural centre for Newcastle 1949-1957 

In June 1949 a foundation stone was placed for the cultural centre on the council’s 

preferred site. This was 6 years before any work started on the building. Building 

commenced in the mid-1950s and the State Governor Lt Gen Sir Eric Woodward 

opened the War Memorial Cultural Centre on 26 October 1957. 

The building consisted of three floors and a basement. A Newcastle Library 

comprised of a central reference, lending and children’s library occupied the 

basement, the ground level and first or mezzanine level. The Art Gallery occupied 

most of the space on the second floor and the Conservatorium of Music occupied the 

third floor, apparently under 21-year leases. 

As each of these cultural activities today occupies independent premises surrounding 

Civic Park, creating an expanding cultural precinct, their history, establishment and 

growth within the Newcastle community and their relationship to the War Memorial 

Cultural Centre or cultural precinct will be considered separately. 


Figure 36: 1960s aerial view of the civic precinct 

20.1 Conservatorium of Music 

Does any community exist without music and dance? Indigenous Australians have a 

heritage of corroborees and unique musical instruments. Musical societies, choirs and 

bands feature prominently in Newcastle’s 19 th and 20 th century history. Eisteddfods 

are the legacy of the district’s Welsh heritage and are ongoing. Convent schools have 

a tradition of excellence in music teaching. Dance Halls needed orchestras. Councils 

sponsored brass bands in exchange for public recitals in parks where special rotundas 

were built for their accommodation. Silent films needed a musical accompaniment. 

The proficients that taught music in the Newcastle district also encouraged 

performances and promoted a vision for a Conservatorium of Music. 

A State Conservatorium was established in 1916, which must have encouraged 

Newcastle musicians in a similar pursuit. However, social and economic adversity 

such as World War One and its aftermath, followed by the Great Depression of the 

late 1920s and early 1930s were not conducive to making any advances in this quest. 

As is indicated elsewhere, an attempt was made to establish a cultural centre in 

Newcastle in 1936 but the country’s commitment to World War Two interrupted the 

emerging possibilities. 

When hostilities concluded in 1945 there was a countrywide desire for social 

betterment. Following a well-represented meeting held in the Town Hall in July 1945 

a committee of capable townspeople undertook the task of fundraising and planning 

for a building that would be a soldiers’ memorial and a home for the arts in 

Newcastle. 

The plan that emerged at this time was for a building that would incorporate space for 

a public library, an art gallery, a conservatorium and a concert hall. A library was 

then conducted in a room in the Town Hall but the other three facilities were 

practically non-existent in Newcastle. Apparently the only available performing 

spaces were the main Town Hall and a smaller hall in the east of the city known as 

Blackall House. The Civic Theatre was strictly a film house and if a large group like 


the Sydney Symphony Orchestra visited Newcastle it was usually necessary for them 

to use the Century Theatre at Broadmeadow. 

Plans, ideas and debate in the 1940s and1950s about civic precinct land involved the 

Greater Newcastle Council, the Northumberland County Council and the community. 

The various proposals have already been mentioned. The council began to resume its 

preferred site, which was the land section bounded by Laman, Dawson, Queen and 

Darby Streets. Opposition came from those who lived in the cottages thereon and 

other residents and aldermen who supported them and those who opposed the cultural 

centre project in general. Housing was in short supply in the post-war years and the 

social and economic distress argument could not be ignored. Displaced residents 

were subsequently relocated in alternate housing. 

In 1946 a salaried financial organiser and assistant were appointed to seek funding for 

the cultural centre. At the time donations were not ‘tax deductible’. Amending this 

law took until early 1947. The Minister for Education the Hon J R Heffron MLA was 

then invited to open the fund raising appeal. His acceptance indicated that the 

government viewed the cultural centre favourably. This was subsequently confirmed 

when the State Conservatorium of Music was placed under the administration of the 

Department of Education. 

As soon as funds began to accumulate, with large sums contributed by industry, 

commerce, groups and individuals, the government responded with promised 

subsidies. Achieving the cultural centre was now assured, as was the setting up 

therein of a branch of the State Conservatorium. 

In order to help meet the demand for music tuition a temporary conservatorium was 

set up in 1951 in a timber barrack-type building in King Street at the eastern end of 

Civic Park. (In 1951 about 60 students from Newcastle were travelling to Sydney for 

music lessons.) Teaching commenced here in early 1952. 165 students enrolled in 

the first week. By the end of the first year, 388 students had enrolled and in the 

subsequent years of 1953 and 1954, 562 and 608 students enrolled. Conditions in the 

temporary building became congested. The sound of music making overflowed into 

Civic Park attracting the attention of passers-by. The success of the temporary 

conservatorium justified the establishment of a permanent music school in Newcastle 

and the continued effort of its supporters. The principal of the conservatorium 

initiated a scheme to raise funds for scholarships. 

The temporary conservatorium can be seen in the 1960s aerial view of the civic 

precinct, Figure 36. 

The Cultural Centre Committee continued their work. Apparently there were times 

when ‘local politics’ was near to excluding the conservatorium from the plan. Many 

negotiations ensued to keep it in, and after the official opening the music school 

moved into the third floor. The new building provided improved facilities, 13 large 

studios, a large lecture room and small hall capable of seating 40 and 90 respectively, 

a library and administrative offices, but no auditorium. 

The conservatorium made remarkable growth and established important links with 

education, teacher training and the New South Wales University of Technology - the 

forerunner of the University of Newcastle, laying the foundation for Newcastle’s 

standing today as a significant centre of tertiary education in New South Wales. 


After 1957, the Cultural Centre Women’s Fund Raising Committee continued as the 

‘Art Gallery and Conservatorium Committee’, raising further funds for the purchase 

of instruments, equipment and library items. This committee continued until 1974. 

By 1961 accommodation on the 3 rd floor was inadequate. In 1965 the need for a 

separate building was obvious. The general feeling however was that the 

conservatorium should remain part of the cultural centre, which could be enlarged. 

This proposal did not materialise and finding extra space became a matter of urgency. 

In 1970 an annex opened in Maitland and in 1972, the Civic Wintergarden was rented 

from Newcastle Council for music tuition purposes. Proposed renovations here did 

not eventuate. 

In the mid-1970s the Art Gallery moved to a separate building and the Library took 

all the space vacated by the gallery. Without some of this extra space, the 

Conservatorium again had to look elsewhere. ‘Elsewhere’ included possible 

extensions to the cultural centre, a new building on the Shortland (University and 

Teachers College) campus, the old Teachers College site at Cooks Hill, the Town Hall 

(briefly a possibility after the new administration building was occupied), 

‘Woodlands’ in Church Street, the Century Theatre at Broadmeadow, a floor above 

the Newcastle Masonic Club, Newcastle East Public School, Cooks Hill High School, 

Fort Scratchley, and the Frederick Ash building near the new administration block. 

All lapsed due to financial constraints. 

Newcastle Council subsequently leased the Wintergarden to the Hunter Valley 

Theatre Company and assisted the conservatorium to move to Mackie’s warehouse. 

Renovated by the Public Works Department, this space gave the conservatorium an 

adequate venue for concerts for the first time but otherwise was only a partial solution 

to the escalating need for more studio and practice space. 

Fortuitously in 1978 the old Salvation Army Men’s Hostel, was ‘for sale’. This was a 

large 5-storey building with over 50 rooms that could be used as teaching studios. 

The building was sound and conversion for conservatorium use was practical. The 

site was central and near to public transport, had parking for 50 vehicles and enough 

land to build the long anticipated concert hall. The government did buy the property 

and the Public Works Department undertook to convert the old hostel to 

conservatorium needs. The building was occupied in 1981. 

Building the concert hall on the Laman/Auckland Streets corner continuous with the 

former Men’s Hostel was a 1988 Bicentenary project undertaken by the Department 

of Public Works. The architect was John Carr in association with Suters Architects 

and Planners and the building contractor was R T Parker Pty Ltd. The hall can seat 

about 500 people. 52 

In 1990 the conservatorium became part of the University of Newcastle. Also at that 

time part of the recently- vacated Nesca House was leased for conservatorium use. 

In 1992 Newcastle University bought Nesca House from Shortland Electricity 

together with a block of land in Laman Street. 53 This was generally felt to be a 

welcome move that would inject new life into the city centre and provide a ‘shop 

front’ for the University in the inner city. The faculties to occupy space in the 

52 Readers are referred to Kenneth Wiseman’s book From Park to Palace for a comprehensive account 

of the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music 1952-1986 from which this summary is mostly derived. 

53 Newcastle Herald 9 December 1992 


uilding were the Conservatorium of Music and the Faculty of Law. ‘University 

House’ is today an appropriate name for the building. 

The block of land in Laman Street was next to the Conservatorium of Music building 

and ideal for future expansion of that institution as well as car parking for students in 

the short term. 

In 1997 the conservatorium occupied ‘Northumberland House’ on the north west 

corner of King and Auckland Streets, the former headquarters of the Northumberland 

County Council and Department of Environment and Planning. 

In 2002, over 2,000 students were enrolled and over 150 concerts performed each 

year. The conservatorium is closely associated with many drama and musical groups 

both locally and afar and plays an important role in education and enrichment of 

cultural life in Newcastle and the Hunter Region. 

20.2 Art Gallery 

Proposals for Newcastle Council to establish a Newcastle Art Gallery can be traced 

back to the 1920s when the director of the National Art Gallery suggested that a 

special space be provided in the proposed new Town Hall scheme for that purpose. 

Then, the director assured the council, art works would be made available for 

exhibition from the national collection and from the Sydney Art Gallery. Apparently 

the National Gallery had already loaned paintings for exhibition in the Technological 

Museum in Hunter Street. 54 Here the Technical College conducted an Art School. 

The town clerk foreshadowed that a sum of money could be voted to purchase art 

works and also for annual prizes in order to encourage local talent and built up a city 

collection. The council agreed. ‘It takes something more than business and industry 

to make a city really great’ said the Newcastle Morning Herald editor on the 

following day. 55 

Apparently no action eventuated from this proposal for about ten years until the 

movement for a cultural centre for Newcastle became topical. The Town Hall had 

made articulate the civic aspirations of the people it was said. Now their cultural 

aspirations needed similar expression. A ‘Cultural Centre Advisory Committee’ 

joined forces with the ‘Free Library Movement’, (which was part of the agenda of the 

‘Greater Newcastle Council’) to forward this initiative. 

There was no money for this purpose. Funding for any cultural centre depended on 

selling for redevelopment the Newcastle School of Arts building, whose function was 

now ‘out of fashion’. If this were done, additional funds might be obtained from the 

government and the Department of Education. 56 

The Trustees of the School of Arts were not favourable to the idea. Their own library 

was available to members and the Technical College had a good reference library, 

they said. Advocates of the Free Library Movement (that is a library for all citizens 

paid for out of municipal rates) wanted a diverse collection of books that were a 

practical balance between fiction and reference books. The Free Library was an 

essential community facility, not necessarily because the people wanted access to 

54 Newcastle Morning Herald 1 November 1921 

55 Newcastle Morning Herald 2 November 1921 

56 Newcastle Morning Herald 2 June 1938 


ooks but because they should have them and the council should show leadership by 

providing them. 

The council was presented with two options. The Cultural Centre Advisory 

Committee’s option was to establish a cultural centre to provide modern library 

facilities and opportunities for other cultural expression. The former would be a 

‘good central library with a well-serviced reference section, a children’s library, a 

lending library, a reading room well stocked with newspapers and periodicals and a 

stack room that would serve as the centre for a regional library service’. ‘Other 

cultural expression’ was an art gallery with hall suitable for lectures, amateur 

theatricals, musical recitals and accommodation for meetings of cultural and scientific 

societies. 

The second option, from the School of Arts Trustees, was to lease the upper level of 

their building for a library and other cultural activities. This proposal was 

economical, limited, temporary and makeshift and met with little enthusiasm. 

Apparently in 1938 two collections of paintings were on loan to the city. One – a fine 

collection of bird studies by Neville Cayley – ‘hangs in obscure neglect on the walls 

of the Longworth Institute’. The other was ‘distributed round the passageways of the 

Town Hall’. Newcastle urgently needed an appropriate hall to exhibit these works 

and others that were available. 57 

The committee stressed that their plan allowed for cultural activities to be closely 

associated with the civic centre already growing up around the Town Hall. 

Apparently no decision was made although agitation for a cultural centre, especially 

the library component, continued. Two years later ‘Newcastle Art Society’, 

apprehensive of being left out of the plan, promoted a central exhibition space in the 

city for pictures. The society wanted to improve art appreciation in the community by 

making good works accessible. The society asked the Minister for Education to make 

available the museum room at the old Technical College in Hunter Street for an art 

gallery. 58 Other unused halls were suggested but nothing appears to have been 

achieved. 

Some writers claim that World War Two intervened and prevented the cultural centre 

and art gallery from materialising. 

A Newcastle Art Gallery took a step closer to realisation when Dr Roland Pope 

(1864-1952) offered the city his collection of 3,000 books and many paintings and 

drawings. The offer came not from any personal association with the city but because 

Newcastle was the most populous of provincial cities then lacking the advantages of 

cultural institutions. The gift was conditional on providing a suitable building - a 

public library and gallery – to house them. Further awareness of Dr Roland Pope, his 

collection policies and his vision is desirable for anyone seeking to know the story of 

Newcastle’s cultural centre. 

After War’s end the cultural centre movement was rekindled. A public meeting in 

1945 led to the formation of a committee to advance the cause. Choosing a site 

involved the community in many debates. Despite opposition by many people 

(including local residents and later, the planner of the Northumberland County 

Council) the Newcastle Council decided upon the Laman Street site in August 1946. 

57 Newcastle Morning Herald 31 October 1938 

58 Newcastle Morning Herald 19 April 1940 


A foundation stone laying ceremony here by the State governor was arranged for June 

1949. This was 6 years before any work started on the building. The inscription on 

the stone had to be changed when it was incorporated into the building in 1955. 59 

Newcastle Council resumed the Laman Street site with the exception of the Baptist 

Tabernacle. A group of Newcastle architects formed a panel named NEWMEC and 

by cooperative effort were responsible for the design of the new building. This panel 

consisted of architects Castleden and Sara, Hoskins and Pilgrim, Lees and Valentine 

and Pitt and Merewether. 60 Contractor V F Doran and Sons Ltd of Newcastle won the 

building tender. The building was smaller than the one proposed in the late 1930s. 

How this substantial building was paid for should not be forgotten. Major donations 

included an unknown amount from the council, and £10,000 from the Joint Coal 

Board, £10,000 from BHP, £2,500 from Lysaghts, £2,000 from Stewarts and Lloyds, 

£1,500 from the Newcastle Morning Herald and amounts of £1,000 from 

Commonwealth Steel, Australian Comforts Fund, breweries, Scott’s Ltd and Winn 

and Co. The State government gave £30,000 especially for the conservatorium. 

About £6,000 was raised from a scheme whereby 4,500 workers in industry and 

offices made a regular contribution from each week’s pay for a number of years. A 

similar scheme was introduced in the schools whereby children gave 3d each week 

until they had given 10 shillings. 61 

The governor opened the centre in October 1957. 

The building was Newcastle’s official World War Two Memorial to remember and 

honour the service and sacrifice of so many citizens in that conflict. This was 

expressed in the sculptured figures placed in the memorial foyer and the inscription 

‘In minds ennobled here the noble dead shall live’. 

The building housed the library, art gallery and conservatorium, provided a home for 

the Roland Pope collection and was a significant move in the council’s plan to 

provide Newcastle with a worthy civic and cultural precinct. 

Before the cathedral-like avenue of trees in Laman Street began to overshadow it, the 

cultural centre on the crest of the hill south of Civic Park was prominent and imposing 

with modern lines that complemented the ornate Corinthian façade of the adjoining 

Baptist Tabernacle and the Gothic design of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. 

The art gallery was at first housed in half of the second floor of the cultural centre 

until 1962 when the entire floor was made available for the growing collection. In 

1963 the von Bertouch Gallery - the first commercial gallery to be established outside 

an Australian capital city - opened in Laman Street. 62 This was a significant marker 

of growing public interest in art for which the Art Gallery can claim influence. 

Commercial firms, too, were taking an interest in art through sponsorship. 

In 1964 and again in 1966 crises arose when the abstract art that the director 

purchased and the buying of Fred William’s ‘Landscape in Upwey’ for $1,700 

outraged some aldermen. 63 . The outcome was that no restrictions were to be imposed 

59 Newcastle Morning Herald 13 May 1949, 22 October 1957 



62 ‘A Life Devoted to Art’, Newcastle Morning Herald 22 February 1983 

63 Newcastle Morning Herald 7 March 1964, 3 and 7 November 1966 


on purchases by the director. Visitor numbers to the gallery kept increasing, 

indicative of public interest and support. 

By the mid-1960s the library, conservatorium and art gallery were outgrowing their 

available space and examining their future needs. 64 Much negotiation ensued. In the 

early 1970s the vacant Frederick Ash buildings then owned by the council were 

proposed for new gallery space. The government architect made a detailed 

investigation, drew up designs and estimated costs. 65 The ‘feasible’ proposal was 

made public in 1971. Two years later the State government granted $100,000 towards 

the conversion ‘on the recommendation of the Minister for Cultural Activities’. 66 

Similar Federal government assistance was foreshadowed. However, the Sydney 

Opera House was absorbing all money for cultural capital works and all the output of 

the government architects. Almost no funds or architectural services were available 

for provincial cultural projects for several years. 67 

Early in 1974 ‘expert advice’ and rising costs influenced the council to abandon the 

Frederick Ash conversion after almost four years of effort. A new building was 

proposed instead. 68 By choosing a site for it adjoining the cultural centre, the 1940s 

plan to concentrate public cultural activities in the block bounded by Laman, Queen 

and Darby Streets was revived. The corner site chosen has an interesting history that 

has already been summarised. 

Architect B Pile drew up plans in 1974 and construction began in October 1976. The 

successful tenderer was A W Gardiner Pty Ltd. Queen Elizabeth II opened the 

‘Newcastle Regional Art Gallery’ in March 1977. 69 

(Escalating costs are of interest. In 1971 the conversion of Fred c Ash buildings for the 

Art Gallery was estimated at $100,000. By 1973 the estimate was $335,000. Later 

that year $500,000 was indicated. It was then estimated that a new building would 

cost ‘about the same’. In 1974 an estimate of $630,000 for the new building was 

revised to $758,000. The cost in 1977 was $1.34 million. 70 ) 

The Newcastle Region Art Gallery was shut for a year after the parapet of the 

neighbouring cultural centre fell through the gallery roof at the time of the Newcastle 

Earthquake. The building was sealed and art works removed while extensive repairs 

were undertaken. 

20.3 The Library 

Historically libraries bring to mind the Mechanics Institute/School of Arts movement 

of the early 19 th century. This movement led to the formation of many private 

societies, which came to be supported by the government and were later brought 

under the administration of the Department of Education, but the movement that 

created the institutions entered a period of decline in the 20 th century. 

64 Newcastle Morning Herald Leader, 14 October 1968 

65 Newcastle Morning Herald 26 March 1971 

66 Newcastle Morning Herald 8 August 1973 

67 Newcastle Morning Herald 21 May 1973 

68 Newcastle Morning Herald 15, 16 and 19 February 1974 

69 Newcastle Herald 6 June 1974, Newcastle Sun 7 March 1977 

70 Newcastle Morning Herald, 25 March 1971, 2 March 1973, 28 February 1974, 20 September 1974, 

7 March 1977 


A 1933 survey of Australia libraries led to the 1935 Munn-Pitt Report that 

recommended the establishment of a system of free public libraries provided by local 

councils out of rate revenue supported by the State government and staffed by trained 

librarians. This led to the formation of the Free Library Movement to advance the 

recommendations and then the passing of the Library Act of 1939, which enabled 

councils to set up such libraries. 71 As noted, Newcastle members of the Free Library 

Movement were active in working towards a cultural centre for Newcastle. 

When the cultural centre opened another benefactor handed over his valuable personal 

collection to the library. Wilfred Goold, a Newcastle businessman, had devoted the 

leisure hours of 30 years of his life to the study and recording of Newcastle’s early 

history. He was a founder of the Newcastle Historical Society and at the time 

‘Newcastle’s foremost historian’. In 1953, when he was made a fellow of the Royal 

Australian Historical Society, he was the only person outside the Sydney area to 

receive the honour. His collection included maps, photos, books, documents and a 

number of artefacts. A priceless item, and one that merits the utmost veneration, was 

the original commission signed by Governor King for the foundation of the settlement 

at Newcastle. 72 

By 1966 the lending section of the library had been shifted to the old School of Arts 

building in Hunter Street. The vacated space was immediately taken for the local 

history collection. The reference library was also short of space. The idea was put 

forward that the city library should occupy the entire building (with the local history 

section having an entire floor) and the conservatorium and art gallery should be 

housed in independent facilities. 73 

20.4 Performing Arts 

21 Ceremony and Celebration 

Figure 37: The Goold Building 

A recent facility provided by Newcastle City Council 

as a studio for rehearsals for the local performing arts 

industry is the hall in Auckland Street adjoining the 

former Nesca House. This building was at first a 

meeting hall for the Oddfellows Association, and in 

the mid-20 th century, the furniture showrooms of the 

Goold family business. Performing Arts Newcastle 

hold workshops, forums and other activities here that 

promote artistic talents within the Newcastle 

community. 

The balcony of City Hall is traditionally used to introduce distinguished visitors to the 

community and Civic Park is a special place for the community to gather on these 

71 The Australian Encyclopaedia Volume 4 The Grolier Society of Australia 1977 p. 6, 7 


73 Newcastle Morning Herald, Leader, 14 October 1968 


occasions. Just two years after the cultural centre opened Princess Alexandra visited 

Newcastle and was welcomed in this manner. 

Figure 38: Community 

welcome extended to 

Princess Alexandra in Civic 

Park in 1959 

Opening the cultural centre and improving the Civic Park land was accompanied by 

the establishment of Mattara, an annual spring festival promoting Newcastle’s 

cultural and commercial life. In the first year 1961 an 18-day carnival of frolic, 

pageantry and demonstration was planned, which would extend a hand of friendship 

or Mattara (in Aboriginal dialect) to visitors and showcase the city to a wide 

audience. The headquarters of Mattara was Civic Park, ‘hub of the city’s future 

Civic Square now in course of development’. On opening night a parade from 

Newcastle Beach to Civic Park preceded the launching ceremony and an outdoor 

concert. The event involved all forms of cultural expression. Performances and an art 

exhibition were focused in Civic Park. The winning design for a Civic Park fountain 

was announced. 

40,000 people lined the route of the procession that year, which involved 1,300 

participants. In following years the numbers grew. Community support in 

organisation and participation was willingly forthcoming. In 1983 the event was held 

over 8 days and more than 130,000 visitors attended. 

In succeeding years, balancing cultural and commercial participation in Mattara led to 

many debates. A downside to commercialism such as show rides in Civic Park was 

the damage done to the park, particularly the lawns. A downside to too many cultural 

events was limited appeal. Maintaining Mattara’s cultural base has been of 

paramount importance as well as providing interest for as wide a group of Newcastle 

people as possible. 

22 1960s Civic Park Civic Fountain 

Staged landscape improvements for Civic Park began in the 1960s when work started 

on the sandstone walls surrounding a RAAF memorial grove near the Laman/Darby 

Streets corner. The wall was continued along Laman Street and was completed about 

1968. 

In early 1961 council called for designs for a fountain for Civic Park and the proposal 

submitted by Margaret Hinder of Sydney was selected in September. The work of 

building the fountain infrastructure commenced in 1965, the still-water pool designed 


y architects Wilson and Suters and built by Newcastle contractor E Hinds Pty Ltd. A 

wide pathway and central cenotaph complemented the work. 

Water first sprayed from the fountain in September 1966 and an opening ceremony 

was held in November. The fountain was named the James Cook Memorial Fountain 

in 1970. The fountain completed the link between City Hall and War Memorial 

Cultural Centre. The formal structure created by this axis is the principal organising 

element in the design of Civic Park and the fountain is the modern inspiration for the 

city’s identifying graphic icon. Refurbishment of the over 30-year old fountain is a 

current project. 

23 1960s – proposed redevelopment of Civic Theatre 

In 1960 the council cleared the debt on the loan borrowed in the mid-1920s to 

construct the Town Hall and Civic Theatre complex. Proposals were aired about 

securing more space for a variety of council needs including office and administrative 

space and public lending library facilities. The town clerk predicted that any new 

buildings ‘would need to climb skywards’ to use the land to best advantage. 74 

A redevelopment proposal was put forward in the early 1960s in response to a 

technical advance in the movie industry – ‘Cinerama’. From the earliest years the 

Civic Theatre was principally used as a cinema under lease to Hoyts Cinemas. Hoyts 

engaged an architect Peter Muller to design a new development for the Civic Theatre 

complex site, which would provide modern cinema facilities, the additional office 

space the council needed and other office space for lease such as to a government 

department. Muller, who was influenced by Chinese designs, submitted a 9-storey 

‘pagoda’ design. The council supported the proposed development in principal. The 

existing block of 14 civic shops was acknowledged as uneconomic use for a valuable 

city site. 

74 Newcastle Morning Herald 1 April 1961 

Figure 39: Illustration of a model of a 

building proposed by Sydney architect 

Peter Muller for erection by Newcastle 

City Council on the corner of Wheeler 

Place and Hunter Street after the Civic 

Theatre Block had been demolished. 

Source: Newcastle Morning Herald 31 

July 1963 


Reaction from the community was varied. The self-interest of Hoyts in the 

arrangement caused concern. Those who wanted to keep the Civic for live theatre 

were told that the Century Theatre at Broadmeadow was a better option. 

Newcastle’s architects, town planners and others came together to question the 

development and the process that led to it. An appeal was made for a civic 

masterplan for the future development of the whole area. Too much isolated 

development had flowed from the County Plan, it was said. The economics of the 

‘pagoda’ plan may have been inadequate to favour its implementation. 75 The 

proposal faded from view but the importance of process, planning and community 

involvement was dramatically highlighted. 

Hoyts lease of the Civic Theatre terminated in 1973. Other cinemas including the 

Century at Broadmeadow closed about the same time. 

24 1960s –a masterplan for civic development 

Response to the proposed and isolated ‘pagoda’ development by the Newcastle 

divisions of the Institutes of Town Planning and Architecture included the submission 

for public comment of examples of what a masterplan for the whole ‘Civic Centre’ 

might be. Taken into account were ideas from the County Plan, traffic flow and 

management, acquisition of land upon which were deteriorated buildings, and places 

for a number of suitable prestige building overlooking Civic Park as centrepiece. One 

of the concepts is reproduced here. 

Figure 40: A suggested masterplan for the development of the civic block that was presented to the 

public in February 1966 and reproduced in the Newcastle Morning Herald 29 February 1966 

The Institutes suggested setting up an advisory body comprised of representatives of a 

number of Newcastle professional, environmental and government organisations. 

75 Newcastle Morning Herald 3 March, 15 April 1964 


25 Frederick Ash buildings 

Newcastle Council purchased all the properties of Fred c Ash Limited in 1969. The 

purchase provided a foundation for subsequent plans for civic development. At first 

the site of the Fred c Ash workshops on the Burwood/King Streets corner was chosen 

for the City Administration Building, which was in accord with all the masterplans to 

that time that focused civic buildings around Civic Park as the civic square. 

The Hunter Street facing Menkens designed Fred c Ash building is today recognised as 

a significant heritage item protected by a Permanent Conservation Order. The new 

Fred c Ash warehouse facing Burwood Street is also significant and both have proved 

pivotal to redevelopment plans for the civic precinct. Some awareness of Frederick 

Ash and his business and buildings is necessary to understand the part they played in 

the commercial history of Newcastle from which the heritage values have arisen. 

Frederick Ash (1832-1916) was one of Newcastle’s leading businessmen and 

property owners. His business included hardware, wallpaper, gas fittings and trades 

related to the home and commercial building industry. He was born in England in 

1832 and arrived in Newcastle in 1855. He started in business in a small cottage in 

Hunter Street and after a few years moved to larger leased premises on the 

King/Brown Streets corner. The business evolved into a brief partnership from 1860 

to 1866, then in 1887 a limited liability company. 

Importing was the major source of his supplies for which Ash made regular visits 

overseas. In the early 1900s one of his sons looked after the London office. 

His nephew John Ash (1850-1905) immigrated to Newcastle in 1865 and after an 

apprenticeship with his uncle commenced in business independently. In the 1870s 

John Ash established a timber yard, workshop and sawmills with a shop and dwelling 

on land leased from J&A Brown at the side and rear of Mrs Brown’s house and the 

Black Diamond Hotel. He probably leased additional land from the AA Company. In 

1898 John Ash purchased several portions of this land, on both sides of the Burwood 

coal railway and south of the allotments facing Hunter Street. 76 

About 1900 Frederick Ash appears to have bought land in this locality and built 

premises of his own. In 1901 he called tenders for a building on land that he bought 

from John. 77 This land was immediately behind the site of what was to become the 

Menkens’ designed building. He subsequently bought this latter site, which was part 

of William Andrew Sparke’s earlier purchase. Frederick Menkens designed the 4level 

shop, warehouse and office building, which was built during Ash’s absence 

overseas in 1904. 78 

This building is one of nine warehouses or bond store buildings, which Menkens 

designed in central Newcastle and one of three completed by him in 1905 in the 

Federation warehouse style. The designs of these warehouses helped establish the 

characteristic townscape of the commercial centre of Newcastle. 

John Ash died in Newcastle in 1905. 79 

76 Godden Mackay, ‘Frederick Ash Building Conservation Plan and Civic Site Archaeological 

Assessment’, draft final report, 1992 p. 23 

77 Newcastle Morning Herald, 15 June 1901 

78 An account of his visit to London is in Newcastle Morning Herald 7 February 1905 

79 Newcastle Morning Herald 20 and 22 May 1905 


In 1909, two of Frederick Ash’s sons were among the Board of Management of the 

company of which Frederick was Managing Director. 80 

Frederick Ash died in England in 1915 aged 85 years. Three sons and 5 daughters 

survived him. His wife predeceased him. Her death occurred in Switzerland. At the 

time of his own death he was travelling to Switzerland. Further research may indicate 

more about his connection with Switzerland. Very few details about Frederick Ash’s 

life in Newcastle have been located. In 1905 he was noted for the hospitality he 

extended to British visitors to Newcastle. At the time of his death he was recalled as 

interested in technical education, having made a generous gift of technical books to 

the Newcastle School of Arts on his return from overseas in 1905. 81 

A survey plan of Newcastle city dated 1922 indicate that the Fred c Ash business 

occupied a complex of buildings on a significant part of the land between Burwood 

and Darby, and Burwood and Hunter Streets. 82 All the buildings between Hunter and 

Burwood Streets joined to form an enclosed yard, part of which was ‘covered’. 

Between Burwood and Darby Street Fred c Ash had another complex of buildings and 

yards. 

In September 1925 two Fred c Ash Burwood Street buildings, one of 7-storeys and the 

other of 3 or 4 storeys, were destroyed by fire. Property loss was about £80,000. 

This was the city’s worst fire since 1908 when the David Cohen warehouse in Scott 

Street was lost. 

Amid other damage, the walls of the 7-storey building sequentially fell in and the 

mass of shattered brickwork strewed Burwood Street for its entire width blocking the 

colliery railway line. The fall of the massive counter-weight of the lift in this building 

was another ‘awe-inspiring spectacle’. Exploding drums of oil and paint threw out 

gushes of ‘polychromatic flame’. Sparks and ashes threatened to set alight a number 

of lesser buildings in the vicinity. After the fire, the remaining parts of the buildings 

were pulled down. 

The city lost a ‘conspicuous structural feature of the city’ - a red brick 7-storey 

landmark structure. 

The fire led to an inquiry and various reports into the performance of the buildings’ 

structures, materials used, lifts and so on, and apparently enabled the modification of 

building regulation. 

A 5-storey rendered brick warehouse facing Burwood Street, known as the ‘new’ 

Fred c Ash Building, was the work of Pitt and Merewether and erected followed the 

1925 fire. Architectural and structural comparison with the fire-destroyed 7-storey 

building (well described in the reports at the time of the fire) would be an interesting 

study for the evolution of building standards and the 1920s-1930s approach to fire 

risk management. A description of this building in the Godden Mackay report notes 

that the interiors reflect ‘comparatively advanced construction’. 83 

By 1930 the company had a number of factories in the Newcastle district and 

branches in Wollongong, Cessnock, Sydney (Leichhardt, Marrickville), and London. 

80 Godden Mackay, p. 24 

81 Newcastle Morning Herald 7 February 1905, 31 October and 1 November 1916 

82 Local Studies Library map of Newcastle showing buildings and their use LHM B 690/1-4 

83 Godden Mackay, …, card 11 of 11, Appendix, not paginated 


(Later a branch opened at Lismore.) For the next 30 years the business flourished and 

it was said that ‘nowhere else was there such a comprehensive hardware store’. 84 

The business appears to have specialised in shop fronts and shop fittings in the years 

up to the 1930s. This era saw the growth of suburbs and suburban shopping centres 

with modern shop fronts reflecting up-to-date marketing trends. The Fred c Ash- 

Menkens building itself was significantly altered by the installation of one of these 

modern shop fronts. The entrance door was set further into the building and a 

showcase window constructed on either side of the created space. Ceramic tiles were 

added to the façade and an awning suspended over the footpath. 85 

In 1969 the company was take over and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Swans 

Limited. Following 1969 all the Fred c Ash properties were sold to Newcastle City 

Council. Shortly after, the adjoining Hunter Street property was purchased also. 

From this time, a number of proposals for new uses for the Fred c Ash building 

(Hunter Street) have been put forward. The first was for the relocation of the 

Newcastle Art Gallery (1972-1974). Next (in 1979/80) was a redevelopment proposal 

for offices with a mall in the demolished sports store. In this proposition, a bank 

(Commonwealth) and the council were to occupy the ground floor the rear of which 

was to connect with the City Administration Building. The upper floors were to be 

available for commercial lease. Council already utilised the building for furniture 

storage, the council’s print plant, and records storage. 

By 1980, the heritage qualities of the building had been recognised, which restricted 

the site redevelopment options. In 1985 the National Trust upgraded the heritage 

classification of the building from a ‘recorded’ listing to ‘classified’ because of its 

association with Frederick Menkens and its outstanding contribution to the built 

environment of Newcastle. 

In 1987 a hotel was proposed for the Fred c Ash site, retaining only the building’s 

façade. This was part of Stage 2 of a development that comprised a hotel, office 

block and retail development. (Stage One was the Taxation Office). Demolition of 

the body of the Fred c Ash building was not permissible under the Heritage Act and an 

interim conservation order was placed on the building. A year later a modified plan 

for the hotel development won Heritage Council approval. However, no progress 

eventuated for the Stage 2 work. 

Meanwhile in May 1989 a Permanent Conservation Order was issued for the 1905 

building and the National Trust additionally recognised this and the adjoining 

buildings as contributing to a distinctive early 20 th century streetscape. 

In 1991, a group of Newcastle University students proposed that vacant inter city 

office blocks and warehouses, including Fred c Ash, could be reused as student 

accommodation, which would additionally help revitalise the CBD. 

In the 1990s the building was restored for office use, which is described later. 

The heritage values assigned to the Fred c Ash buildings have played a significant part 

in redevelopment proposals since 1970. It was unclear at various times what was to 

be preserved – the Hunter Street façade only, the façade plus a number of bays of the 

warehouse, the entire warehouse, and the Burwood Street building. The item was cast 

84 Godden Mackay … p. 25 

85 Godden Mackay, … p. 33 


in opposing light in a lengthy debate over retaining traditional streetscape qualities, or 

providing opportunities for total commercial renewal. 

26 1970s – City Administration Building 

The Greater Newcastle Act 1937 led to the amalgamation of eleven municipal 

councils and parts of two shires to form the Greater Newcastle Council in 1938. 

Although the business of the ESD moved to Nesca House in 1939, the function of the 

Newcastle District Abattoir Board was transferred to council and the extra 

administrative work this entailed overtaxed available space in the City Hall. 

Departments were regularly dispersed in nearby accommodation. 

From the 1950s the need for a new council administration building was recognised. 

Consideration was given to adding a third floor to the City Hall. Provision had been 

made for this option when built in 1929. 

The proposed multi storeyed ‘pagoda’ redevelopment of the Civic Theatre complex in 

the early 1960s would have provided Newcastle Council with much needed additional 

office space. This did not eventuate. Council’s need for additional office 

accommodation continued even though the Abattoir Department removed to Waratah. 

The town clerk investigated the possibility of buying the land on the Burwood/King 

Street corner, then occupied by Fred c Ash workshops, for a new office building. After 

several years of negotiations, in 1969 a sale of the entire Fred c Ash property was 

secured, the company leasing back their required space for the rest of their period of 

occupancy. The purchase gave the council the opportunity to implement the 

masterplan concept for a substantial civic square. The great enhancement of Civic 

Park undertaken in the 1960s provided a centrepiece for a new prestige civic building, 

which was approved in 1970. 

The City Administration Centre was built to a design by architects Romberg and 

Boyd in association with local architects Wilson and Suters, who had also supervised 

previously the Cook Memorial Fountain in Civic Park. Work commenced in 1972 

and was completed in 1977. 86 

The ‘well-constructed’ Fred c Ash Burwood Street 

warehouse was seen as a most favourable acquisition of 

significant advantage. By linking it to the new building 

valuable space for storage and other purposes would be 

provided. 

Figure 41: Civic Administration Building, 1977 

86 Extracted from the Invitation to the Official Opening 23 June 1977 

The large circular multi-storeyed concrete cone was of 

a vastly different design to other large Newcastle 

buildings. There was an echo of the ‘pagoda’ concept 

in as much as the upper levels projected over the lower 

levels. The ‘Newcastle City Administration Building’, 

as it was named, had 9 floors above the ground and 

three levels below the ground that were provided for car 


parking. Its circular form enabled the building to relate to every aspect from which it 

was viewed. This quality enabled the building to relate to Civic Park, but equally to 

City Hall, Wheeler Place and the as yet unidentified precinct later called ‘Civic site’. 

Wheeler Place separated the new building from the City Hall and was adapted as a 

pedestrian plaza. The vacated City Hall was seen as an available space for the Art 

Gallery, or the Conservatorium of Music, or a professional live theatre. However, 

redevelopment for a first-class convention centre with three function rooms, a banquet 

room and a concert hall was determined upon. Providing such facilities in the civic 

area led to awareness of the desirability of a nearby first-class hotel. 

Refurbishment of City Hall progressed during 1980-1981 and the governor of New 

South Wales opened the new work, which was awarded Royal Australian Institute of 

Architect honours, in May 1981. 

The City Administration Building has proved costly to maintain and has been recently 

proposed for alternative uses. Apart from hotel and casino purposes, residential use 

has been lately suggested. 

27 Civic development proposals since 1977 

Some observers have noted that the masterplan concept having Civic Park as the 

focus of a civic square surrounded by prestige civic buildings began to be changed 

after the completion of the City Administration Building. The retirement of the town 

clerk who had overseen the work of the previous few decades was also identified as a 

factor in this changed perspective. 87 

The opportunity to consolidate civic and government functions around the civic 

square received a setback in 1978 when the State government chose a site in Bull 

Street for a major office block that was completed in 1983. 88 

About this time the Federal government indicated its need for a large office block in 

Newcastle and called tenders for a site or building package in the inner city. 89 In 

response, council bought several more properties in the precinct surrounding the Fred c 

Ash property and negotiated for others. The land was an asset for negotiations about 

the Federal offices, said to be a $10 million development, and a hotel. However, no 

immediate progress was made. 

28 1980s – an international standard hotel 

Revitalisation of the city’s business core was a high priority in the 1980s following 

many years of population shift and new shopping patterns focused in the suburbs. 

Many strategies, including tourism and related opportunities, were put forward. 

In 1981 the concept of a 13-storey (45 m high) 250-room hotel on the Fred c Ash site 

that incorporated Heritage Council guidelines for the warehouse restoration, was 

made public (Figure 42). At the time the proposed hotel was the largest between 

Sydney and Brisbane and likely cost was about $27 million. Negotiations involved a 

87 Brian Cogan ‘Lost Vision of Civic Park’, Newcastle Morning Herald 13 March 1978 

88 Barry Maitland, Architecture Newcastle, p. 169 



financier and lessee. Many jobs would be available in the building phase and in the 

subsequent staffing stage, thereby assisting employment opportunities in the district. 90 

The town clerk was reported to have said that council’s role was to act as a catalyst 

and that council was considering having equity in the development that would provide 

an income stream in the future. 91 

Two years later, in December 1983, it was apparent that up-to-date economic analysis 

of the proposal had made it unlikely to proceed. 92 

Figure 42: This concept for a 13-storey hotel for the Fred c Ash site was published in the Newcastle 

Morning Herald 30 September 1981 

In 1984 an administrator replaced Newcastle’s elected council. During 1985, the 

administrator and town clerk continued to investigate opportunities for development 

of the council-owned land and, it was reported, approved a development application 

for a 12-storey tower, hotel and shopping complex, to occupy the block bounded by 

Hunter, King and Burwood Streets and Wheeler Place. 93 In this scheme the City 

Administration Building was marked for a future casino, the council offices moving 

to the new tower. The Sydney interest involved in this project was named ‘Tavolan 

Pty Ltd’ and this company secured an 18-month option on the land to be occupied by 

the development. The negotiations progressed through several designs without much 

public input or opportunity for open discussion. 94 

By the time an elected council returned to the council chambers in September 1986, 

the scheme had grown from earlier cost estimates of $25 million and $40 million to a 

new estimate of $70 million. The envisaged site had expanded to encompass 

Burwood Street and most of the wedge bounded by King and Darby Streets. In 

addition to the international hotel were two multi-storeyed office blocks of 12 and 8 

storeys, a major department store and shops and a pedestrian mall. Newcastle 

Council would occupy space in one new office building and the City Administration 

Building would be linked to the hotel and converted to a casino. 

When the cost of resumption of businesses operating on the northern part of the 

Burwood/Darby Street wedge was estimated, and found costly, the site was modified. 

Providing sufficient parking for a hotel, shops and offices was always a major item 

90 Newcastle Morning Herald 30 September, 12 December 1981 

91 Newcastle Herald 30 September 1981 

92 Newcastle Sun 13 December 1983 

93 Newcastle Star 9 April 1986 

94 Newcastle Herald, Editorial, 16 October 1986 


for analysis in any development ideas and usually found wanting. The council 

planner briefed the new aldermen about the effects of the height and scale of the 

proposed buildings in relation to the existing cityscape, and the wind and shade 

effects on Civic Park. He thought a model should be prepared so that the community 

could understand the effects the proposal would have on the civic and cultural 

precinct. Public debate was called for too, but it appeared, at first, that it was too late 

as the negotiations with the council through the administrator had progressed too 

far. 95 The development, said to be the biggest since BHP steelworks set up, had been 

approved, with a number of conditions. 


96 Newcastle Herald 11 June 1987 

Figure 43: This 

drawing depicts the 

proposed 1986 

development and was 

published in the 

Newcastle Morning 


During 1987, the Federal government 

confirmed that it would lease a building 

for a Taxation Office. Negotiations 

favoured the site bound by Burwood, 

King and Darby Streets. The council 

owned some of the land and the rest a 

private owner and the Department of 

Housing. Tavolan Pty Ltd ‘part of the 

Neeta Group of companies’ won the 

tender to provide the office block, which 

was called ‘Stage One’ of the overall 

plan. The value of the office block built 

was $30 million. 96 The contractor was 

Jennings Industries Limited. The project 

was completed in 1989. 

Figure 44: illustration of the 1988 proposal for 

the civic site development including the Taxation 

Office (Stage One) and Stage Two, for a hotel, 

shopping, and other government purposes. 

Concept as published in the Newcastle Morning 

Herald 20 November 1987 


Stage Two was planned to be the hotel (and possibly the second office block and 

retail development), on the other side of Burwood Street behind the City 

Administration Building and incorporating ‘the façade of the Fred c Ash building’. 

When this became publicly known, it was apparent that the design did not meet the 

requirements of the building’s heritage status. Stage Two did not go ahead. It is 

difficult to evaluate whether economic realities, heritage issues or both were the 

determinants. The proposed buildings conformed to council’s height code of 45m. 

Some opinion thought that they were squat and bulky and occupied too much of the 

site. 

In response, Newcastle Council then engaged a Sydney architect Philip Cox to 

prepare an Urban Design Study for the council owned land. This study, made public 

in March 1988, recommended a new height code that allowed a more flexible 

approach such as a limited number of slim, up to 23-storey tower blocks (>90m) on 

the site. Council retained Philip Cox to review the second stage and Tavolan Pty Ltd 

also sought his expertise in revised design work. 

Figure 45: When Philip Cox’s recommendations were made public this is how an artist depicted a 

possible design for a tower on the civic site. Newcastle Herald 23 March 1988 

In November 1987 Tavolan Pty Ltd made a development inquiry to council for a 

much larger proposal for the further development of the civic land. The new costing 

was about $100 million and comprised a triple cinema, another government office 

block, a private office block, a department store and other retail shops and a 200-bed 

international standard hotel. These buildings would occupy the rest of the section 

bounded by King, Darby and Hunter Streets and Wheeler Place and require the 

elimination of Burwood Street, the line of the old coal railway. Several freestanding 

buildings were proposed, the largest 16-storeys high (>60m). 97 This tower, 

conforming to Philip Cox’s recommendations and possibly designed by him in 

association with Tavolan, was said to have enabled some open space to be provided, 

as well as a satisfactory financial return to the investors. The only existing buildings 

97 Newcastle Herald 12 November 1987 


to remain in the precinct in this plan were the City Administration Building and (part 

of) the Fred c Ash building. 

A few months later, in April 1988, a more extensive concept was made public. The 

Fred c Ash building was again incorporated into an international hotel, which was to be 

flanked on the east by a low-line retail and cinema complex, and a 34-storey (>120m) 

office and retail tower at the Darby Street corner. Council now owned all but three 

properties within the block between Darby and Hunter Streets and Wheeler Place, 

designated for this development. 

Figure 46: Plan showing arrangement of Stage Two 

buildings on the civic land 

Public meetings, petitions, green bans, and a 

challenge in the Land and Environment Court 

followed the initial community reaction to the 31storey 

tower proposal. Newcastle Trades Hall 

Council, the Newcastle Division of the Royal 

Australian Institute of Architects, the National 

Trust and a coalition of resident action groups led the counteraction. 

The tower scheme won the approval of the council in June 1988. The proposal 

appears to have been expanded in scope again because in October 1988, a new 

company ‘Babiya Constructions’ presented a revised scheme. The development 

remained the same but the new overall scheme also included the Town Hall, Nesca 

House and the City Administration Building. 

Community groups called upon the Minister for Planning to institute a public inquiry 

into the development consent granted to Babiya. 98 Amid other considerations it was 

said that the publicly owned civic land was being developed without calling public 

tenders. By December 1988 the anti-tower petition carried over 6000 signatures. 

Figure 47: The 31-storey tower would be higher than the Hill plus the Cathedral plus the Town Hall. 

This impression was published in the Newcastle Morning Herald 17 June 1988 

Meanwhile, geo-technical considerations brought about the need to significantly 

lower the planned tower to 23 storeys. The presence of old coal workings beneath the 

ground led to this alteration. 

98 Newcastle Herald 18 October 1988 


(Part of the civic site is about 20 metres (variable) above the Yard coal seam and 

about 60 metres above the Borehole coal seam, both of which were worked in the 19 th 

century. Any building over three storeys in height needs concrete infill of the Yard 

seam to satisfy Mines Subsidence Board requirements. This was the case with the 

Australian Taxation Office. Any building over 20 storeys needed geo-technical 

investigation of the status of the Borehole seam workings. 99 ) 

In June 1989, under legal challenge in the Land and Environment Court, Babiya 

agreed to surrender the approval for the controversial development and the option 

over the site subsequently expired. 100 No more plans would be considered, it was 

said, until the State government and the Newcastle Council undertook a major joint 

‘city centre’ study. 

Three months later it was announced that council had bought additional properties 

between Burwood and Darby Streets thereby affirming its commitment to the redevelopment 

of an extended site. 101 

29 Civic site since the Newcastle Earthquake December 1989 

The Newcastle Earthquake December 1989 interrupted many things including the site 

study proposed by the State government. The event caused varying degrees of 

damage to many buildings. To some people the earthquake provided an opportunity 

to demolish buildings seen as of little economic use. Other people challenged the 

haste to demolish familiar city buildings without more thorough investigation into the 

need to do so. 

The city’s commercial interests looked forward to a new Newcastle, post-earthquake, 

with high rise, high profile landmark buildings. 102 Council also saw advantage in 

removing all the old civic land buildings that were bought for precinct redevelopment, 

with the exception of the Fred c Ash building, which was protected by a Permanent 

Conservation Order. 

Concerned for the preservation of the heritage values of the city, the National Trust 

however acted in February 1990 to recognise and list numerous items hitherto 

unrecorded but now under threat, including those in the civic block marked for 

demolition and all the buildings in the ‘Fred c Ash group’. The National Trust also 

appealed for demolitions to be postponed until new development applications were 

approved. However, council who now owned all the buildings between Darby Street 

and Wheeler Place except for the Brown Derby Café, which had been purchased by 

the company that had proposed the 34-storey tower and associated development103 wanted to enhance the land package for development. Demolition of three of the 

listed buildings between the Clarendon Hotel and the Hunter/Burwood Streets corner 

was sanctioned and carried out in July 1990. 104 Conservation groups regretted the 

destruction of the horizontal perspective of the civic streetscape. 

99 ‘Civic Site Prospectus’, 1992, p 34 


101 Newcastle Herald 6 September 1989 

102 Newcastle Herald 5 January 1990 


104 Buildings demolished were the NBS building, the Israel building, and the Commercial Retail 

Building (Nos 323 to 333 Hunter Street) and No 10 Burwood Street 


Intention to demolish more of the newly listed council owned Hunter Street facing 

buildings including the Clarendon Hotel provoked further protests. Demolition was 

seen as destroying a practical option for redevelopment, one that conserved the early 

20 th century design and scale of Hunter Street. 

Others believed that a cleared and vacant site was desirable. Commercial interests 

additionally favoured demolition of the buildings so that the land could be made 

available for car parking, pending the major development. 105 Lack of car parking in 

the CBD was said to be the biggest obstacle to the revitalisation of the city centre. 

Figure 48: buildings between the Clarendon Hotel and Burwood Street prior to demolition 

In the post-earthquake period Newcastle City Council was again in need of additional 

office space. The round design of the City Administration Building had proved less 

practical than more conventional offices designs. Some council owned buildings had 

sustained earthquake damage. Leased temporary office space in Hunter Street was 

expensive. Consideration was given to buying back Nesca House, and to buying 

another Darby Street property (the former Joint Coal board building) for a new office 

building. Converting the Fred c Ash building for office accommodation was an option 

discussed in 1991, although opposed by some councillors as a ‘waste of money’. 106 

Buying more property provoked the Secretary of Trades Hall Council to reproach the 

council for its apparent lack of an integrated strategic plan for the civic redevelopment 

and its own accommodation problems. The wisdom of buying even more buildings 

was questioned. (Council had already acquired 15 properties in the Civic block at a 

cost of over $11 million.) Adaptive reuse of the Fred c Ash building was said to be a 

practical plan. There were plenty of good examples of recycled warehouses in 

Newcastle converted into quality office space. 107 

105 Newcastle Herald 7 February 1990 


107 Newcastle Herald 2 July 1991, letter from Peter Barrack Secretary Newcastle Trades Hall Council 


30 1992 Civic Prospectus 

In June 1991, a development consultant was appointed to the council’s earthquake 

renewal unit. The task was to ‘draw together’ differing views on the future of the 

civic site, as proposed just prior to the earthquake, and reach a much needed 

consensus about future development. Also, a Conservation Plan was commissioned 

for the Fred c Ash building, which made recommendations about how the building 

could be conserved. 108 Conservation of the whole structure was the preferred option 

but others options were identified. 109 

The outcome was a draft Prospectus, which suggested options for the whole site and 

guidelines for building height, land use and development intensity. A period of 

community consultation followed. Two workshops were held in July 1992 and over 

20 written submissions were received, which documented every public concern. The 

Fred c Ash Conservation Plan options were included for discussion in the workshops. 

In December 1992 the Prospectus, the workshop outcomes and submissions, and 

other information was put together into a Civic Site Prospectus and Information 

Package. A special publication The Civic Site was prepared, which invited interested 

developers to consider the suggested and preferred options for the site and financing 

options as well. 

Community voices suggested encouraging small developers to acquire small portions 

of land to house their own businesses, creating a village-like precinct of two or three 

storey buildings housing services and clean manufacturing, adhering to a streetscape 

conservation design. 

The best financial return to both council and financier was said to be a scheme that 

included two office towers. However, council was also seeking civic benefits for the 

whole community. 

(The town clerk retired in February 1992 replaced by a general manager.) 

In response to the Prospectus, from three design and tender proposals council selected 

Peddle Thorpe /Walker (architect/planner) and John Holland Construction and 

Engineering (builder) in December 1993 as submitting the best concepts. By August 

1994, no outward progress had been made but the proposals did progress through a 

lengthy process involving representatives of the community through a Civic Site 

Reference Group. Issues that occupied the negotiations included the financial 

arrangements for the work and the processes involved in implementation. The 

proposals of the 1980s had involved private sector financing. Those in response to 

the Prospectus sought council financing in a ‘design and construct’ exercise. Finding 

an acceptable solution to the restoration and reuse of the Fred c Ash building was time 

consuming and the entire site redevelopment was seen as long-term. However, the 

restored Fred c Ash building would form the centrepiece of a creative urban renewal 

project and an enhanced civic plaza would create public spaces for cultural 

expression. 

108 Fred c Ash Building Conservation Plan and Civic Site Archaeological Assessment, by Godden 

Mackay, prepared for the Planning Workshop, Rankin and Hill and the Council of the City of 

Newcastle, July 1992 

109 At the same time a (draft) ‘Newcastle Central Area Strategy’ document was prepared in August 

1991, which provided for future development in a number of identified precincts in the city, of which 

the civic site was one. The civic site was allowed buildings of height 45 m, which was the maximum 

between the extremes of Newcastle East and Newcastle West (see page 29 of the Strategy) 


The Peddle Thorpe/Walker and Holland Constructions plan was refined and in 

October 1994 an acceptable design solution was arrived at for the Fred c Ash building, 

which would be kept in its continuous length and adaptively reused for offices. A 

walkway through the building formed by opening up two bays was agreed to. This 

allowed direct access between Wheeler Place and Burwood Street and opened up land 

for further public space. Restoration that preserved the historic features according to 

Burra Charter conservation guidelines was subsequently undertaken. The rear section 

and upper floors were available for council office space and negotiations with 

Westpac brought the bank into the front section on the ground floor as a tenant. In 

October 1997 the Fred c Ash building reopened for business as Westpac Civic Branch. 

(The tenancy was terminated in February 2000 and the space was taken for additional 

council purposes.) 

In 1995, Council engaged heritage consultants Godden Mackay Pty Ltd to prepare a 

Heritage Impact Statement for the remaining early 20 th century buildings on the 

Newcastle Civic Site. 110 

Restoration of the Clarendon Hotel and the construction of a new extension for 

accommodation occurred in 1997 and 1998 and the hotel reopened in December 1999. 

A new building that opened onto Wheeler Place was erected at the rear of the Bennett 

building. 

A new office building (called the part round building) was proposed to replace the 

new Fred c Ash warehouse but the scheme was not implemented. Instead, in 1999 

council approached three architecture companies to submit adaptive reuse designs for 

the warehouse. Their ideas included premium residential, affordable residential, 

public use, hotel accommodation and commercial offices. Cost estimates indicated 

that all adaptive reuses would need subsidisation by council. Demolition or façade 

retention only opportunities were not analysed. 111 

In the Peddle Thorpe/Holland plan, new two or three storey buildings on the vacant 

land between the Clarendon Hotel and Burwood Street were designed to maintain the 

scale of the Hunter Street streetscape and step up to taller buildings on the Burwood 

Street corner and the Darby Street corner. 

In 1997/8 the opportunity arose to build an office block for lease to Telstra. The 

corner site of Darby and Burwood Streets (the former Royal Hotel and City Motel) 

was chosen. New technology and building methods enabled safe foundation for this 

low-rise stepped building, which is constructed above historic coalmines. 112 

Recently the cleared site (used for car parking since 1992) on the corner of Hunter and 

Burwood Streets has been offered for sale by public tender, inviting development of 

this vacant area guided by the plan. 113 

31 Wheeler Place – celebration ceremony and performance 

Wheeler Place was named for Harry Lambert Wheeler (1889-1982) who was mayor 

of Newcastle Council from 1928 to 1929, when the Town Hall and Civic Theatre 

110 Heritage Impact Statement for the Newcastle Civic Site, Godden Mackay 1996 

111 Newcastle City Council Minutes Item 143 of 17 August 1999 

112 Newcastle Herald 11 December 1996 

113 Newcastle Herald 19 August 1999 


complex was completed. A solicitor, he joined the partnership Harris Wheeler in 

1919, after distinguished service in World War One. 

The design of the Town Hall/Civic Theatre complex allowed for a new road linking 

Hunter and King Street. Wheeler Place was formerly the site of J&A Brown’s 

historic Black Diamond Hotel, known to seafarers from around the world. Occupying 

land near the Black Diamond Hotel was John Ash and Sons timber yard, later 

destroyed by fire. This site was chosen by many visiting circuses for their 

entertainments114 , which echoes today’s use of the space as a place of performances. 

Council built a shop on the new corner, which was first used as the ESD showroom. 

By the 1940s, as the illustration shows, Simpson’s Drapery occupied the building, 

which apparently the council sold when the electricity showroom moved to a site 

behind Nesca House. The Bank of New South Wales replaced this shop in the mid- 

1960s with a substantial building for a Civic Branch. 

For many years Wheeler Place was a thoroughfare. After the City Administration 

Building opened, a landscaped pedestrian plaza was formed between this and the City 

Hall, which was then beautified with artwork. The concept of altering the nature of 

Wheeler Place appears to have arisen in the 1980s amid ideas for the Civic Theatre 

restoration. The ‘civic square’ concept shifted from Civic Park (a rest and recreation 

place) to Wheeler Place or Plaza (a performance space and focus for public life). 

As part of the Peddle Thorpe/Holland design, the demolition of the Westpac Bank 

Civic Branch was proposed not only to enlarge Wheeler Place but also to open a view 

corridor to the harbour. In August 1996 council agreed to purchase the bank building 

and demolition occurred in early 1998. 

This enabled the erection of a steel art wall (30 m x 9.2 m) along the western 

elevation of the Fred c Ash building and the installation of several sculptural works. In 

1997, for the Newcastle bicentenary celebrations, Wheeler Place was a festival zone 

venue for many artistic performances. This new civic/cultural square provides a 

public space where large-scale open-air events and festivals can reinforce the cultural 

component of Newcastle’s civic precinct. The space is the key link between the 

cultural and civic precincts and the Honeysuckle site. 

32 1990s -Honeysuckle 

The Honeysuckle project was initiated in the early 1990s to assist in revitalising 

Newcastle’s central business district and is one of the largest urban renewal projects 

presently occurring in Australia. Public funding for planning and infrastructure laid 

the foundation for private sector investment. About 50 ha of former industrial land 

(government owned) beside the harbour is presently undergoing sale and development 

for residential, commercial, recreation and leisure purposes, initiating a great change 

in this part of the city. 

The 1991 Honeysuckle Development Masterplan or Concept was independent from a 

planning perspective of the precincts identified in the Newcastle Central Area 

Strategy 1991. However, the Honeysuckle Masterplan was relevant to the civic site in 

providing a linkage between Civic Park and the harbour. 

114 Article by F A Cadell, Newcastle Morning Herald 18 September 1937 


Management of the civic site and the Honeysuckle land has progressed in parallel 

during the 1990s with complementary outcomes. In 1995, an Urban Design Plan for 

Newcastle Civic Area was produced by Allen Jack + Cottier and others. The plan 

identifies twelve special precincts in the Honeysuckle-Civic area and suggests designs 

for access, heritage, landscaping, paving, street furniture, lighting, public art, 

activities and so on. The outcome was to create a framework that would allow a 

unified approach to environmental enhancement. 

As noted, the Honeysuckle precinct extends the civic focus to the harbour. 

Harbourside land has proved more appropriate for the desired hotel development and 

also for another large office block. The enlarged Wheeler Place has provided 

important view corridors between the harbour and the landmark buildings surrounding 

Civic Park. Landscape designs, such as those of Allen Jack + Cottier, have guided the 

integration of the two areas. An example of the work done to date to achieve 

integration includes using uniform paving materials in new streetscapes. 

The many design concepts for the Civic Site and links with Honeysuckle can be seen 

in the several reports prepared by the abovementioned consultants. 


33 Acknowledgment of Sources 

Books: 

PA Pemberton, Pure Merinos and Others, Australian National University Archives of 

Business and labour, 1986 

Peter Armstrong, From Council to Corporation, Peter Armstrong, Newcastle, 2002 

W J Goold, The Borough of Newcastle, Newcastle and Hunter District Historical 

Society Publication No 6 

D Hartley, Men of their Time, Aquila Agribusiness Pty Ltd, North Arm Cove, 1995 

Ron Parsons, The Black Diamond Line of Collier, Ron Parsons, Magill SA, 1972 

Thomas Scottowe, The Scottowe Manuscript, facsimile edition edited by T Bonyhady, 

David Ell Press and Horden House, 1988 

John Turner Who was Who in the Hunter Valley Towns in 1888, Hunter History 

Publications, Sydney, 1984 

G W Walker, A History of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church Newcastle, St Andrew’s 

Presbyterian Church Newcastle, Newcastle, 1990 

Elizabeth Mary Dangar, William Dangar of Turanville, Scone Historical Society 

Monograph No 1, Scone and Upper Hunter historical Society, 1968 

C E Smith, Dr James Mitchell, Newcastle History Monographs No 1, Newcastle 

Public Library, Newcastle, 1966 

Barry Maitland, Architecture Newcastle, RAIA Newcastle Division, Newcastle, 1997 

Kenneth Wiseman, From Park to Palace - the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music 

1952-1986, Newcastle, 1988 

Grolier Society of Australia The Australian Encyclopaedia 1977 Volume 4 

Illustrations 

‘Newcastle 1874’ by Samuel Calvert Reproduced from an engraving in the Newcastle 

Public Library by Hunter History Publications, printed by Davies and 

Cannington Pty Ltd Newcastle nd 

Newcastle 1889 by A Scott Broad reproduced from the lithograph in the Newcastle 

Public Library by Hunter History Publications, printed by Davies and 

Cannington Pty Ltd Newcastle nd. 

Reports 

Godden Mackay, ‘Fred c Ash Building Conservation Plan and Civic Site 

Archaeological Assessment’, draft final report, 1992 

Forsite Landscape Architects and Planners, ‘Newcastle Civic Park Plan of 

Management’, Newcastle City Council, 1989 

Newcastle City Centre Urban Design and Heritage (Draft) Guidelines, Newcastle 

City Council, 1989 

Newcastle Central Area Strategy Newcastle City Council 1991 

The Civic Site, registration of interest document, Newcastle City Council 1992 

Civic Site Prospectus 25 September 1992 (91S305/91098) 

Civic Site Prospectus and information package Newcastle City Council 1992 

Newcastle Civic Site Tender, John Holland Construction and Engineering Pty Ltd and 

Peddle Thorpe Architects, November 1993-February 1994 


Newcastle Civic Site Heritage Impact Statement, Godden Mackay Pty Ltd, January 1996 

Urban Design Plan Newcastle Civic Area, Allen Jack + Cottier and others, 

Honeysuckle Development Newcastle, 1995 

Other resources 

Newcastle Region Public Library Local Studies 

Interview, Brian Eastoe September 2002 

Selected Business Papers, Newcastle City Council 

Newspapers 

Newcastle Morning Herald Newcastle Herald 

Newcastle Sun Newcastle Star 

Maitland Mercury 

Sources of illustrations used 

Abbreviations: NPL = Newcastle Public Library 

NB = Photo used by Norm Barney 

Figure Description Source 

Figure 1 Early plan of Newcastle showing the inclined plane from 

the AA Company mine. The locations of early municipal 

premises were within the town area. Plan redrawn from 

Henry Dangar’s survey 

(?NPL) 

Figure 2 Former municipal buildings prior to 1929 a) ?Snowball photo (?NB) 

b) Snowball photo (?NB) 

c) NPL 16300\16300761 

d) NPL (Moore) 

09300\09300385 

e) C Hunter 

Figure 3 Signalman’s cottage at the junction of the AA and NPL photobank 

Burwood coal companies’ lines 

16300\16302099 

Figure 4 Part of engraving ‘Newcastle in 1874’ by Samuel Calvern 

showing the intersecting coal railways in today’s Civic 

Park, Thomas Cook’s home Lucerna to the right, and G E 

Darby’ home to the back left. The line of Darby Street and 

Hunter Street can be discerned. Coal loading into sailing 

ships was by way of the multiple staithes by the water side 

NPL 

Figure 5 Oliver Hillier’s shop is today the car park adjacent to 

Newcastle Region Art Gallery on the corner of Darby and 

Laman Streets 

NPL 

Figure 6 Allotments and buildings along Laman, Darby and Queen 

Streets about 1947 

NPL 

Figure 7 Part of plan 1896. A complete photo of Thomas Cook’s NPL 

home Lucerna is unavailable but this plan indicates its 

position, also that of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and 

manse, the signalman’s cottage and the intersecting coal 

railways 

LHM C 919.443 

Figure 8 Webland, the home of A B Sparke NPL Snowball 

00101\00101096 

Figure 9 In the background of this 1890 photo of John Brown’s 

carriage is the home of Mrs Brown senior (centre) and the 

NPL 

Snowball photo 


Black Diamond Hotel (right). Part of Weblands can be 

seen on the far left. 

NPL00104\00104746 

Figure 10 Photo of the Black Diamond Hotel (left) and another 

building owned by J&A Brown 

?NB/NH/?Snowball 

Figure 11 The former Black Diamond Hotel prior to demolition, and 

Brown residence adjoining 

?NB/NH/Snowball 

Figure 12 Town Hall and Municipal Theatre concept in 1925 prior to NCC and 

completion of design by architect Mr H E White. This Newcastle Sun 30 July 

plan is of interest for indicating the location of J&A 

Brown’s property, Rodger’s land and the Engineers and 

Colliers Supplies site. The plan was drawn by council 

engineer J Shine and published in the Newcastle Sun 30 

July 1925. A number of small shops are proposed facing 

Hunter Street and the new roadway (Wheeler Place) 

1925 

Figure 13 Plan of civic precinct c1870: Part of a plan published by R An original copy in 

C Knaggs and Co Newcastle, Government Printing Office. possession of C Hunter 

This plan, which indicates allotments, streets and 

(Government Printing 

landform, can be studied in association with the illustration 

Newcastle 1974. The landform is clearer in the plan than 

in the illustration, for example the elevated ridge called 

Cook’s Hill, which made the southern side of Laman 

Street desirable for residences and later for major cultural 

buildings 

Office) 

Figure 14 Clarendon Hotel, rebuilt 1884 (the first hotel was built in 

1876) and replaced c.1940 

NPL 

Figure 15 Northumberland Permanent Building Investment Land and 

Loan Society occupied the Burwood/Hunter street corner 

from 1886 to c.1940 

NPL 

Figure 16 Demolition of former Post Office Hotel, 1927. The former NPL photobank 

Black Diamond Hotel and adjoining building has already 

been demolished. Mrs Brown’s home is still standing. 

Webland has been replaced by the Fredc Ash building 

16300\16301599 

Figure 17 Crowds and a procession in Hunter Street in 1901 on the NPL Cadell 

occasion of the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York. 

The 1884 Clarendon Hotel is on the right 

01900\01900066 

Figure 18 Baptist Tabernacle, built 1890 NCC 

Souvenir of Civic Week 

1929 

Figure 19 St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, view from King Street, NPL photobank 

at the time of building the Mackies Furniture Warehouse in 

1923 

16300\16301135 

Figure 20 1934 view of western side of Civic Park. St Andrew’s Government Printing 

Presbyterian Church and Manse are central to the scene, 

also the signalman’s cottage, Burwood coal railway line 

and tunnel under Laman Street. Salvation Army Men’s 

Hostel is on the right and Baptist Tabernacle on the left 

Office photo 

Figure 21 Salvation Army’s Men’s Hostel 1929 NCC 


1929 

Figure 22 Drawing of Newcastle Town Hall 1929 NCC 


1929 

Figure 23 Civic Theatre complex in 1929 NCC 


1929 

Figure 24 Part of lithograph of Newcastle in 1889. Darby Street is 

diagonally placed. The land section bounded by Darby, 

NPL 


Hunter, Auckland and King Streets is represented as well 

built upon and for diverse uses. Larger buildings face 

Hunter Street. The eastern part of Civic Park is fenced but 

not yet industrialised. A coal train passes along Burwood 

Street towards Hunter Street 

Figure 25 The accompanying plan with allotments numbered, and 

this summary of acquisition, is from the Report of the 

Town Clerk No 24 of 7 November 1978, moved to 

Newcastle Region Public Library in April 1986 

Figure 26 Early beautification of Civic Park included an avenue of 

fig trees along the Burwood coal railway line 

Figure 27 Photo shows paths and palm planting in the space between 

the Town Hall and Nesca building, also planting in Civic 

Park 

Figure 28 Image of the ESD showroom adjoining the Bennett and 

Wood building Hunter Street 

Figure 29 Nesca House. This image is probably earlier than Figure 

27, as indicated by the landscaping of Christie Park 

Figure 30 The 1937 Australian Provincial Association Building, west 

of the civic shops, now Civic Arcade 

Figure 31 Hunter Street streetscape between Wheeler Place and 

Burwood Street. To the right of the Fredc Ash building is 

the Bennett and Wood building, and to the left is the 1940s 

Clarendon Hotel. Photo taken on day of demolition of 

buildings east of the Clarendon. The bank, right, has also 

been demolished, for an enlarged Wheeler Place 

Figure 32 Parkinson’s 1945 plan as reported in the Newcastle 

Morning Herald 20 October 1945 

Figure 33 Northumberland County Council Plan as published in 

Newcastle Sun 20 May 1949 

NCC 

Newcastle Civic and Cultural Precinct History ~ Cynthia Hunter ~ January 2003 page 70 

NPL 

(old postcard copy in 

possession of C Hunter) 

(Newcastle Herald and 

Norm Barney) 

NPL Cadell 

01900\01900188 

C Hunter 

C Hunter 

NCC and 



NCC and 

Newcastle Sun 20 May 

1949 

C Hunter 

Figure 34 Former offices and crest of the Northumberland County 

Council 

Figure 35 Proposed landscape plan for Civic Park in 1957, as NCC and 

published in the Newcastle Morning Herald 22 October Newcastle Morning 

1957 


Figure 36 1960s aerial view of the civic precinct NPL photobank 

16300\16301933 

Figure 37 The Goold Building C Hunter 

Figure 38 Community welcome extended to Princess Alexandra in NPL photobank 

Civic Park in 1959 

00401\00401080 

Figure 39 Illustration of a model of a building proposed by Sydney ?NCC and 

architect Peter Muller for erection by Newcastle City Newcastle Morning 

Council on the corner of Wheeler Place and Hunter Street 

after the Civic Theatre Block has been demolished. 

Source: Newcastle Morning Herald 31 July 1963 

Herald 31 July 1963 

Figure 40 A suggested masterplan for the development of the civic Newcastle Morning 

block that was presented to the public in February 1966 

and reproduced in the Newcastle Morning Herald 29 

February 1966 

Herald 29 February 1966 

Figure 41 Civic Administration Building, 1977 (C Hunter) 

Figure 42 This concept for a 13-storey hotel for the Fredc Ash site Newcastle Morning 

was published in the Newcastle Morning Herald 30 Herald 30 September 

September 1981 

1981 

Figure 43 This drawing depicts the proposed 1986 development and 

was published in the Newcastle Morning Herald 5 October 


Herald 5 October 1986

1986 

Figure 44 Illustration of the 1988 proposal for the civic site 

development including the Taxation Office (Stage One) 

and Stage Two, for a hotel and other government purposes. 

Concept as published in the Newcastle Morning Herald 20 

November 1987 

Figure 45 When Philip Cox’s recommendations were made public 

this is how an artist depicted a possible design for a tower 

on the civic site. Newcastle Herald 23 March 1988 

Figure 46 Plan showing arrangement of Stage Two buildings on the 

civic land 

Figure 47 The 31-storey tower would be higher that the Hill plus the 

Cathedral plus the Town Hall. This impression was 

published in the Newcastle Morning Herald 17 June 1988 

Figure 48 Buildings between the Clarendon Hotel and Burwood 

Street prior to demolition 


Herald 20 November 

1987 

Newcastle Herald 23 

March 1988 


Herald 


Herald 17 June 1988 

C Hunter

Part Two – post 1920s - Newcastle City Council

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