Part Two – post 1920s - Newcastle City Council

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
Herald 22 October 1957
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.
Newcastle Civic and Cultural Precinct History ~ Cynthia Hunter ~ January 2003 page 40