Newcastle Government House

About

Newcastle Government House is a heritage-listed former military post and official residence and now park and psychiatric hospital at 72 Watt Street, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It is also known as Newcastle Government House and Domain, Newcastle Military Barracks & Hospital, Newcastle Industrial School for Girls, Reformatory for Girls, Lunatic Asylum for Imbeciles, James Fletcher Hospital and Fletcher Park. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 22 March 2011.

The Newcastle Government House and Domain has significant associations with convictism in Australia as a site central to the management of convict labour, early coal mining technology and the development and growth of the Australian economy.

The earliest European use of the site was the Commandant's Residence (also known as Government House) where the Commandant, Lieutenant Charles Menzies controlled the penal settlement. The site has remained in Government management since European occupation from 1804 to the present day. A sketch by Ferdinand Bauer (1804) shows the flagstaff and the only small house on the area. The same location is also shown in artworks by Joseph Lycett, Walter Preston and Edward Close which are particularly significant as they show Newcastle's Government House and gardens. Bauer's sketch also shows tents on the hillside of the site. The site also figures significantly on the Macquarie Chest, being depicted on one of its panels.

The first attempt at settlement in Newcastle failed in 1802 and the settlement, also known as "Kings Town" and "Coal River" was re-established in 1804, providing hard labour for re-offending convicts following the Irish rebellion at Vinegar Hill. The second settlement (1804) was prompted because of the prospect of coal as a vital resource for the Colony. After Newcastle was established as a penal settlement, it remained under Colonial administration until 1823. After this time free settlers were introduced into the settlement. Convicts sent to Newcastle endured harsh living standards, intense manual labour in the coal mines and were under constant surveillance.

After 1823, most of the convicts were transferred to Port Macquarie, however many prisoners remained in Newcastle until 1855 to carry out public works projects such as the construction of Macquarie Pier and other works. Convict labour was used to build the pier, beginning in 1818 and this work was not completed until 1846. The military were stationed at the military barracks site to manage and supervise the work of the convicts. Furthermore, the association between the former military barracks buildings and the port initiative (the pier) was of significance to capital works programs of the Colonial Government, convictism and early technology in Australia. The employment of convicts to construct Macquarie Pier was in the economic interest of the Colony and this site was significant in supporting this progress. Having started in 1814 with a small population of approximately 100 convicts and guards, it would become the major penal settlement of the Australian colonies, accommodating up to one thousand convicts.

Newcastle is the birthplace of Australia's coal mining industry and the first modern coal mining undertaken in the Southern Hemisphere. Coal mining in Newcastle provided the first profit ever made in the fledgling Colony of New South Wales of - 2 pounds, 5 shillings - in 1801. Convict labour was used to work mines located at Colliers Point (these were horizontal drifts) and on the hillside near Government House, the first working vertical shaft sunk for the production of coal in Australia (on the current James Fletcher Hospital site). One of the coal shafts is named the Wallis shaft, after the Commandant of Newcastle at the time. The site is also associated with Benjamin Grainger who was sent to Newcastle in 1812 to assist in coal mining in the area, later becoming Superintendent of the coal mines, in 1820. The military was present in the settlement to manage the convict population and to supervise work in the mines and the construction of the Macquarie Pier.

Mining on the site was primitive and labour-intensive with loads of coal initially brought to the surface in baskets. A small rail system for haulage was used to take coal to the port directly downhill from the mine site to be loaded onto ships for export. Much of the export went around the world, and was often traded for Rum. The transport of coal to the port forged a thoroughfare which then became the main street of the township, George Street (now known as Watt Street). The Commandant had his residence in a prominent place at the top of this street where he was able to view what was happening in the settlement, including work at Collier's Point and Nobbys Island.

The Commandant's residence was both a place of authority and a convict work place. Convicts worked on the site until the Australian Agricultural Company took over mining in Newcastle. There is evidence of intensive early mining practises on the cliff opposite the site's entrance. The two convict coal mines on the James Fletcher Hospital site were later referred to as the "Asylum Shafts". The Wallis shaft is thought to have been excavated between 1814 and 1817. Twenty seven men were described as employed in the working of the mine and the mouth of the shaft immediately adjoined the offices of the Commandant's House. After these mines became disused there was very little reference made to them during the 1800s. It was not until the 1900s that a mine subsidence report provided more detail about the existence of the convict mines,.

In the 1940s Jonathon Dixon carried out research on the site and attempted to locate the position of the first convict coal shaft by surveying an early map. Dr B W Champion (1949) also supports Dixon's location of the convict coal mine, adding that it was sunk approximately 20 yards inside the Mental Hospital gates. Further subsidence within the hospital grounds in 1943 revealed a convict mine shaft. This shaft is thought to be the Wallis Shaft and was described as being "inside the gates of the hospital". Dixon argues that the subsidence revealed both the position of the old convict mine shaft and the position of the Commandant's House or Government House. Evidence of the shaft was later covered up and is not obvious today, although it is reported to be under the roadway of the main road leading into the hospital. The position of the former Wallis Shaft inside the asylum entrance is shown on a plan by the Colonial Architect James Barnet in 1880.

Lachlan Macquarie on his tour to the northern settlements in 1821 stated in his journal that he stayed at Government House in Newcastle, finding it very comfortable. Macquarie made several visits to Newcastle, and in 1812 he stated "...immediately on my landing respecting the inspection of the settlement, I went with Mrs. M. & c. to view the coal mines...". The future of the coal mining industry was important to Governor Macquarie as is shown in his laying of the foundation stone to build the Macquarie Pier in 1818. This was a major colonial public works project, undertaken to join the mainland with Nobbys Island and establish a safe port entrance to facilitate the coal export trade. Newcastle's commercial coal mines were integral to Governor Macquarie's plan to promote the Colony as self-supporting.

Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal interactions

During Governor Macquarie's visit to Newcastle in 1818 he recorded that he was entertained by Jack Burigon, King of the Newcastle tribe along with about forty men, women and children who performed a "Carauberie" ( corroboree ) in the area at the rear of the Newcastle Government House. There are numerous colonial artworks showing Aboriginal occupation in and around the Government House site and as well as Corroborees.

The Newcastle Government House and Domain contains the original site of the Church of England parsonage erected in 1819 and home to Reverend George Augustus Middleton, Newcastle's first chaplain. Governor Macquarie noted that the parsonage was a "neat brick-built, stuccoed, one-storied parsonage house with a verandah and all necessary out-offices, and also a kitchen garden and grazing paddock attached thereto, both enclosed with a paling". Part of the original parsonage remains and this adds to the significance of the site.

In the 1830s part of the land granted to the Church of England as a glebe was returned to the Government for building a new military barracks. Reception House and Kirkwood House were demolished in June 2008 to make way for the construction of a new 20-bed mental Health facility. Reception House was a direct and tangible link to the convict-built parsonage and nearby Christ Church Cathedral buildings and a significant purpose-designed mental health facility which marked an innovation in mental health care. Kirkwood House was designed by the prominent local architect James Henderson. It was a two-storey annexe to the parsonage. Architect Frederick Menkens supervised a later skillion addition. Government Architect Walter Liberty Vernon kept some of the original fabric of the old parsonage in the structure of the new additions to Kirkwood House.

From the 1830s there was an increase of military protection of Newcastle to protect its coal resources and hence the colony's economy. The Governor visited Newcastle to lay foundation stone for the new barracks on the hill near the parsonage house in 1836. Lieutenant Colonel George Barney had recently arrived from England and was appointed Colonial Engineer in 1836. One of Barney's first tasks was to report on steps that needed to be taken to protect the colony from attacks by foreign vessels and he recommended that batteries and blockhouses be constructed in Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Port Macquarie and Port Phillip. The first projects undertaken by Barney were for the construction of new barracks at Paddington in Sydney ( Victoria Barracks ) and Newcastle.

The Newcastle Military Barracks were completed earlier than the Victoria Barracks. A convict chain gang in Newcastle was employed to build the foundations for the officers quarters and soldiers barracks in 1838, as well as to create the military parade ground. Excavation of the hillside by convict iron gang took place in 1842 so that outbuildings could be constructed. Governor Gipps proposed reducing troop numbers at the barracks as convict transportation to the colony was coming to an end. Further reducing the need for a strong military presence in Newcastle was the relocation of the remaining prisoners in 1848. Only 1000 troops were to remain in New South Wales to protect the colony. In June 1848 and the 99th regiment left Newcastle. However later in 1848 some convicts returned to Newcastle to build public works accompanied by a military guard which was accommodated in the new barracks.

The earliest European use of the site was the Commandant's Residence (also known as Government House) where the Commandant, Lieutenant Charles Menzies controlled the penal settlement. The site has remained in Government management since European occupation from 1804 to the present day. A sketch by Ferdinand Bauer (1804) shows the flagstaff and the only small house on the area. The same location is also shown in artworks by Joseph Lycett, Walter Preston and Edward Close which are particularly significant as they show Newcastle's Government House and gardens. Bauer's sketch also shows tents on the hillside of the site. The site also figures significantly on the Macquarie Chest, being depicted on one of its panels.

The first attempt at settlement in Newcastle failed in 1802 and the settlement, also known as "Kings Town" and "Coal River" was re-established in 1804, providing hard labour for re-offending convicts following the Irish rebellion at Vinegar Hill. The second settlement (1804) was prompted because of the prospect of coal as a vital resource for the Colony. After Newcastle was established as a penal settlement, it remained under Colonial administration until 1823. After this time free settlers were introduced into the settlement. Convicts sent to Newcastle endured harsh living standards, intense manual labour in the coal mines and were under constant surveillance.

After 1823, most of the convicts were transferred to Port Macquarie, however many prisoners remained in Newcastle until 1855 to carry out public works projects such as the construction of Macquarie Pier and other works. Convict labour was used to build the pier, beginning in 1818 and this work was not completed until 1846. The military were stationed at the military barracks site to manage and supervise the work of the convicts. Furthermore, the association between the former military barracks buildings and the port initiative (the pier) was of significance to capital works programs of the Colonial Government, convictism and early technology in Australia. The employment of convicts to construct Macquarie Pier was in the economic interest of the Colony and this site was significant in supporting this progress. Having started in 1814 with a small population of approximately 100 convicts and guards, it would become the major penal settlement of the Australian colonies, accommodating up to one thousand convicts.

Newcastle is the birthplace of Australia's coal mining industry and the first modern coal mining undertaken in the Southern Hemisphere. Coal mining in Newcastle provided the first profit ever made in the fledgling Colony of New South Wales of - 2 pounds, 5 shillings - in 1801. Convict labour was used to work mines located at Colliers Point (these were horizontal drifts) and on the hillside near Government House, the first working vertical shaft sunk for the production of coal in Australia (on the current James Fletcher Hospital site). One of the coal shafts is named the Wallis shaft, after the Commandant of Newcastle at the time. The site is also associated with Benjamin Grainger who was sent to Newcastle in 1812 to assist in coal mining in the area, later becoming Superintendent of the coal mines, in 1820. The military was present in the settlement to manage the convict population and to supervise work in the mines and the construction of the Macquarie Pier.