When I was young it was considered to be a big deal to go into
town to go the movies or to do some shopping and by in town I mean into
Newcastle mainly Hunter Street.
So, this week I will write a bit about Hunter Street’s history
and present.
Hunter Street is a major road in the Newcastle central business
district, in New South Wales. The street, formerly three separate
thoroughfares, extends from Pacific Street in the city's east, to Selma Street
in Newcastle West and since 2008 has been the focus of community-led creative
enterprises and projects.
Hunter Street runs in the vicinity of an early
nineteenth-century track known as Wellington Street that extended from Watt
Street (formerly George Street) in the east to Perkins Street in the west. The
strip was renamed Hunter Street by Henry Dangar in 1823 and by the mid
nineteenth-century commercial and residential properties had been built on most
addresses east of Perkins Street.
By 1900, Hunter Street had stretched a long way and had 26
hotels operating along the street. In 1887the first steam trams came into
operation by 1898 the first restrictions on vehicular traffic drawn by animals were
introduced
Drainage problems and raw sewerage necessitated the sealing of
Hunter Street, first carried out with wooden blocks, concrete and asphalt.
After the opening of the Newcastle Steelworks in 1915, Newcastle
became increasingly suburban, and Hunter Street developed as a destination for
commerce and retail. The size and extravagance of Newcastle's early
twentieth-century department stores demonstrates the popularity of city
shopping.
Established as the city's main street for commercial and retail
activity, Hunter Street entered a period of severe decline after World War II.
However, it recovered over time.
Hunter Street developed as the commercial and civic hub of the
region. Along its spine were the pubs, banks, insurance houses, shops,
department stores, and cooperative societies that formed the civic and cultural
life of Newcastle.
In 1989 an earthquake hit Newcastle and due to the damage making
Hunter Street inaccessible for two weeks.
The in 1990 there was a recession which coupled with record
youth unemployment, brought the emptying of Hunter Street to a terrible low in
2008, with the vacancy rate at 20% and chronically vacant properties beginning
to deteriorate.
In recent years there have been efforts to clean up and bring
life back into Hunter Street, as I haven’t been there myself I can’t say what it
is like now.
In a very early city like Newcastle, the steam trams should have been modernised and protected.
ReplyDeleteYou would think so
DeleteSo sad to see that happening. Same thing is going on here in fabulous San Francisco. The government has let the homeless people take over. Garbage and feces everywhere, so no one shops there any more. Places are closing down forever. Too sad because it used to be so nice.
ReplyDeleteYes it so sad to see places fall into such terrible places
DeleteWhat a shame it has had such a decline. You probably wouldn't want to see it, to be honest.
ReplyDeleteI agree
DeleteI'll bet it was hard hit during Covid, too. I hate to see once great cities in such a state of decline. Blessings, Jo-Anne!
ReplyDeleteIt isn't nice when places end up like that
DeleteWe had a street like that when I was ree little. Wolf and Dessaurs, Hutner's Paris, The Rialto, The Embassy... it was magic at Christmastime. Malls killed streets like that way too soon.
ReplyDelete