Location
Brandy Hill is a suburb of the Port Stephens local government area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It was originally farmland but was subdivided in the 1980s. It overlooks working farmland and offers superb views of the greater Morpeth area, with visibility extending to Maitland. (wikipedia)
History
Like neighbouring Seaham, the area now known as Brandy Hill was once inhabited by the Garewagal clan of the Worimi people. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Brandy Hill was part of the “Eskdale” estate and was then part of Seaham. The foundations of colonial homes have been unearthed around Neika Close, suggesting Europeans have been living in the Brandy Hill area since at least the late-nineteenth century. Before the construction of the Maitland Junction to Dungog branch of the North Coast Line, a railway through Morpeth and Seaham was proposed. Although the line would have posed fewer engineering obstacles than the two alternatives, there were concerns that a bridge at Morpeth would hinder shipping and that a railway through Brandy Hill was superfluous on account of it servicing only “wallabies and bandicoots [living on] land [that is] unfit for the support of any other kind of population”.
Just north of Brandy Hill is the Brandy Hill quarry, which is named after the nearby hill that is approximately 180 metres high. Travelling between the quarry and Raymond Terrace meant travelling a circuitous route through the Seaham township so Brandy Hill Drive was constructed to provide a shorter and more direct route.
Subdivision and suburb
In the 1980s the land around Brandy Hill Drive was subdivided and renamed “Brandy Hill”, after the hill, which is more than 2 kilometres from the northern extremity of the suburb and still in Seaham, and the quarry. Brandy Hill Drive continues to be used as an access route to the quarry, which is now operated by Hanson plc.
On 16 April 1993 the boundaries of Brandy Hill were gazetted and on 7 April 2000 the subdivision was formerly approved as a locality and became a suburb in its own right. The suburb is almost surrounded by Seaham. (wikipedia)
Places of Interest
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