Location
Hexham is a suburb of the city of Newcastle, about 15 km inland from the Newcastle CBD in New South Wales, Australia on the bank of the Hunter River. (wikipedia)
History
Settlement occurred at Hexham in the 1820s when the land was granted to Edward Sparke. Hexham was named after the market town of Hexham, England with both towns being near to a Newcastle and sharing a history with one another; many of the coal miners from Newcastle upon Tyne and elsewhere in Northumberland moved to New South Wales at the time of settlement.
The history of Hexham is closely associated with that of the nearby suburbs of Tarro (originally Upper Hexham), Ash Island, Tomago and Minmi.
Hexham’s central location, with ready access to river, road and rail transport, has made it a key crossroads in the lower Hunter and influenced its industries. Originally it was a site of farming by the Sparke family. As a crossroads, hotels soon followed, with three in operation in the 1800s: the Wheatsheaf, Hexham and Travellers Rest.
Later it was a key locality for coal loading by J & A Brown and the Bellbird-Hetton Colliery. With coal loading came coal washeries and engineering workshops.
Its central location was again important to the establishment in 1927 of a dairy processing factory by the Hunter Valley Dairy Co-operative, which established the “OAK” milk brand. The site is now owned and operated by Brancourts Dairy; one of the oldest Australian owned and operated dairy companies in Australia. (wikipedia)
Places of Interest
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