The largest non-capital city in Australia, Newcastle is 173 km north of Sydney and it has a population of 500,000. It covers the sixth largest urban area: from Catherine Hill Bay in the south to Nelson Bay in the north and out to Cessnock in the west. Newcastle has a reputation as being a dirty, brawling industrial city, but it is well served with modern air-conditioned shopping centres, plenty of activities and much to see. Some of the city's finest Victorian and Edwardian buildings can be found in the Hunter Mall, established in the 1980s. Tourism will increase as industry grinds inexorably to a halt, to be relocated elsewhere. The city started out badly, being a penal settlement for convicts who had transgressed while serving their original sentences. Its reputation even then was 'unsavoury'. The convicts were employed as cedar-getters, miners and lime-burners.

In 1797, the site of the city of Newcastle was discovered by Lieutenant John Shortland, looking for escaped convicts who had stolen a government boat, the Cumberland. He sailed up the coast as far as Nelson Bay, and on the return journey, hugging the shore to make sure the convicts had not landed, noticed a small island a short distance from the mainland. He christened it 'The Nob' (now known as Nobbys). The island had obscured an opening to a fine harbour, and as he climbed a hill (now Fort Scratchley) to get a better view of the river and surrounding district, he noticed a seam of coal protruding from the ground, so he named the river the 'Coal River'. Fortunately for winemakers who came later, the name was changed to the Hunter River in 1804, in honour of the then Governor of New South Wales. (Coal Valley chardonnay does not exactly have a good marketing ring to it.)

On the instigation of potential settlers, the penal settlement was moved to Port Macquarie and surveyor Henry Dangar was commissioned to supervise and design the layout of Newcastle. Those free settlers who had taken over all the convict cottages resisted this, and it explains the somewhat chaotic layout of modern-day Newcastle. Early industries included coal and timber, later followed by shipbuilding, salt manufacture and copper smelting. This was then supplanted by iron smelting and a steelworks.

Newcastle has had its share of natural disasters, most significant of which was the 1989 earthquake, which destroyed buildings and claimed human lives. These days, the city is completely recovered, and seems to have more civic pride than ever before.

Of historical interest is Fort Scratchley, which was the site of a Japanese submarine attack in 1942 and is now home to the Newcastle Region Maritime Museum. In the centre of the city, the Newcastle Regional Museum is a must for everyone. It contains Supernova, which has Newcastle's Science and Technology exhibits.

On a hill just south of the city is an obelisk, which was erected in 1847 when sailors complained that the demolition of an old landmark windmill interrupted the correct plotting of their bearings.

Newcastle is close to one of the greatest 4wd beaches found in Australia, Stockton -a long, rather treacherous sand trap even for the experienced driver. Stockton Beach can have the worst sand conditions in Australia, especially when it has been hot, dry and windy. It is also a favourite location of fishermen, who run customised 4wds with wide sand tyres and, usually, V8 engines. Permits are required for four-wheel driving and these are available from the pie shop, 1 km north of the Ladis Lane entrance to the beach.