Convict Lumberyard - Newcastle
Direct Phone Number : (02) 4974 2999
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Now recognised as an early example of a convict industrial site, the Convict Lumber yard is a symbol, not only of early Newcastle, but of the development of the nation as a whole.
The site is considered to be of national heritage significance because it yields information relating to the second oldest city outside Sydney in Australia and the economic and industrial growth of the nation. With its rare evidence of a convict industrial workplace, the Convict Lumberyard encapsulates the key reasons for Newcastle’s establishment as a penal settlement and the historic themes associated with Newcastle’s later development. The site is also a keeping place of important evidence of Aboriginal life-ways prior to 1804, in the form of archaeological evidence.
Today the site is protected by a listing on the State Heritage Register and in the Newcastle LEP and is managed by Newcastle City Council. It was re-opened by the NSW Premier Mr Bob Carr in 1999 as a place for interpretation and reflection of the City’s cultural history.