The localities we live in all have names. As new suburbs are built new names arrive, but we are usually unaware of those that have disappeared from our city. “White Gates” for example, formerly described three different locations in Newcastle, each associated with a railway.
- In 1857 the Governor General opened the Hunter River Railway, which ran from Newcastle to East Maitland. Two miles from Newcastle station the line crossed the Maitland road, and with the erection of a barrier there, by 1864 the location was known as the “White Gates”. It did not last long, for with increasing rail traffic due to coal cartage, in 1876 the government constructed an overhead road bridge, and the name disappeared.
- In 1863 the Waratah Coal Company opened a branch line from the Great Northern Railway to their coal workings near Braye Park. In 1871 Lambton and Waratah councils were deciding what should be the principal road between their municipalities. One option was where Kahibah and Bindera Roads currently run, and the spot where this route went over the colliery railway was referred to as the “White Gates” crossing. The colliery closed in 1876, passenger trains ceased in 1887, and with the railway no longer in use the name disappeared.
- In 1861 the Wallsend Coal Company opened a rail line to their colliery. In 1875 the newspaper reported an accident on the Wallsend line “near the White Gates, about 300 yards from the Co?operative junction.” In 1887 the Newcastle to Wallsend tramway opened, and by 1903 there was a White Gates tram stop where Douglas St crossed the rail and tram lines. In 1944 the Housing Commission resumed 35 acres of land south of the tram stop and built 150 homes for the “White Gates” estate. This eventually morphed into just “Whitegates”, a title that has all but disappeared, with only a public reserve and adjacent apartment block bearing that name today.


The article above was first published in the February 2025 edition of The Local.
Additional Information
There were three locations in Newcastle that at various times had the name “White Gates”, each being a place where a road crossed a rail line.
Location | Years mentioned in Trove | Notes |
Newcastle West/Wickham | 1864 to 1876 | Rail line opened 1857. Overhead road bridge constructed 1876. |
Lambton/Waratah | 1871 to 1880 | Rail line opened 1863. Colliery closed 1876. Passenger train service ceased 1887. |
Wallsend | 1875 to 1995 | Rail line operated 1861 to 1953. Tram line operated 1887 to 1949. |

1. Newcastle West/Wickham

Article Date Event Date | Notes |
---|---|
31 Mar 1857 30 Mar 1857 | Opening of the Hunter River Railway between Newcastle and East Maitland. |
9 Aug 1864 | "The double line of rail has already been completed between the Wallsend and Waratah junctions … The work of laying the remaining portion is progressing as rapidly as circumstances will permit, and the operation has proceeded as far as to the east side of the white gate, better known as the Maitland road crossing, near Newcastle." |
17 Jun 1868 | "Our readers will recollect, that a few months since, a number of allotments of Crown land lying near the Great Northern Railway line, between Mr. McPhail's house at Honeysuckle Point and the White Gates, on the Maitland road, were sold by auction, at the Court-house, and purchased by various persons living in and near Newcastle. On the plan of this land, as exhibited at the sale, there appeared a railway crossing, which the purchasers expected would be given, especially as access to the ground could hardly be had in any other way than by this crossing." |
24 Jun 1868 | "White Gates" mentioned as one of the points on the boundary of a proposed municipal district to the west of Newcastle, incorporating the colliery townships. |
20 Oct 1870 | "On Friday, a very large iguana, measuring near upon four feet, was killed by Mr C H Hannell in his garden near the White Gates, at the Railway Crossing." |
27 Jan 1872 | For sale: "SIX BEAUTIFUL BUILDING ALLOTMENTS situated in front of the Wesleyan Burial Ground, near the White Gates, Maitland-road." |
29 Jun 1872 | "A new railway platform has been opened at Hamilton, a short distance beyond the "white gates", and about two miles from the Newcastle terminus." |
20 Jun 1874 | "We understand that, in reply to an application from the Wickham Council, some time since, the Government have declined to construct the crossing at the White Gates in a line with the main Maitland road. It is their intention to erect a high level bridge over the railway, as the future shunting of carriages and the weighing of coal will retard the passenger traffic too much; it is also their intention to bring in the new line of rails from the dyke at Bullock Island, and connect them with the main line on the Newcastle side of the White Gates." |
4 Jan 1876 | "The junction of the Bullock Island Railway with the Great Northern Railway is at a place known as the White Gates, a mile and half or two miles from Newcastle ... At the junction of this extension with the main line there has hitherto been a crossing-place through railway gates, but as the traffic on this part of the railway will before long be very great, an overline bridge has been built for the traffic across the railway, and the gates will be closed. The bridge is constructed of brick and iron, there being something like a quarter of a million bricks, and forty tons of iron in it. The iron girders were made by P. N. Russell and Co. About twenty thousand cubic yards of earthwork taken from the sandhills at Newcastle have been used in the construction of the bridge and its approaches, and the work will be completed, it is believed, in about a fortnight." |
2. Lambton



Article Date Event Date | Notes |
---|---|
26 Sep 1863 | Waratah Coal Company railway to be opened “next week”. |
18 May 1871 | At the Waratah Council meeting, a motion "for the repairing of the road between the Railway Station and Lambton. Alderman Kerr wanted to know where this road was, and was informed that it crossed the Waratah Company's line at the White Gates, near the small coal heap." |
23 Sep 1871 | Mention of White Gates at a Lambton Council meeting. This reference is significant because it clearly establishes that the white gates were NOT at Betty Bunn's crossing (bottom end of Acacia St today), but lower down the rail line. "In reference to the line of road to be surveyed and proclaimed between Lambton and the Waratah railway station, stating that the conference had met, when two lines were proposed, one crossing the Waratah Coal Company's railway where it meets the boundary of the two municipalities at the place known as Betty Bunn's crossing ; the other at the company's white gates, or lower crossing, the latter being adopted by the conference." |
26 Sep 1871 | Lambton Council meeting refers to a "sketch of a main road through the municipality, commencing at the crossing-place on the Waratah Coal Co.'s railway at the white gates at the east of the old tunnels." |
20 Jan 1872 16 Jan 1872 | Public meeting regarding upcoming Lambton council election … "Then they had had trouble about which should be the road from Waratah to Lambton, and a conference, at which most of the principal persons differed in opinion ; he himself was confident that the lower road, or that by the White Gates crossing was by far the best for both townships, as it could be made more cheaply, and would be a better road. They had adopted the top road, and it was not likely that Waratah would do their part of it for a long time to come. If they did make a bridge over Betty Bunn's Creek, it would not be used much." |
27 Jan 1872 23 Jan 1872 | Accident on the rail line near the White Gates … "His father's residence is close to the White Gate, or lower crossing of the Waratah and Lambton road, at the lower end of Griffiths' Flat, and when the train was a little beyond this, and approaching the other, or Bunn's crossing …" |
6 Jul 1872 | In a discussion at Lambton Council about a possible change in municipal boundaries … "Lambton should get the piece of railroad from the New Tunnels to the Junction at the White Gate Crossing." |
7 Aug 1873 | The White Gates is mentioned in the satirical poem "Lambton Bleatings". |
30 Jan 1875 | "The crossing place at the creek near the Waratah Company's white gates crossing has also been made much better by the erection of a bridge." |
15 May 1876 | "I beg to call the attention of our Council to the dangerous state of the bridge across the creek on Griffith's Flat, below the White Gates Crossing." |
17 May 1877 | Suggested site of a new cemetery near the white gates … "After a careful examination of the ground it was resolved to recommend to the Government the advisability of granting that portion running parallel with the Waratah Company's railway, commencing at the white gates, and running twenty chains down the line with a width of six chains." |
16 Aug 1878 12 Aug 1878 | "On Monday last, a child belonging to Mr. Richard Hughes, gate keeper at the White Gate Crossing on the Waratah Company's railway, had a most miraculous escape from death." |
19 Mar 1880 | Last mention in Trove of White Gates in Lambton - at a Lambton Council meeting "Alderman BEVERIDGE called attention to the state of the road from the white gates crossing." |
3. Wallsend







Article Date Event Date | Notes |
---|---|
19 Jan 1861 | Report on the completion of the Wallsend Coal Company railway. |
3 Apr 1875 31 Mar 1875 | First mention of White Gates at Wallsend. "On Wednesday afternoon last one of the most painful and lamentable accidents that it has ever been our lot to witness occurred on the Wallsend line, near the White Gates, about 300 yards from the Co-operative junction." |
2 Jun 1875 | "For Sale, A LEASEHOLD OF FIVE ACRES OF LAND, on which is built a Substantial House, with a Large Garden, well trenched, and planted with Fruit Trees and Grape Vines; also, Good Tank of Water, and the whole securely fenced in. The above is situated at Blue Gum Flat, near the White Gates. For particulars apply to JOHN EVANS." |
24 Sep 1896 | Deputation to Railway Commissioners call for a tram stopping place “at the white gates”. |
27 Aug 1903 | Wallsend Council meeting … "Improvements at the road leading towards the White Gate tram stopping place were recommended." |
14 May 1908 | Wallsend Council meeting referred to "the necessity of a waiting shed being erected at the white gates on the tramline." |
23 Jul 1908 | Wallsend Council meeting motion to "urge the necessity of having the white gates fixed as a regular stopping place for the trams." |
25 May 1917 | "The clerk also reported that Mr. Munro, of the Tramway Department, proposed altering the name of the stopping place known as the White Gates. The report was adopted, and it was decided that the name "White Gates" remain as previously." |
25 Mar 1925 | "The duplication of the [tram] line has now reached as far as the White Gates." |
23 Dec 1925 | "Along the portion of the line between the stop known as the White Gates and the stopping place for Wallsend Hospital, a difficulty presented itself to the authorities. There the tram line ran parallel with, and in close proximity to, the Newcastle Wallsend Coal Company's railway, which was higher than the tram line." |
12 Dec 1936 | "From Wallsend-Borehole collieries loading yards, the train had passed the White Gates level crossing and was ascending the long rise which continues above the Heaton-Birmingham Gardens crossing, when a number of trucks with the brake-van stopped and then began to run back down the grade." |
22 Jan 1940 20 Jan 1940 | "The station officer of Wallsend branch of Newcastle Ambulance (Mr. W. Lowe) found Darrell Davis, 25, of Douglass street, White Gates, Wallsend, in a state of collape in the cutting of the Newcastle-Wallsend Coal Company's branch railway, above the Heaton-Birmingham Gardens' level crossing on Saturday." |
12 Nov 1941 | Passing of the Housing Bill that established the NSW Housing Commission. |
5 May 1944 | Acquisition by Housing Commission of 35 acres of land at Wallsend for the Whitegates estate. |
8 Jul 1944 | "Men have been putting in allotment pegs, and I understand bricks and timber have been ordered," said Ald. McGrath, referring to a start on the Housing Commission's homes at Wallsend, on an area adjacent to Birmingham Gardens. He added that the Government had gazetted the taking over of the land. On the suggestion of Ald. McGrath, it was decided to send another letter to the council asking that a tramway shelter shed be provided at White Gates. |
22 Jul 1946 21 Jul 1946 | Formation of the White Gates Welfare Association. |
28 Nov 1947 19 Dec 1947 | The Minister for Housing (Mr. Evatt) would unveil a commemorative stone at the Housing Commission's project at Wallsend on Friday, December 19, at 2 p.m., Whitegates Welfare Association was advised. Replying to a Ministerial inquiry on the origin of the name "Whitegates," the Secretary (Mr. G. Kendon) said he had been told that the area was once an orchard, entry to which was through a set of white gates. The area was generally known at Whitegates, and that name had been accepted by the association. Note: I am somewhat sceptical of the explanation for the origin of the name offered here. The name had been in use for at least 72 years by this time, and the orchard explanation had not been documented previously. In contrast, all the early references to White Gates are in connection with the railway or tramway, so it is much more likely the gates are related to a crossing of a railway rather than an entrance to an orchard. |
19 Dec 1947 | "A residential area of 147 homes and a shop with a house attached, Whitegates was established by the Housing Commission. It will be officially named to-day by the Minister for Housing (Mr. Evatt), who will unveil a tablet commemorating the completion of the project." |
20 Dec 1947 19 Dec 1947 | "The Lord Mayor (Ald. Quinlan) read out framed letters announcing the approval of Greater Newcastle Council and the Postmaster-General's Department of the designation "Whitegates," and presented them to the Secretary of Whitegates Welfare Association (Mr. G. Kendon)." |
25 Jan 1995 | The last mention in Trove of Whitegates, named as a polling place by the NSW Electoral Commisioner. The polling place was probably the former St James church hall on the corner of Abbott/Douglas, Wallsend, which has been a pre-school since 1978. This site was used for polling in 2007 and 2010, but named as "Wallsend East". |
This page is part of the collection of Newcastle’s Obsolete Place Names.