Newtown was the original name for Hamilton North.
The name first appears in the newspapers as “New Town” from about 1869, and the double word spelling peters out around 1880.
- 30 March 1869 – “He was not opposed to Onebygambah separating from Waratah, but to suppose the few present that night represent the people of the railway village, New Town and Bullock Island, was simply ridiculous.”
- 5 April 1876 – “A petition read, from the ratepayers of New Town, drawing attention to the dangerous state of the Main Road.”
- 14 June 1879 – “deposits were being laid into the creeks near bridges at Lambton and Waratah, leading from New Town”
- 25 December 1880 – “he wished to obtain a road through Lindsay-street to New Town”
From about 1876 the name starts to appears as the single word “Newtown”. In an advertisement on 2 August 1876 for the sale of land “near the Hamilton railway station”, including “4 allotments at Newtown.” In May 1878 Hamilton Council was debating “the road to Newtown being opened” and in July 1878 visiting “the minister for Lands with respect to opening the Government road at Newtown.”
As with many of the suburban councils at that time with limited income, the making of roads took quite a while. In 1881 when James Curley was seeking re-election to Hamilton Council he promised that …
… if returned, he would endeavour to obtain a road for Newtown. It was a shame that there were about 40 ratepayers there, and not a road of any sort to their property.
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, 3 February 1881.
Parrott’s 1893 map shows a few dwellings in the Newtown area.
In 1925, the Newtown Progress Association sought to have the name of the area changed from Newtown to “North Hamilton”
At a meeting of Newtown Progress Association the abandonment of the name of Newtown, owing to the existence of a similarly named suburb in Sydney, was the subject of discussion, and in view of the advice of the town clerk, it was decided to adopt Hamilton North, and the residents are to be circularised to co-operate with the object of eliminating Newtown altogether. The omnibus proprietors are also to be requested to substitute Hamilton North for Newtown on the omnibuses.
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, 25 September 1925.
Although the name Hamilton North was increasingly used from 1925, it took a while for some maps to catch up. A 1939 street directory still shows the locality as Newtown.
This page is part of the collection of Newcastle’s Obsolete Place Names.