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Wallsend, New South Wales facts for kids

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Wallsend
NewcastleNew South Wales
Railway Goods Shed, Wallsend.jpg
Railway Goods Shed building (1860s and 1870s).
Population 12,470 (2016 census)
 • Density 1,022/km2 (2,650/sq mi)
Postcode(s) 2287
Area 12.2 km2 (4.7 sq mi)
Location 11 km (7 mi) WNW of Newcastle
LGA(s)
Parish Kahibah
State electorate(s) Wallsend
Federal Division(s)
Suburbs around Wallsend:
Fletcher Maryland Birmingham Gardens
Minmi Wallsend Jesmond
Edgeworth Elermore Vale Lambton

Wallsend is a western suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from Newcastle's central business district. It is part of the City of Newcastle local government area.

Origins

Lieutenant Edward Close, an engineer and founder of Morpeth, recorded that part of the Wallsend area was called Barrahinebin by the Aboriginal custodians. Close reported that Barrahinebin was used to describe the area bounded by the Hunter River, Ironbark Creek and Mount Sugarloaf.

Wallsend was named after a North of England coal mining township, initially built at the end of a Roman defensive wall, a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne. The name was given to the area by Alexander Brown in the 1850s when he purchased land bounded by what are now Newcastle Road, Boundary and Croudace Streets and beyond Gunambi Road. The company he formed to operate the colliery which opened in January 1861 was called the Newcastle-Wallsend Coal Company.

The suburb began as two mining towns, Wallsend and Plattsburg. Wallsend was the more developed and as it grew it linked to Plattsburg via Nelson Street. Wallsend was proclaimed a separate municipality in early 1874 but the two areas had re-joined by 1915. The coal mined at Wallsend was of very good quality and the township prospered creating the commercial hub it is today.

Modern Day Wallsend

Today Wallsend has outgrown the historic main street and received investment and expansion from local business and national companies. The main street of Wallsend has also experienced a changing face of business with new restaurants and real estate agencies, as well as home building companies occupying previous local businesses that have migrated to the larger Plaza Stockland shopping centre.


Education

Plattsburg Public School is a government co-educational school located on Ranclaud Street. There also another co-educational government primary school called Wallsend Public School located on 26 Martindale Street. There is also a catholic co-educational primary school called St Patrick's Primary School located on Macquarie Street. Wallsend junior campus which a part of Callaghan Campus is a 7-10 co-educational government high school located on Macquarie street.

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