The jetty where the coal loading occurs

Catherine Hill Bay
Quiet and sleepy old mining village in the hinterland behind the Central Coast
Catherine Hill Bay is a quiet old mining village within the City of Lake Macquarie, 119 km north of Sydney via the Newcastle Freeway and the Pacific Highway. Despite the beauty of the bay and its attractive situation in a valley surrounded by high hills and bushland the presence of the rusty iron and lifeless machinery inevitably colours the visitor's perspective of the bay. Certainly Catherine Hill Bay has a very different feel to the gay, busy tourism-based towns of the Central Coast.

The village is named after the Catherine Hill, a schooner wrecked here in 1867. Coal was discovered and mined by the New Wallsend Company which bought up the land, built a jetty and opened the mine in 1873. The coastal location facilitated shipment and avoided the bar at the entrance to Lake Macquarie. The enterprise employed 70-100 men, whose cottages, still lining the roadside, formed the basis of the nascent township. Approximately 1000 tons of coal a week was taken by horse-drawn skips from the mine to a loading chute on the jetty.

A post office opened in 1874. The mail was initially shipped in by the company's coal steamer, the Susannah Cuthbert. However, it was wrecked in 1875 and this proved an insurmountable setback for the company. It closed in 1877 and the township virtually ceased to exist until the Wallarah Coal Company opened up the mines again in 1889. In the course of the next decade a school, a public hall, two churches, a sawmill, a new jetty and a tram track to the mine, 4 km away, were all built. The men travelled to work via train and a ferry across the lake to Cam's Wharf which was named after a doctor, Samuel Cam, who owned a farm nearby in the 1870s. They then walked the remaining 4 or 5 km.

Things to see:  

Rows of 19th century miners' cottages

Middle Camp
Turn off the Pacific Highway into Flowers Drive. After 1.5 km you will find yourself in a residential area known as Middle Camp which is situated in a gully surrounded by high hills. Lining the roadside are rows of 19th century miners' cottages, some of them now available as rental accommodation. They are essentially simple, look-alike, box-like rectangles with verandahs and no fences, all situated very close to the street.

First Lookout
As the road begins to climb turn left into Northwood Rd which runs by the cemetery to a side road which leads out to a bluff overlooking the beach below. At either end are the two headlands which demarcate the bay's boundaries. At the southern end is the coal-loading wharf with the colliery on the hillside behind it.

Second Lookout
Return to Flowers Drive and turn left continuing southwards. Near the top of the hill, to the left, is the Uniting Church. A left here leads to another viewing area furnishing a different angle and more elevated perspective over the same objects.

The Bay
From this point the road drops down to sea-level by the bay. There is a carpark to the left by the beach which is popular with surfers.

At the end of Flowers Drive turn right into Lindsley St, left into Clarke St and right into Montefiore St which leads up out of the valley through pleasant bushland and back to the highway.

Boats moored near Cams Wharf

Cams Wharf
Running westwards off the highway, opposite Flowers Rd, is Cams Wharf Rd which takes you to Crangan Bay in the south-eastern corner of Lake Macquarie. There is a picnic area with a boat ramp and views west to Point Wolstoncroft at the tip of the peninsula which marks the western boundary of the bay, with the stacks of Eraring Power Station on the western shore of the lake in the distance and the mountains in the background. Off the point is Pulbah Island, a nature reserve, and, to the north-west Wangi Wangi Point and, behind it, Coal Point, both long, narrow peninsulas which stick out from the western shore of the lake.

Further north along Raffertys Rd is a resort. At the entranceway is a very pleasant and tranquil park with well-established trees, barbecue facilities and shelter sheds.

Little Ponderosa Riding School is located on Cams Wharf Rd and is open Fridays to Sundays and all holidays, contact (02) 4976 1274.