Statue of a miner outside the Kurri Kurri Workers Club

Kurri Kurri (including Weston, Buchanan and Brunkerville)
Once important mining town in the Hunter Valley
Located 145 km from Sydney and 11.5 km from Cessnock, Kurri Kurri is an old coalmining town. In conjunction with neighbouring Weston it has a population of 13 628.

Depending on which source is consulted it is variously believed that the original inhabitants of the area were the Darkinjang, Awabakal or Wanaruah peoples. The town was named in 1902 by District Surveyor T. Smith who chose the name because he believed it meant 'hurry along' in a local dialect.

The very first European landholder in the area was Benjamin Blackburn who was granted 400 acres on the banks of Wallis Creek at Richmond Vale.

Coal was discovered in the district by William Keene in 1856 but the full potential of the Greta coal seam was not recognised until 1886 when T.W. Edgeworth David did some exploratory work. The first colliery of the South Maitland Coal Field (East Greta) was opened in 1891 and many others followed after the turn of the century.

Kurri Kurri was laid out on Crown land in 1902 to serve the growing community of miners and their families who were living in makeshift accommodation since taking up employment at the recently opened collieries in the area. Stanford and Pelaw Main had been opened in 1901.

Land sales commenced in 1903 and within one year Kurri Kurri had a population of 1300. With 5885 inhabitants by 1911 it soon became one of NSW's larger towns.

Weston sprang up in 1903 around the Australian Agricultural Company's Hebburn No.1 Colliery which opened in 1902. A private town, it was laid out on a portion of the Weston family's 640-acre estate which they acquired in 1856.

Nearby Abermain also developed in 1903 around Abermain colliery. Plans for a colliery called Silkstone on the site were first put forward in 1886 but had failed due to insufficient capital and the distance from the railway line. The latter had been extended to the area in 1902-1904.

Work was dangerous in the mines and there have been several bad accidents (see entry on Cessnock). Six men were killed and many others left jobless after an explosion and fire at Stanford Merthyr Mine in 1905. There is a monument to their memory in Kurri Kurri cemetery.

Richmond Main set a world record for a vertical shaft mine in 1926 by hauling up 3400 tons in one eight-hour shift. It was, at one time, the largest shaft mine in the Southern Hemisphere employing 1200 men and boys, 200 pit horses and state-of-the-art technology. The local mining operations were very large, even by world standards.

The Great Depression dealt a severe blow to the industry and mechanisation after World War II saw major job losses in the 1950s. Thus the population of 9607 in 1933 had declined to 7903 by 1954. The pits began to close from the late 1950s - Stanford Main in 1957, Pelaw Main in 1962 and Richmond Main in 1967. Wine slowly supplanted coal as the centrepiece of the regional economy as demand fell and large open-cut mines began to open in the upper Hunter region.

A large aluminium smelter was completed in 1972 and is still a major source of local employment.

Things to see:  

Tourist Information
For local tourist information contact the Hunter Valley Wine Country Visitors' Centre at Cessnock, tel: (02) 4990 4477.

Kurri Kurri Hotel

Kurri Kurri Hotel
Judging by the size of the local hotels one must assume that they were the main source of recreation in the early boom days of the township.

By far the most impressive of them (it is really the town's only historic building of high quality) is the Kurri Kurri Hotel at the corner of Lang and Hampden Sts, opposite Rotary Park. Built in 1904 it is an unusual and quite ostentatious building which stands out in what is an otherwise undistinguished streetscape. Three storeys high it sports ornate cast-iron lacework on the verandahs with extravagant verandah brackets, large decorative brick arches, inset pedimented doors and windows and quality joinery.

While in Lang St you may wish to have a look at Stringybark Graphics Gallery (110 Lang St), tel: (02) 4937 5125.

History Museum
The Sir Edgeworth David Memorial Museum is located in the old weatherboard Pokolbin Schoolhouse (1901) which is on the grounds of the Kurri Kurri High School in Deakin St (opposite Greta St). It contains 6000 items relating to local history and is open Wednesdays, Sundays and public holidays from 1.00 a.m. - 4.30 p.m. or by arrangement, tel: (02) 4937 4418. Admission is free and there is an extensive local history library and archives.

Empire Tavern
The other hotel of some note is the Empire Tavern in Railway St which was built at roughly the same time as the Kurri Kurri Hotel. It has an attractive upstairs verandah with a pediment and finial and simple timber bargeboards around the columns with cast-iron lacework fencing. Opposite is the Log of Knowledge Park which is a pleasant spot with childrens' play facilities.

Richmond Vale
At the end of Railway St take the bend to the left into Stanford St which is signposted for Wyong. 2 or 3 km south along this road, at Pelaw Main, is Richmond Vale Railway Museum and Richmond Main Heritage Park.

The railway museum is based around the private Richmond Vale Railway which operated from 1905 to 1987, making it Australia's last operative steam railway. It once conveyed miners between the Pelaw Main and Richmond Vale collieries, both owned by industrial magnate John 'Baron' Brown. The track covered 36 km. It extended to the coal-loading facility at Hexham on the Hunter River, passing through three tunnels in the Sugarloaf Range. The locomotives are now heritage protected and take visitors for steam-train rides on the first three Sundays of each month.

The old Richmond Main Colliery is also heritage listed. Buildings include the administrative centre, the powerhouse and some workshops (including the blacksmith's). The employees of Richmond Main set a world record for a vertical shaft mine in 1926 by removing 3400 tons of coal in an eight-hour shift. It was, at one time, the largest shaft mine in the Southern Hemisphere employing 1200 men and boys, 200 pit ponies and state-of-the-art technology.

The Great Depression was a major setback to the industry and mechanisation in the 1950s saw considerable job losses. Richmond Main, the first to appear and the last to go, closed in 1967. Wine slowly supplanted coal as the centrepiece of the regional economy as demand fell and large open-cut mines began to open in the upper Hunter region. Since 1960 Kurri Kurri has become a residential area for Cessnock.

There are picnic areas, barbecues, a kiosk and restaurant, outdoor mining exhibits, souvenirs, toilets and an annual model train exhibition. For further information ring (02) 4937 5344 in operating hours, otherwise telephone (02) 4936 1124.

Brunkerville
Named after a local politician, James N. Brunker, Brunkerville is located15 km south of Kurri Kurri. One of the attractions is the Rose Cottage Gallery, set in old world gardens at 271 Main Road, tel: 02 4938 0434.

Instead of turning right from Victoria St into Railway St you can proceed past the roundabout into what becomes Tarro St (signposted for Cardiff) then Mulbring St and ultimately John Renshaw Drive. A few kilometres brings you to a bridge over Wallis Creek. On the other side you can turn right into George Booth Drive. If, for the moment, you ignore this road another 500 m or so brings you to a left turn into Buchanan Rd, signposted for East Maitland. Along here is Buchanan Gallery.

The land at Buchanan was granted in 1824 to George Brooks, who was a magistrate and the assistant surgeon in charge of Newcastle Hospital. In 1828 he married the daughter of the Reverend William Cowper, a significant ecclesiastical figure in early colonial history, thereby extending his landholdings.

The gallery is situated in an old school and schoolmaster's residence built in 1883 of sandstock bricks and sandstone and set in 2 acres with picnic tables. On display are various artworks and also craftwork from the Hunter region. It is open Thursday-Sunday and school holidays from 9.30 a.m. - 5.30 p.m. or by appointment, tel: (02) 4937 3170.

Mt Sugarloaf Lookout
If you do take the turnoff into George Booth Drive then 9.5 km from John Renshaw Drive is the turnoff on the right into Mt Sugarloaf Rd which takes you to the top of Mt Sugarloaf itself where, at 412 m above sea-level, there are picnic and barbecue areas, several walking tracks (ranging from 275 m to 1.6 km) and some magnificent views of Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and the Lower Hunter Valley. The two large steel structures at the top are television transmitters.

The view from the top carpark is eastwards. In the foreground is West Wallsend with the industry about the Hunter estuary at Newcastle in the distance and, beyond that, the ocean. The large inland body of water to the south is Lake Macquarie with Cockle Creek wending westwards and, at dusk, the bright lights of Cardiff are plainly visible at the northern end of the lake.

The bitumen walkway which heads off from the carpark winds its way up and around the summit and leads to The Pinnacle from whence the views are outstanding. To the south-east it is possible to see a great deal of the Central Coast and its hinterland dominated by the lake system. On the western shore of Lake Macquarie are the stacks of Eraring Power Station. Rotating slowly to the right the eye meets the Watagan Mountains to the south-west, then the congregations of houses which constitute Cessnock to the west, Kurri Kurri to the north-west and Maitland to the north.

	Motels
	Kurri Motor Inn Cnr Lang & Alexandra Sts Kurri Kurri NSW 2327 Telephone: (02) 4937 2222 Rating: **
	Hotels
	Chelmsford Hotel Kurri Kurri 126 Lang St Kurri Kurri NSW 2327 Telephone: (02) 4937 1064
	Kurri Kurri Hotel 180 Lang St Kurri Kurri NSW 2327 Telephone: (02) 4937 1019
	Station Hotel Victoria St Kurri Kurri NSW 2327 Telephone: (02) 4937 1007
	Bed & Breakfast/Guesthouses
	Hebburn's Gate B & B 83 Hospital Rd Weston 2326 Kurri Kurri NSW 2327 Telephone: (02) 4937 1945 Facsimile: (02) 4937 1959 Email: chris@hebburnsgate.com.au Web site: http://www.hebburnsgate.com.au Rating: *****
	Restaurants
	Fonds Restaurant Tarro St Kurri Kurri NSW 2327 Telephone: (02) 4936 1392
	Gold Sing Restaurant 168 Lang St Kurri Kurri NSW 2327 Telephone: (02) 4937 1972
	Kurri Motor Inn Restaurant Cnr Lang & Alexandra Sts Kurri Kurri NSW 2327 Telephone: (02) 4937 2222
	Kurri Workers Club Dining Room Lang St Kurri Kurri NSW 2327 Telephone: (02) 4937 1511
	Pearl River Chinese Restaurant 122 Barton St Kurri Kurri NSW 2327 Telephone: (02) 4937 2633