History of the Local Government Area

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‘History is a continuous process of interaction between the historian and the facts, an unending dialogue between the present and the past.’

What is History? E. C. Carr, 1990.

 

Our interest in history gives us a way to understand society. Historians value cultural memory believing that we are enriched by understanding the ways in which we are all products of history. By giving us a way to comprehend the past, history helps us to understand our world now.

The questions we ask of the past, what we research and the interpretations we make, are heavily influenced by the times we live in and our social and cultural (often unconscious) biases. For this reason, there are many histories of the Cessnock Local Government Area.

First Nations people are the earliest inhabitants of the Hunter Valley. The Wonnarua Nation Aboriginal Corporation represents the Wonnarua People, the traditional landowners of the Hunter Valley.

Wonnarua lands.

Cessnock Library is the place to start for information on the history of our Local Government Area. The Local Studies collection at Cessnock Library is a key repository for local history records.

On the Cessnock Library website are:

  • Nearly 4,000 local history photographs
  • Digitised books on the history of the local area
  • Digitised research files on different aspects of local history

 

These are amazing resources which are easy to access! Simply search the Library catalogue for your area of interest, open the book or file and read it on the screen, or download a copy to keep.

There are many books in the Library’s lending collection specifically focused on our local history, here are some recommendations you can borrow:

  • Mines, Wines and People
  • Coal Miner’s Daughter
  • Pit Tops and Prams
  • Lockout
  • Hunter wine: a history
  • A Town of Murals: Kurri Kurri
  • That’s the Way Things Were
  • Beneath the Valley
  • Greta: a history of the Army Camp and Migrant Camp
  • Abermain: the beginning
  • They Called it Siberia
  • South Maitland Railways: century of railways on the South Maitland coalfields
  • Wonnarua: a sense of belonging
  • Lockout: Weston and its Mines
  • Through the Valley
  • The Uphomers
  • People of the Valley
  • The Goanna Legend
  • Wood, Brick and Stone: the making of the Hunter
  • The Way of the River

 

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