Place:Charlestown, New South Wales, Australia

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Charlestown is a suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie, Greater Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, and the largest suburb in the Lake Macquarie locality. It is approximately west-south-west of the central business district of Newcastle.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The Aboriginal people, in this area, the Awabakal, were the first people of this land.

Originally granted to the Waratah Coal Company, the area was the site of the company's first shaft, sunk in 1873. Officially called South Waratah Colliery (later just Waratah Colliery), the pit was variously known as Charles' Pit, Raspberry Gully or The Gully Pit. These names all applied to Charlestown in its early days and the surviving name seem to have been derived from that of Charles Smith, the company's manager. The first settlers were miners from the pit. The colliery closed in 1961.

The company had the area surveyed on 29 April 1876; the first subdivision later became Ida Street, Pearson Street, Milson Street and Frederick Streets. Harry Wright bought the first lot when it was auctioned later in 1876.

The town had its first water main in 1927 and was connected to civic sewage in 1959.

Research Tips