Seaham, New South Wales
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| Seaham Newcastle, New South Wales |
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| Population: | 362 | ||||||||||||
| Established: | 1822 | ||||||||||||
| Postcode: | 2324 | ||||||||||||
| Area: | 2.5 km² | ||||||||||||
| LGA: | Port Stephens | ||||||||||||
| State District: | Maitland | ||||||||||||
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Seaham is a village in New South Wales, Australia in Port Stephens Council.
Situated in the Hunter Valley, the village is located on the Williams River which flows into the Hunter River some 10km downstream from Seaham. Seaham is about a two and a half hours drive from the state capital of Sydney and a half hour drive from Newcastle,
It is rural community supporting a small but expanding population. While relatively compact and composed of only a handful of streets, Greater Seaham covers a very broad area and incorporates East Seaham, Brandy Hill, Eagleton and Eskdale Estate.
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[edit] History
Settled during 1822, the village boomed during the 1850s from growing river trade and by 1920 supported a hotel, School of Arts, public school, and three churches. It also offered running water to its moderate population. The town became recognized during the 1890s for its excellence in winemaking, the local vineyard, "Porphyry" sweeping up medals and awards in not only Australia but also in Europe.
[edit] Bushfire
On the 14th of January, 1939 a disastrous bushfire swept through Seaham and reduced much of the town to rubble. The Presbyterian Church, Seaham Public School, as well as a number of historically significant homes were lost in the fire, meaning the destruction of not only important edifices but a wealth of Seaham’s history. As the fire swept across the only roads in and out of the town, road access was blocked and subsequently the town had to rely on the effort of local men to fight the fire. By noon most of the women and children had been evacuated by punt across the Williams River to East Seaham, leaving about 50 men to protect the town. With all roads to Seaham blocked by fire, outside authorities had to rely on telephone to contact inhabitants trapped within the town. The last message received from Seaham Post Office, then located next to the School of Arts hall on Warren Street was “I will have to run now. Fire is all around me”.
The fire had been burning for two days in the heavy timber outside of the township, but residents were caught unawares by the suddenness in which the flames swept down onto the village. One of the first buildings to be engulfed by flames was the historic “Felspar House” on the outskirts of the town. It was within the old stone home that a group of people gathered as the fire advanced on the town, watching it race over the hill and burn viciously towards the house. The Newcastle Morning Herald reported the incident the following Monday, telling how the occupants had remained within the home after it caught alight, and left the back door literally as the kitchen roof caved in.
Those left in Seaham by the time the fire reached the village were left to their own devices. As families fleeted over windswept paddocks, luggage in hand, others submerged themselves in dams, lagoons and even cattle troughs. Some defiant homeowners refused to leave their homes. In one instance it was reported that a man stood with a garden hose on his front steps as the fire burnt in a circle around his feet.
At “Brandon”, a two-storied mansion about 2km outside of the village, domestic servants toiled in vain to pump water from the underground well in the garden to save the old house. Luckily, the house itself was saved from the flames, but the gardens and summer houses were reduced to ash.
Business, trade and everyday life in the town came to a halt and subsequently the town fell into a downward spiral. Much of the population left during the 1940s and by 1960 the school served less than 10 students.
The town received a second boom during the 1980s with the development of the Brandy Hill residential estate, which injected new life into the town, bringing families from abroad back to the rural village and saving the school from imminent closure.
This is a timeline of major events in the history of the town of Seaham, Australia.
[edit] 19th century
- 1822 - Seaham is settled by Captain Paterson and land grants are made.
- 1838 - Seaham is proclaimed a town as thriving rive trade boosts the population.
- 1852 - Seaham Public School begins operating in a wooden cottage by swamplands.
- 1860 - The cornerstone of St. Andrews Anglican Church is laid. The church isn't consecrated until 1902.
- 1878 - First service is held at Seaham Presbyterian Church on Dixon Street. "Felspar" House is completed.
- 1882 - Work begins on William Fisher's "Brandon" House.
- 1885 - A brick classroom and teacher's residence are built on the current Seaham Public School site. Despite the improved conditions, classes are empty when school resumes in 1886, with most pupils grape cutting at the local vineyards.
- 1893 - St. Ita's Roman Catholic Church opens on Dixon Street. Strangely, it disappears from all memoirs after the 1939 bushfire. The church wasn't among the buildings destroyed but appears to have ceased operating after the town is destroyed.
[edit] 20th century
- 1902 - Seaham School of Arts opens on Warren Street.
- 1903 - Work begins on the Seaham Hotel.
- 1913 - Seaham is inundated by floodwaters.
- 1915 - Martha Sweeney dies when her home, opposite the Seaham Hotel, burns to the ground. Elderly Mrs. Sweeney had been locked inside by her son and was unable to escape as the cottage burnt down.
- 1917 - Six men from Seaham die in the Great War. 20 men had enlisted from the village by 1917, meaning majority of the town's young male population were absent for 5 years.
- 1925 - Seaham Quarry is dedicated to "science for all time". The rocks are considered to be up to 120 million years old and are regarded as the best example of varve shale in the world.
- 1935 - The Seaham Hotel burns to the ground. It had since been closed and was subject to vandalism.
- 1939 - Seaham is devastated by a bushfire that reduces much of the town to ash.
- 1941 - The Presbyterian Church, destroyed in 1939, is rebuilt. Only casualty from the Second World War dies overseas.
- 1945 - Electricity is connected to Seaham.
- 1955 - A new teacher's residence is built at Seaham Public School to replace the edifice lost in 1939.
- 1968 - A new classroom is built at Seaham Public School to replace an old cottage used since the 1939 bushfires.
[edit] 21st century
- 2002 - "Seaham Celebrates"; a week of activities are held in recognition of 3 milestones in the town's history. It is also 180 years since settlement.
[edit] Trivia
- Deadman's Creek, which visitors cross when entering the town, is named so because it was the site of a grisly murder in the 1840's. A man on horseback was attacked by robbers as he entered the village and was thrown from his horse into the stream of the then unnamed creek. The man died instantly and his bloody body was left among the rocks until daylight.
- Seaham has 2 claims to world fame; its quarry is regarded as the finest example of varve shale in the world and the town's swamplands are one of the most important native animal habitats in the world.
- There is thousands of dollars worth of cutlery and gold at the bottom of the Williams River at Seaham. The goods had been taken by row-boat across the river from East Seaham sometime in the 19th Century and rough conditions upturned the boat, sending the contents to the bottom of the river.
- Invaluable pieces of Australia's history were lost in the 1939 fire. Furniture, manuscripts and other documents linked with the country's colonial days as well as expensive gifts from England were all kept in "Porphyry" House at the time of the fire. As the house burnt to the ground, the floor gave way and the invaluable bits of history fell into the basement. After the fire, the ruins were covered over and presumably, all surviving artefacts are still underground.
- "Brandon" House at Seaham still has thick, black tape over its internal windows. The tape was used during the Second World War to prevent the windows shattering in the case of an air raid.
[edit] External links
Links to go Seaham - Hunter Valley
