Newcastle Downunder

By jensphotos

Nobbys and MM420 results

Bobs theme today was Man Made.  Did you know that Nobby’s beach was man made?  Well it is.   Nobbys Head is an iconic landmark in Newcastle and is at the entrance to Newcastle Harbour as you can see from the blip (that's the headland with the white signal house and lighthouse on top). It was originally an island, “Whibayganba” in the local Aboriginal Awabakal clan language (the home of a giant kangaroo), then “Coal Island” and “Nobbys Island”, eventually becoming known by today’s name of “Nobbys Head” or as we say in Newy – Nobbys.
 
The first European sighting of Nobbys Island was by Captain Cook on the 10th of May 1770 from the deck of the Endeavour. His description was of “a small clump of an island lying close to shore.”
 
An early problem with ships trying to enter Newcastle Harbour after European colonization and the discovery of coal was the loss of wind in the ship’s sails as they passed Nobbys Island. To alleviate this, it was decided to join Nobbys Island to the mainland by a causeway known as Macquarie Pier (started in 1818 and completed in 1846) which was eventually replaced by a breakwater.
 
The breakwater construction progressed from the Nobbys end using rocks from the island, as well as from the mainland end using convict labour.  Gradually over the last 170+ years, sand has accumulated along the breakwater to make Nobbys Beach, and the sand and plants make the isthmus appear natural.  So there you have it.
 
Thanks for hosting Bob.
 
Now for Mono Monday results.  Crikey what a lovely selection of letterboxes/mailboxes/post boxes so thank you all for your entries.  I liked the quirky ones and those that hadn’t seen mail for some time.   Some of the UK post boxes must have dated from Victorian times and what I would imagine would be a rare Edward VIII postbox.  In no particular order hearts went to:
 
Rainie
Isbi
libeccio
MovableParts
Terrifo

 
HMs (you all deserve one)  to:


Weeflecky
Ingeborg
carolinav
Par1
Squirrelsetc

Next week the theme is "communications" and the tag is MM421

 

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