Cooks Hill, New South Wales

Cooks Hill Newcastle, New South Wales
Population:	2,537[1]
Postcode:	2300
Area:	0.9 km² (0.3 sq mi) [1]
Location:	2 km (1 mi) from Newcastle CBD
LGA:	City of Newcastle
State District:	Newcastle[2]
Federal Division:	Newcastle[3]
Suburbs around Cooks Hill: Hamilton East Newcastle West Newcastle Hamilton East Cooks Hill The Hill The Junction Bar Beach Pacific Ocean

Cooks Hill is an inner city suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It is typified by its tree lined streets, rows of Victorian terrace housing, turn of the century timber cottages and corner pubs.

Description

Cooks Hill is probably most renowned for the popular 'eat street' - Darby Street. Darby Street has approximately 25 restaurants and Cafes with enjoy alfresco dining, cafes and pubs. It is also diverse in character and is home to the city's Christ Church Cathedral as well as some well-known pubs, like The Cricketeers Arms Hotel, The Oriental Hotel, The Delaney and the Commonwealth Hotel.

The suburb is also home to the Newcastle Region Art Gallery in Laman Street. The Gallery houses many works by significant artists, including works by Sidney Nolan, William Dobell, Russell Drysdale and Peter Preston it is the custodian of a substantial public art collection.

It is also a number of smaller inner city art galleries, including the Von Bertouch Gallery founded by the late Anne Von Bertouch. It is believed to be the first commercial gallery outside a capital city in Australia. Cooks Hill also hosts a visual arts scene and several artist-run projects such as the rocketart gallery.

The suburb is represented sporting-wise by Cooks Hill United Football Club (the flagship being the Zone Premier League or ZPL squad) and the Cooks Hill Rugby Union Football Club (the "Brown Snakes"). Cooks Hill United Football Club plays it's Zone Premier League games at the Newcastle Athletics Field. All Age and Junior games at played National Park No4. The ZPL 1st grade team became inaugural Major Premiers of the new Zone Football League: Premier League Division, beating Morisset FC 1-2 in the Grand Final on Sunday, 18th September, 2011 at Wanderers Oval, Broadmeadow. The Brown Snakes were established in 2007 as a youth-oriented senior Rugby club and have Hawkins Oval, Wickham as their home ground.

Newcastle Visitor Information Centre provides Cultural Precinct Guides listing all the galleries.

History

Cooks Hill grew from coal mines in the area. Land sales developed from Brooks Street onto Darby Street to create the commercial centre there today. Darby Street was originally known as Lake Macquarie road and was one of the few public access roads through AA Company Coal Mine land.^[4]

Cooks Hill was badly damaged when at 10.27am on 28 December 1989, Newcastle experienced an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale which killed 13 people, injured 162 and destroyed or severely damaged over 25,000 buildings, many of which had to be subsequently demolished. It was the first in Australian history known to claim human lives.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Australian Bureau of Statistics (19 November 2002). "Community Profile Series : Cooks Hill (State Suburb)". 2001 Census of Population and Housing. http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/ABSNavigation/prenav/ProductSelect?newproducttype=Community+Profiles&collection=Census&period=2001&areacode=SSC16121&breadcrumb=LP&currentaction=201&action=401. Retrieved 2007-06-30. 
2. ^ "Newcastle". NSW Electoral Commission. http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/state_government_elections/electoral_districts/all_districts_/newcastle. Retrieved 2007-02-21. 
3. ^ "Newcastle". Australian Electoral Commission. http://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/n/newcastle.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-21. 
4. ^ "Cooks Hill". The City of Newcastle. http://www.ncc.nsw.gov.au/discover_newcastle/discover_our_suburbs/cooks_hill. Retrieved 2007-02-26. 

• "Cooks Hill". Land and Property Management Authority - Spatial Information eXchange. New South Wales Land and Property Management Authority. http://imagery.maps.nsw.gov.au/?role=mysuburb&search=suburb&suburb=Cooks%20Hill. Retrieved 2008-05-14. 

External links

• Newcastle Visitor Information Centre - City Precinct page
• Cooks Hill, New South Wales is at coordinates 32°56′02″S 151°46′11″E / 32.9338°S 151.7696°E / -32.9338; 151.7696Coordinates: 32°56′02″S 151°46′11″E / 32.9338°S 151.7696°E / -32.9338; 151.7696