Lake Macquarie History

Wakefield

Name Origin:

Believed to have got its name from a town in Yorkshire, England.

European History

From the start, most of the menfolk were connected in someway with the various coalmines in the western lake area. Sometimes the miners working in the Rhondda Colliery would know when the baker was going around the village because they could hear the iron rims of his cartwheels on the gravel road above them. Some of the tracks used by the miners to walk to work early in the 1900s remained visible for many decades after.

Orchards were established as it was an ideal area for fruit growing until the fruit fly came along.

Wakefield School opened as a provisional school in January 1889 and later the same year became a public school. For a time it was known as Rhondda School. Wakefield School closed in 1982.

Dances were very popular and held in the local hall on Saturday nights and would attract people from a number of towns in the region.

Many of the Wakefield families used to spend the Christmas holidays at Fennell Bay. An area not far from the Fennell Bay baths was once used for camping and holiday shacks.

Wakefield occupies a large area and could be described as a widely scattered settlement rather than a township. (Source: NMH 3 May 1973).

Diega Creek flows from the ranges through Wakefield into Cockle Creek. Part of the Awaba State Forest is in Wakefield. The Rural Fire Service and Eddie Peterson Memorial Park are here.

Eddie Peterson Memorial Park is named after Wakefield resident Thomas Edward (Eddie) Peterson. Peterson was very active in local affairs, including watering and rolling the tennis court (which was part of the park), and mowing the grounds. He died aged 51 and the residents asked that the park be named after him.

Streets in Wakefield

Acknowledgement of Country

We remember and respect the Ancestors who cared for and nurtured this Country. It is in their footsteps that we travel these lands and waters. Lake Macquarie City Council acknowledges the Awabakal people and Elders past, present and future.

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