Lake Macquarie History

About the Lake Macquarie History Project

It has been two years in the making but Council’s Lake Macquarie History Online website has reached a key milestone, the website is now available to the public.

The need to provide wider access to Lake Macquarie Libraries historical resources was first identified in 2009.

What information is available?

Over the last 2 years Lake Macquarie City Library staff have typed and scanned endless amounts of information and images into the new system so that community and family history records are available to the wider community online. The resources include;

  • 96 suburb histories
  • 3432 street name histories
  • 3715 pages of the Cockle Creek Newsletter scanned and approx. 74,300 names and places typed up
  • 302 historic maps
  • 6766 historic photos
  • 151 pages of the Pasminco engagement book photographed and 5001 names typed up.

In addition we have researched and written individual narratives covering People, Places, Recreation, Aboriginal and Industrial.

Funding

Lake Macquarie Library received a grant from the National Library to assess conservation of our historic maps. As part of this process, we became aware of the other unique resources held by the library.

Lake Macquarie Council Libraries were successful in obtaining a $40,000 grant from the NSW State Library in 2011. This grant funded the purchase of state-of-the-art data management software including offsite storage and a facility for creating web based content.

In addition to the NSW State Library funding, Lake Macquarie City Council agreed to fund the annual ongoing costs of the data management software. Lake Macquarie City Council also provided significant funding for digitisation equipment and staff costs associated with digitising resources.

Do you have history information to share?

Our collection depends on members of the public for information and donation of materials for copying. If you have information on events, people or places in our region, past or present, and would like to share them please contact us by email or our feedback form.

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.

Council acknowledges traditional custodians throughout Australia. We commit to listening deeply to and collaborating with First Peoples in our work.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website and Council's cultural collections may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or printed material.

This website may contain place names, opinions and terms that reflect authors' views or those of the period in which the item was written or recorded. These may not be considered appropriate today.

If you experience any issues with the website or its content please contact us [email protected]