Speers Point

Speers Point is a suburb of Greater Newcastle, and the location of the council seat of the City of Lake Macquarie local government area in New South Wales, Australia.

Speers Point is a suburb of Greater Newcastle, and the location of the council seat of the City of Lake Macquarie local government area in New South Wales, Australia. It is 17 kilometres (10.6 mi) west-southwest of the city of Newcastle on the northern shore of Lake Macquarie, in Cockle and Warners Bays, between the suburbs of Cardiff and Warners Bay.Speers Point was settled in 1828 and local commerce began through a colliery in 1843. By 2006, the suburb had a population of 3,230.There has been a proposal to rename part of the suburb to 'Lake Macquarie', to reflect the name of the city.

Before European settlement, the Awabakal people of Lake Macquarie had inhabited the area and called it Biddaba or Milloba.The first claimant to the land was a settler named William Brooks, who selected the area now called Kahibah Parish in 1828, named his property Lochend and received deeds in 1839. The title deeds covered the area east of Cockle Creek, Boolaroo and the place now known as Speers Point. However, before Brooks' claim the land had been occupied by R. Sadleir, who did not make a claim to the land. Brooks developed his claim and opened the Lochend Colliery in 1843, which mined coal from the bottom of the hills around Speers Point.In 1870, William Speer, a wealthy businessman from Sydney, settled there and obtained some of Brooks' land. Speer's residence was erected opposite the current Council Administration Centre. William Brooks' name of Lochend was forgotten and Speer's name remained as Speers Point, referring to the peninsula of land into Lake Macquarie that part of the area is located on.In 1887, a 'Mr Ryan' was the only resident of the area. Ryan was Speer's estate administrator. However, Speers Point began to become more populated when its first subdivision occurred in 1902. Further subdivisions occurred and industry began to open up, and Speers Point Park was transferred to the Lake Macquarie council in 1910. In 1912, a steam tram line began service, whilst the Lake Macquarie council offices moved to Speers Point in 1915 (and moved again in 1955). In 1916 the first post office was opened along with another mine.In 1920, a rowing boat (later hire boat and ferry) service operated across Cockle Creek, however a footbridge was constructed in 1928. In 1930 the steam tram service ceased operations, but was replaced by a private bus service in 1931. Two routes were opened by the government in 1937, whilst an industrial port bus service began operation in 1938. Sewerage systems were put in place in 1945, and two public schools opened in January 1957 and January 1959.The first winner of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race in 1945, a cutter called Rani was built by the Steel brothers of Lake Macquarie. Being the second smallest of the nine competing, it was 'given up as lost' by the organisers.The post office closed in 1976 and the 1989 Newcastle earthquake brought substantial damage to the town, especially to the Boolaroo-Speers Point RSL club and its youth section. The epicentre of the magnitude 5.6 earthquake was the neighbouring suburb of Boolaroo.