Derelict Coal Loader

From the 1920’s to the 1970’s, the site functioned primarily as

a transfer depot for coal from bulk carriers to smaller coal-fired

vessels. The Balls Head Coal Loader was extremely advanced

for its time, breaking records by delivering nearly 2500 tons of

coal in under 20 hours.

 

In 1934, the lease was taken up by the Wallarah Coal

Company which had a mine near Newcastle and a wharf on

the coast at Catherine Hill Bay. They would operate the loader

for nearly 40 years.

 

Work at the Coal Loader fell away until the 1970s when the

place was completely refitted to supply export coal to Japan.

Later the jetty was lengthened to accommodate larger colliers.

By the 1990s technology and social change spelled the end

of operations at the Balls Head Coal Loader. The world had

not lost its appetite for coal – in fact it had never been greater.

But that meant exports directly from Newcastle in ships too

large to dock at Balls Head. The ships took on their final load of coal in 1992.

 

 

Done