The Lake Mac Heritage Series was placed to pay homage to the people, places and events that contributed to building and pioneering the Lake Macquarie region. The pick and shovel were chosen in this geoart series to symbolise the hard work the people of Lake Macquarie put forth into the region.

Charlestown Centenary

April 22nd 1976 saw the beginning of a 10 day celebration to mark the centenary of the Lake Macquarie suburb of Charlestown. photo: alderman pickering with the centenary time capsule As part of the celebrations a time capsule was made containing objects and information from that era. It was intended that the capsule be open on the year 2000 and that the objects therein would bare testament to how much Charlestown had changed in the intervening years. For various reasons the parcel was not opened until June 7th 2016. The first Charlestown subdivision was approved 0n 20th May 1876, making it the third oldest subdivision in Lake Macquarie.

History of Charlestown

Charlestown was a suburb that stood still for many years. Slow in early growth, very little development took place till after the second world war. The period from the mid 1950s to 1976 saw remarkable growth, making Charlestown the commercial hub of the Lake Macquarie Shire and a well respected and important contributor to regional life. Large business like The Store, Coles and Woolworths were already operating alongside the smaller business along the highway. Comparison of Pacific Highway Charlestown. The first image was taken by Ralph Snowball in 1907 and the second was taken 109 years later in 2016 Building permits for $2m worth of development had been issued the previous year and development company Lend lease was beginning construction of the Charlestown Square shopping complex - the first major shopping complex for Lake Macquarie. One of the activities planned for the celebrations was to enhance the streetscape of the area and more than 600 trees were planted in public spaces around the suburb during the year. The celebrations culminated in a street parade and visit by the then Governor of NSW Sir Roden Cutler.

The puzzle

All historical and heritage information courtesy of Lake Mac Libraries

Any questions regarding this puzzle cache or the LMHS geoart series will be answered by clicking HERE

*** The LMHS geoart was placed in conjunction with the OzGeoMuster 2018 mega event. The OzGeoMuster 2018 committee would like to thank the following people for their contribution to this series. ahomburg, day1976, sedgwickDave, The Morris, bobbiesgirl, and the_garbageman.***

Enjoy!

Marcus Vitruvius