Fortress Newcastle:
Prepare to be amazed.
During World War II, the city of Newcastle received a disproportionate amount of protection compared to the rest of Australia
Fortress Newcastle was the military title given to the protection of the industries of Newcastle in WW2. Proportionately, Newcastle had far more protection that any other city or town in Australia during this time because everything you needed to support the war existed in Newcastle.Our steel factories made almost 10 million tons of Iron and steel for the war effort. Every ship involved in the conflict ran on coal. We made ships, we repaired ships, we made machine guns, uniform, helmets, aircraft parts!
in 2019 during a meeting of a local industrial heritage group
Led to more clues and involved ten local history societies banding together in one monumental research project
Surrounding the industry were four forts, five army bases, two naval bases, two RAAF bases and seven anti-aircraft guns. It was enormous. This town of less than 100,000 had tens of thousands of troops protecting it, including 40,000 US/UK troops stationed at Port Stephens alone. The is the first time this story has been told and most importantly many of the storytellers lived the history.