Told for the first time on film, we’ve captured just some of the 255 million years (or so) of history on this landform. It’s our Eiffel Tower, our Harbour Bridge, our Statue of Liberty, and its history is more fascinating to us than all three. So, how do you tell the 255m year history in 31min? You get EVERYONE involved. We interviewed Aboriginal scholars, historians, geologists, surveyors, ship captains, archivists, pro-surfers, a harbour master, and a former inhabitant and more to bring this story to life. It incorporates hundreds of archive images, animation, high end photography, personal photographs, drone footage and newspaper clippings to tell the story of the rock known to indigenous locals as Whibayganba.

Newcastle University, Newcastle Libraries and Newcastle Herald opened their archives to us. Local business like Out of The Square, Shannon Hartigan Images and Newcastle Weekly donated their images and footage. The Port Authority of NSW even lent us a vessel and crew to capture Nobbys from the water at sunset. The community support has been overwhelming with hundreds of personal shots being emailed to us. This is a love letter from Newcastle to Nobbys.

Nobby’s/Whibayganba headland has had many names but officially it is has a dual name, meaning you can call it by either, but it’s respectful to use both. We feel that its Indigenous name is part of our history, and we honour it like we honour the ANZACs. Thank you to Port Authority of NSW and Heritage NSW for their support.

About the project: The Stories of Our Town Film Project has made 21 documentaries about Newcastle and the Hunter Region over the past 4 years. Five of these films have made it on streaming services (Foxtel/Binge/SBS/NITV). Stories of Our Town see Local stories as being important National and in 2022 they were Highly Commended at The National Trust Heritage Awards for services to Education. Our slogan is “The History of Newcastle told by those who lived it”. The full set of all these films are freely available at storiesofourtown.com.