Punts in the Lower Hunter

The first punts in the Maitland area

Punts were important to the crossing of rivers in the early days of European settlement along the lower Hunter River and the tributary Paterson and Williams Rivers: during the nineteenth century there were many of them.

The first punt in the area probably operated before 1820 on the Paterson River at Old Banks, the original government centre above the penal settlement at Newcastle and the site of the first farms. European settlement had begun between today’s Paterson and Woodville in 1812 on both sides of the Paterson and a means of crossing the river was needed.

A replacement punt operated by Ralph Mills Clarke appeared in 1831 and operated until 1846 by which time it had been replaced by a punt operated by the owners of Bona Vista at the site of the current iron bridge to Woodville. This punt (the ‘new punt’) functioned there from 1843 to 1888 before the opening of the bridge made it unnecessary. These punts were operated manually by pulling on ropes.

The Paterson punt, about 1860.

(NSW Department of Main Roads Archive)

During the 1820s at Wallis Plains (the infant Maitland), the access route across the Hunter River was at ‘The Falls’, just above today’s Belmore Bridge. Here there was gravel and sand on a flat, stable volcanic rock outcrop about three feet below river level at low tide. Bullock teams, coaches, horses and cattle could ford at low tide roughly between the intersection of Hannan and Sempill streets (on the Maitland side) and Melrose St, Lorn.

People struggled to get across on foot, though. The Falls could be dangerous, and there were accidents and drownings. To simplify the crossing and make it safer, a brother of Thomas McDougall (the owner of the estate on which Lorn is now located) built a small punt to ferry people across the river just downstream. Propelled by a rope heaved on manually by the operator, this punt was one of many such vessels that were eventually situated at several locations down the river to Newcastle.

The next punt on the Hunter River was at McDougall’s Falls close to the end of Russell St, Horseshoe Bend. Also built by the McDougalls, it plied between Horseshoe Bend and Lorn and was operated by use of a long chain instead of a rope. It did duty until the Belmore Bridge was opened in 1869.

Further downstream was the Pitnacree punt, also manually operated, which functioned until the Pitnacree Bridge was built in 1866. Then came the Largs punt which plied from Punt Rd (Largs) to the Queens Wharf Rd which ran to Morpeth. At Queens Wharf itself a punt operated across the river to Phoenix Park, from which overland access was possible to Largs and Wallalong and thence north to Paterson, Dungog and Clarence Town.

The Paterson River by mid-century had punts located at Gostwyck, at the site of the iron bridge downstream of the town of Paterson, at Woodville and at Wallalong. Immediately below the confluence of the Paterson and the Hunter was the Hinton punt, manually controlled and in service from about 1841 to 1904. From 1876 its propulsion was by steam, the first punt on the river to have its cable powered by a steam engine. It crossed from Punt Rd (Hinton) to Old Punt Rd (Morpeth) from 1876 until the Hinton Bridge was opened in 1891.

The Hinton punt, carrying a horse and cart from Morpeth, 1876.

(Ross Craig Collection, University of Newcastle)

Further downstream, at Millers Forest, a punt operated to Raymond Terrace until the Fitzgerald and Irrawang bridges were opened in 1965 and 1970 respectively. At first this punt was manually operated but later it was driven by steam and eventually by diesel. The closure of this punt in 1970 ended the era of punts in the general Maitland area. Another punt, the Nelsons Plains punt, operated across the lower Williams River to Raymond Terrace until about the same time.

Punts between Hexham and Newcastle

The largest cable punt ever to operate on the Hunter was at Hexham. It began as a small manual craft, but as vehicular demand increased on the Pacific Highway it was replaced by a larger steam-driven unit and later by a diesel-driven one. The No 1 Hexham Bridge, completed in 1952, made it obsolete.

The Hexham punt, with cars aboard, about 1946.

The Hexham punt was operated by the Department of Main Roads.

(State Library of NSW)

Further downstream again, on the South Arm of the Hunter, was the small Ash Island-Ferry Rd (Sandgate) punt which functioned until a bridge was built to the island at Hexham. On the North Arm another small punt connected Moscheto Island and the Ingall St (BHP) wharf at Mayfield East.

Then came Newcastle, where a very large punt operated the Stockton-Wharf Rd run. The original punt here was built by Peter Callan of Stockton in 1889 and towed by one of his ferries. Known as the Horse Punt, it served horse-drawn transport exclusively and functioned until the steam-driven Mildred was launched at the Walsh Island Dockyard in 1916. Eventually, three large steam-driven ferries that could carry many vehicles (the Kooroongaba, the Koondooloo and the Lurgurena), replaced the Mildred. They operated until the Stockton Bridge opened in 1971.

Punts operated on the lower Hunter for about 150 years. Before bridges and ferries they were vital in serving the needs of their time in carrying livestock, goods, vehicles, mails and people. They made it possible for people to cross the rivers in relative safety. They could not operate during freshes and floods, though, and when the rivers were up they had to be tied or chained to trees or posts to prevent them from being washed downstream and wrecked. The Gostwyck punt was destroyed during a flood probably during the 1850s: its remains were never found.

Punts operated on the lower Hunter for about 150 years. Before bridges and ferries they were vital in serving the needs of their time in carrying livestock, goods, vehicles, mails and people. They made it possible for people to cross the rivers in relative safety. They could not operate during freshes and floods, though, and when the rivers were up they had to be tied or chained to trees or posts to prevent them from being washed downstream and wrecked. The Gostwyck punt was destroyed during a flood probably during the 1850s: its remains were never found.

References

Hunter, Cynthia, The Settlers of Paterson’s Plains, Paterson Historical Society, Paterson, 1997.

Maitland Mercury.

Patfield, Wayne, ‘Our past: the vital role played by punts in the Lower Hunter from the early 1800s’, Maitland Mercury, 1 November 2020.

Patfield, Wayne, Steam Ships on the Paterson River, 1832-1950, Paterson Historical Society, Paterson, 2020.