James Phillips
Weir Phillips Architects
Australia
A Distant Mirror
This paper traces the parallels and differences between Newcastle upon Tyne and
Newcastle, New South Wales. Both are industrial cites where steel was manufactured, both
based their industries on coal won from the hinterland and both were forced to reinvent
themselves as cities when steel manufacturing migrated to other locations or other
countries. These two cities, at the opposite ends of the earth, have similarities that resonate
in the understanding of the cultural landscape of steel and its manufacture. Newcastle, NSW
has maintained a level of prosperity based on the rapid expansion of the coal industry and
from the rich agricultural hinterland it serves as a port. Today the city centre is in the
process of reinventing itself as the riverside industries, including steel manufacturing, have
made way for residential and commercial development. Debate continues over the removal
of the railway line into central Newcastle as it is seen as both providing an important link to
the city centre and dividing the city from its waterfront, a waterfront that was once entirely
industrial and which is now valued for its real estate and recreational potential. This
fundamental change in landscape is mirrored in the controversy that surrounded Ralph
Erskine’s desire to orient the Byker Wall housing project south to the River Tyne, when built
in the 1970s.
The view of the river was then also seen as undesirable; it is now more evocative of
parkland. The reinvention of Newcastle upon Tyne is symbolised by Antony Gormley’s Angel
of the North, which fielded enormous criticism at its proposal and became a cultural icon
upon its realisation. No such symbol exists for Newcastle, NSW, however both cities take
great pride intheir football teams; Newcastle United and the Newcastle Knights, different
codes, but both eliciting equal fervour and prominence in the local cultural landscape. As a
coda, Newcastle, NSW contains many place names derived from the Tyne and Wear Region
and from South Wales, adding a further, linguistic layer to the parallels between the two
cities.