Cooks Hill, New South Wales facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Cooks Hill Newcastle, New South Wales
Cooks Hill Location in Newcastle, Australia
Population	3,621 (2016 census)
• Density	4,020/km2 (10,400/sq mi)
Postcode(s)	2300
Area	0.9 km2 (0.3 sq mi)
Location	2 km (1 mi) from Newcastle CBD
LGA(s)	City of Newcastle
State electorate(s)	Newcastle
Federal Division(s)	Newcastle
Suburbs around Cooks Hill: Hamilton East Newcastle West Newcastle Hamilton East Cooks Hill The Hill The Junction Bar Beach Pacific Ocean

Cooks Hill is a cool inner-city suburb in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It's known for its pretty streets lined with trees, old-fashioned Victorian terrace houses, and charming timber cottages. You'll also find some classic corner pubs here.

In 2016, about 3,621 people lived in Cooks Hill.

What Makes Cooks Hill Special?

Cooks Hill is famous for Darby Street, often called an "eat street." It has around 25 restaurants and cafes, many with outdoor seating where you can enjoy your meal. You'll also find some well-known pubs like The Cricketers Arms Hotel and The Oriental Hotel.

Art and Culture

The Newcastle Region Art Gallery is located in Laman Street. This gallery has many artworks by famous artists such as Sidney Nolan and William Dobell. It also looks after a large collection of public art.

Cooks Hill has several smaller art galleries too. One of them, the Von Bertouch Gallery, was thought to be the first commercial art gallery outside a capital city in Australia! The area is a lively spot for visual arts, with places like the Back to Back gallery.

Sports Clubs

Cooks Hill is home to two main sports clubs. The Cooks Hill United Football Club plays soccer, and the Cooks Hill Rugby Union Football Club plays rugby. The rugby team is nicknamed the "Brown Snakes."

The Brown Snakes started in 2007 and play their home games at Empire Park, near Bar Beach.

The Cooks Hill United Football Club plays its main games at the Newcastle Athletics Field. Other games are played at National Park No4 and No.6. Their top team won the Zone Football League: Premier League Division in 2011. They also won major semi-finals in 2010 and 2012, showing they are a very successful team!

You can find out more about the galleries and cultural spots at the Newcastle Visitor Information Centre.

A Look Back: History of Cooks Hill

The first people to live in this area were the Awabakal Aboriginal people.

Cooks Hill grew because of the coal mines nearby. Land was sold, and Darby Street became the busy shopping area it is today. Darby Street was originally called Lake Macquarie Road. It was one of the few public roads that went through the land owned by the AA Company Coal Mine.

How Cooks Hill Got Its Name

The suburb was named after Samuel Wellington Cook. He was a wealthy landowner and a successful farmer in the Tamworth area. Samuel Cook came to Australia in 1837 from England. He helped manage large properties for his brother-in-law, Henry Dangar, who was a surveyor for the Australian Agricultural Company.

Samuel Cook was known for breeding horses and helping develop the Tamworth area. He spent a lot of money supporting local businesses.

In 1869, Samuel and his wife Elizabeth moved to Newcastle (Cooks Hill) to retire. They lived in a house called "Lucerna" on Lower Church Street. After they passed away, their son Thomas Cook donated beautiful stained-glass windows to St John's Church, Newcastle in memory of his mother.

The "Lucerna" house had great views of Newcastle Harbour. Two years after Samuel Cook died, the Cooks Hill School opened in 1885. This helped make "Cooks Hill" the official name of the suburb.

The 1989 Earthquake

Cooks Hill was badly damaged on December 28, 1989, when Newcastle had an earthquake. It measured 5.5 on the Richter scale. This earthquake sadly killed 13 people and injured many more. It also damaged or destroyed over 25,000 buildings, and many had to be pulled down. It was the first earthquake in Australia known to cause deaths.

Historic Places

Cooks Hill has some places that are listed for their heritage, meaning they are important historical sites. One of these is:

• 1D Parry Street: St John's Anglican Church, Newcastle

Who Lives in Cooks Hill?

According to the 2016 census, there were 3,621 people living in Cooks Hill.

• About 3.5% of the people were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.
• Most people (80.3%) were born in Australia. The next biggest group (3.3%) was born in England.
• Most people (87.6%) spoke only English at home.
• When asked about religion, 44.0% said they had no religion. Catholic was the next most common at 20.1%, followed by Anglican at 13.3%.