![ICON: Renew Newcastle general manager Marni Jackson at one of the signalman’s cottages. ICON: Renew Newcastle general manager Marni Jackson at one of the signalman’s cottages.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/silverstone-feed-data/4c9e1263-c2ea-4adc-8e8b-0645e45abcd0.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
IT is a perfect Newcastle day.
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A blue-green surf pounds the reef, the city looks enticing under a sky of blue and a tapestry of fluffy clouds.
A coal ship is guided into the harbour by three bossy tugs, F/A-18s fly low across the water and pretty yachts bob on the swell off Horseshoe Beach.
Welcome to Nobbys, the perfect place to be on this perfect day.
Anyone who has lived or worked atop Newcastle’s famous headland says the place casts a spell.
Aborigines would have known their way over and through the reefs that ring what was then an odd-shaped island, but free public movement has been restricted for 150 years, ever since Nobbys’ strategic importance to shipping was recognised.
Only lighthouse keepers and signalmen and their families have been able to enjoy the magnificent views of coast and city, the terror of storms, the glorious isolation from suburbia.
That changed yesterday when everyone was welcome at Nobbys.
It is the beginning of a new open era at the Newcastle landmark, the first of six days – today, tomorrow then March 11, 12 and 13 – when all of us who have looked longingly at the harbour sentinel will be able to take in the views and the vibe at our leisure. The only other authorised public access in recent years has been through annual Heritage Week tours restricted to one day a year.
The two open weekends are part of a trial to see how the Newcastle landmark can cope with large numbers of visitors and the beginning of a consultation process to discover what changes people want.
All the buildings have been given a fresh coat of blinding white paint. There are three former signalman’s cottages, built in the 1940s, and the 1950s former signal station, which has a large bird’s nest in one of its aerials.
Taking pride of place is the lighthouse, which began operation in 1858. It is Australia’s third oldest.
It is simple and functional. This is part of the charm of the place.
Wider access to Nobbys has been the subject of fiery public debate for years.
City entrepreneur Neil Slater’s plans for a restaurant and accommodation on the site were knocked back in 2008 because the vision was deemed to have clashed with the site’s heritage.
The proposal and the rejection infuriated many but that controversy was nothing compared to the imbroglio over the site in the 1850s.
By then Nobbys was connected by Governor Macquarie’s Pier [the breakwall] but someone suggested it should be blown up to improve the harbour entrance.
The Land and Property Management Authority administers Crown lands in NSW and took over Nobbys from the Newcastle Port Corporation in 2010.
Authority general manager Graham Harding said it was a raw and sensitive site but was probably one of the most important locations in his care.
‘‘It is of national significance and it has the potential as a major tourist drawcard,’’ Harding said.
‘‘We have to go to the public for consultation.’’
Harding said Newcastle was often divided by strong views on big issues, and the future of Nobbys was one of them.
‘‘There will be an honest discussion with the community,’’ he said.
‘‘Whatever happens will have to be sustainable for future generations.’’
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ENEW Newcastle, which has revitalised the CBD by installing art-inspired small businesses in disused shops and buildings, was invited to be part of the Nobbys trial.
Renew will manage a photographic exhibition in one of the cottages for the duration of the open days.
The Nobbys job represents a big vote of confidence in Renew.
‘‘It is a good fit,’’ Renew’s general manager, Marni Jackson, said.
‘‘We have indicated we are very interested in talking about temporary uses [of Nobbys] while the authority is working out long-term uses.
‘‘We have lots of ideas about what can happen up there.’’
Jackson did not want to elaborate about Renew’s involvement beyond the open days but Harding said the group was one of several that ‘‘potentially’’ may have a long-term relationship with Nobbys.
Jackson said Renew was interested in access to interesting city spaces and its involvement was the beginning of imagining what could happen on the site.
‘‘We are helping people try and imagine,’’ she said.
The lighthouse itself still operates and is the responsibility of the federal government. It is not open as part of the trial.
Signal operations moved to the pilot station at Horseshoe Beach in 2001.
The authority has allocated $550,000 to run the trial, which includes the upgrade of one of the cottages for the exhibition.
Les Stevens, of Swansea, was the last signalman to live at Nobbys.
He and his wife, Julie, lived in cottage number two from 1987 to 1997 with their children, Rob and Ineca.
‘‘We loved it,’’ Julie said.
She could look out over the city from her kitchen window and watch the ships passing from the bedroom window.
Rob was 10 and Ineca was nine when they first arrived.
‘‘It was difficult for the kids at first,’’ Les recalled. ‘‘They went from lots of friends at Swansea to none at Nobbys.’’
That soon changed when Rob went to high school and he and his friends started to surf.
‘‘Rob was king of the hill. There were always kids up here.’’
Julie remembers massive sand drifts that cut the family off from the city.
The Stevens family joined two other families on Nobbys, the Cecils and the Murgatroyds.
Rob, now 34, remembers the brood of Nobbys children telling each other ghost stories about a well on the headland where there were dead bodies.
‘‘The cottage wasn’t the Taj Mahal but we weren’t a massive brood and it was a very happy time for our family,’’ Rob said.
‘‘People were drawn to Nobbys. We had lots of visitors,’’ Julie said.
She said the 1989 Newcastle earthquake was terrifying.
‘‘There was a thud, the whole island moved.
‘‘I looked over to the city and it was covered in a cloud of dust,’’ Julie said.
Les said he and his family had been ‘‘privileged’’ to live there.
Julie giggled as she remembered the Murgatroyds’ unusual name causing problems when the family tried unsuccessfully to order a pizza from town.
‘‘A pizza for Murgatroyd at the lighthouse? They wouldn’t come,’’ Julie said.
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HE photo exhibition that will be on display as part of the open days is curated by Siobhan Curran and its theme is morning in Newcastle.
Called newcastlemorningphotos, it features 51 images of Newcastle by 36 local contributors whose work was chosen from those submitted for consideration on the free online photo-sharing site Flickr.
‘‘The project has united people and they love sharing the images,’’ Curran, 33, said.
Curran moved to Newcastle in 2010 and looks at the city as only a ‘‘blow-in’’ can, with a fresh, creative approach.
‘‘It is discovery,’’ Curran said.
‘‘You think you know a city.
‘‘I aim to show Newcastle from a different perspective.’’
Curran is among the new generation of Novocastrians who have fallen under Nobbys’ spell.
‘To walk to the top [of Nobbys] and turn to see the vista ... it is beautiful, it’s like you’ve been given the keys to the city,’’ she said.
Harding said the immediate priorities were opening Nobbys to the public and deciding what changes could make the site more enjoyable.
‘‘The question will be how much change do people want here,’’ he said.
Formal public consultation is expected to start after April.