In 1804 Newcastle was established as a convict settlement mainly for those convicts who had proven troublesome in the south. Convicts undertook coal mining in the vicinity of Newcastle and along the coastline as far south as Glenrock Lagoon. Underground mining during World War II uncovered a number of relics from this era in the vicinity of Glenrock.
In 1825 Newcastle became a free town. Dr James Mitchell became the owner of the Burwood Estate, which incorporated land from Glenrock Lagoon to the Junction. An underground coal mine was established on the south-western bank of Glenrock Lagoon and it began production in 1851. In 1894 the Scottish Australian Mining Company purchased the mine from the Burwood Coal Company. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company purchased the land and the leases in the 1930s.
Picnickers, including groups of school children, began visiting the area well over 100 years ago. Sir Philip Game, the Governor of NSW, in 1932, officially opened a scout camp on the southern side of the lagoon.
In September 1941 the Mayor of Newcastle, Ald Young, announced the council's acquisition of 280 acres of land in the vicinity of Glenrock Lagoon. The land "which slowly faced destruction by vandals and timber thieves, will now be preserved in its natural state and may ultimately become the National Park of Newcastle." The Mayor said: "I believe its development as a picnic ground and beauty spot will bring pleasure to thousands."
Mr Patterson, the Parks and Building Surveyor, said "[d]estruction of trees has robbed the area of most of its birds. At one time it was the haunt of lyrebirds and green pheasants. By planting many of the types of trees which have been destroyed, as well as bottlebrush, we plan to restore the bird life of the reserve." It was suggested that "Scouts should be enrolled as honorary rangers and guides. Visitors could be shown points of interest by the Scouts."
At one time the Lands Department planned to allocate the area to a Newcastle resident for a zoological park but the proposal lapsed. The area lay within the boundary of Lake Macquarie Shire Council, which agreed to transfer 280 acres of land south of Merewether as a bushland reservation to Newcastle Council. As far as Newcastle was concerned, this wasn't all good news. Ald Norris said: "The water running into Glenrock Lagoon was unsafe for drinking purposes. I know it is a beautiful area, but it is polluted from one end to another. Clearing up this reserve will cost a lot of money. The biggest trouble is the sewage emptying on to our beaches which, at times, is driven back to Glenrock Lagoon. Drainage from unsewered areas, beginning at Charlestown, also runs into the creeks and pollutes them."
The Mayor, Ald Young, was either a more far-sighted person or was less aware of the problems. He said he was surprised to hear these remarks, and added that "…[t]he acquisition of this land will be a fine thing for the district. It is not only a beauty spot but will also make an ideal picnic ground. In time it may become a zoological garden. I would not like it to get out that we are taking over something that is a danger to health."
Ald McLagan disagreed and said: "People know the full facts. I know the history of several cases of infectious disease being linked up with Glenrock Lagoon." Ald Dunkley "warned the council that the area might be lost unless immediate action was taken. When the council acquired the land, improvements would be made. There was no need to drink water from the creek as city water could be laid on at no great expense."
In the end, this view prevailed and council accepted the land, thereby laying the basis of what was to become Glenrock Recreation Area. Almost fifty years later, however, water pollution remained a problem. In 1989 it was reported that faecal coliform levels at Glenrock were 12 times higher than the maximum allowable under health guidelines, making it the most polluted beach in the region. No regular testing was reportedly undertaken in Glenrock Lagoon, an area frequently used by children at the nearby Scouts camp, but parents often blamed water pollution for bouts of sickness among the campers.
Mr Jenkins, the chief chemist for the Hunter Water Board, responded to these concerns. "The lagoon could be polluted and I would not be prepared to swim in it." He went on to say that when there was an overload in the sewers following heavy rain, the overload discharged into the creek. Water quality, however, in nearby beaches "would improve substantially in mid 1989 when the new one and a half kilometre ocean outfall off Burwood Beach was used to discharge the sewage."
Following the establishment of the Northern Parks and Playgrounds Movement in Newcastle in 1951, there were various proposals to enlarge the coastal park in the area around Glenrock Lagoon. In the 1960s the Newcastle Flora and Fauna Protection Society also began to lobby the State Government to have the area declared a State Recreation Area (SRA).
The Northumberland County Council in 1952 recommended that the area should be reserved for recreation and open space purposes. The county planner thought it could form part of the city's natural greening belt; however the concept got little support from local councils. In 1950, 89ha of Crown Land was gazetted for recreation and preservation of native flora. Known as Flaggy Creek Reserve, a trust was established in 1952 to administer it. When the Northumberland County Planning Scheme was proclaimed in 1960, the Flaggy Creek Reserve was zoned as open space while the remaining areas were reserved for Special Uses, open space or zoned non-urban.
When a branch of the Flora and Fauna Protection Society was established in Newcastle during 1960, Joe Richley said "[i]t was unfortunate the society had not been in existence to prevent the destruction of a former rain forest at Glenrock Lagoon."
In 1980 the NSW Planning and Environment Commission, Lake Macquarie Municipal Council and Newcastle City Council released a study which examined the coastal strip between Merewether and Swansea. They found the area of the present proposal to be of great conservation and recreational significance, and recommended that the proposal be gazetted a major recreational area.
The major coastal parkland stretching from Merewether to Belmont came closer to fruition in February 1981. A study outlining the most appropriate zonings for the coastal parkland recommended the land between Merewether and Dudley and around Jewells Swamp into a possible SRA and the extension of the Awabakal Nature Reserve. Emphasis was put on the specific controls of future developments. Newcastle City Council's works and planning committee recommended policies in the study be adopted by council.
During the 1970s there was a proposal to have a coal loader, with an associated coal dump, on the coast near Glenrock. Residential development was proposed for other areas. John Dorman, Kevin McDonald, Doug Lithgow and others opposed these developments and began to carry out extensive research on the flora and fauna of the area. In October 1983 their findings were published in a booklet titled Glenrock Natural History, which listed all the flora and fauna in the area. They argued the area should not be developed for housing, but rather should be declared a State Recreation Area.
On March 29 ,1985, Bob Carr, the Minister for Planning and Environment, announced that the land would be preserved as the Glenrock State Recreation Area. This decision marked the accomplishment of years of lobbying, petitions and environmental studies from many individuals and groups. The intention to preserve Glenrock was talked about as early as the 1950s, but took more than 30 years to come to fruition. The land could never be bulldozed or built on, and this pleased most involved.
Conservation groups who had been involved in the proposal for many years, formed the Glenrock Community Advisory Committee in 1985. The committee's main roles were: to continue to act as a pressure group, to advise on the management of the area, and to act as an information and liaison group. The committee included about 18 groups, ranging from The Australian Conservation Foundation to the Hunter Bird Observers Club.
Doug Lithgow, the president of the Northern Parks and Playground Movement, had been involved with the proposal since the 1950s. Mr Lithgow said the area had stood dormant for so long because of the Northumberland County Council recommendation that it should form the Greenbelt for Newcastle. He said: "I think that the only way to manage Glenrock and other areas is to form a network of people, bring the area under management and include the other areas as they become available."
In 1985 BHP and the State Government agreed on the transfer to the Glenrock State Recreation Area of 130ha of coastal land owned by the company. The land, between Glenrock Lagoon and the northern end of Dudley Beach, will be more than 25% of the 500ha recreation area. In return, BHP will be given freehold title to several areas of Crown Land for which it holds mining purposes leases in the northern Lake Macquarie area.
By 1986 Glenrock SRA had still not been gazetted, and moves to protect the area were plagued by a number of ongoing problems. These included: the indiscriminate dumping of rubbish throughout the area, continued quarrying by Newcastle City Council, mine subsidence problems, allegations of environmental damage caused by the Hunter District Water Board's upgrading of its sewerage facilities at Burwood Beach, erosion, four wheel drive and trailbike damage, and the mining proposal for Burwood Beach.
Ifinally, in July 1986, 150ha of Glenrock was gazetted. This move brought the area under proper management to protect natural, archaeological and recreational values for the people of Newcastle in perpetuity. The significance of this gazettal is that the protection of the area was vested in the NSW Parks and Wildlife Service, a statutory body charged by Act of Parliament with the responsibility of guarding our natural heritage and providing recreational facilities.
A walking trail form Kahibah to Burwood Beach was opened in January 1987. The Yeularbah Walking Track begins at Flaggy Creek, near Burwood Road in Kahibah, and ends near the Glenrock Lagoon Scout Camp. The track cost $20,000 to establish. Construction on the track was started in 1984, and Newcastle City Council agreed to give its full support. The NCC also decided to help with the work by providing concrete culverts off-cuts for drainage channels.
A parcel of land owned by Ken Bailey was situated on the northern side of Glenrock Reserve. In 1982 he requested the land be rezoned for residential purposes. Two years later Newcastle City Council agreed to the rezoning of part of it. Following protests, in June 1986 the Member for Charlestown, Richard Face, said ; "negotiation to buy one of the Bailey properties were all but resolved. There is a commitment by the government to the whole area." Two years later, however, the Herald reported that "the future of land at Merewether Heights rests in limbo while the State Government and Newcastle City Administration pass the buck between themselves."
At this time Newcastle was without a council, the previous one having been dismissed by the State Government, and an administrator, Mr Saunders, had been appointed in its place. In 1987 he drafted a plan to rezone seven hectares of the 27 hectare lot, known as the Bailey land, to residential. There had been "community protest in late May 1987" when this plan had become public knowledge.
The Newcastle ALP, along with 24 resident and environment groups and individuals, made submissions objecting to the rezoning proposal, arguing that the State Government should buy the land for inclusion in the Glenrock SRA. They criticised the Citizens Group and the Liberal Party for not making their views known and urged them to take a stand on the issue. Mrs Bond, from the Newcastle Hill Residents Group, said "she was dismayed that these groups had remained aloof and believed that if they had added their voices to the issue, the government would now have had the matter resolved…Mrs Suska Scobie, a member of the Glenrock Community Advisory Committee, said the government should put its money where its mouth was and buy the land."
Six weeks later it was reported that "the State Government appears likely to buy the Bailey land adjoining Glenrock SRA and shortly after Bob Carr announced that the Government had made funds available for its purchase."
Although improvements were made, a report in the Newcastle Herald in 1990 said, "the site was in a sorry state." This was due to the failure of BHP to "clear and maintain" it, which resulted in "grease, chitter (solid coal waste) and coal dust leaching into a creek that feeds Glenrock lagoon in the nearby State Recreation Area."
A 40ha addition was made to Glenrock SRA in 1998. The new areas were in two parcels, one along the oceanfront at Burwood Beach bought from Hunter Water and another section sold by the Federal Government on the southern side of the Pacific Highway between Highfields and Merewether Heights. A spokesperson for Hunter Water said the updating of the sewage treatment plant at Burwood Beach had freed most of the land around the plant to be transferred to the park.
The Glenrock SRA was given a new attraction in 1999 with the donation of the former Bailey's farm off Scenic Drive at Merewether Heights. The house was built in the 1920s and was owned by Mrs Olive Bailey. The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) manage the heritage site which was once used as an orchard and market garden, supplying food for the local mining community and to the rest of Newcastle.
An article in the Newcastle Herald in 2000 stated that climbing roses and cottage garden imports were proving to be a nightmare for Flaggy Creek. Plants such as privet were choking native plants in bushland beside the creek that flows into Glenrock Lagoon. Volunteers were to tackle the weed problem on Australia's clean-up day, 5 March 2000. Greg Giles from Friends and Residents of Glenrock (FROG) said the group surveyed the area from the back of Charlestown swimming pool to the boundary of Glenrock SRA. They found more than 40 different weed species, more varieties than the native plants. Since then a group of volunteers has begun the huge task of removing weeds from the area.
As part of a plan going back to the 1960s, various "Green" groups had hoped to have the Belmont Wetlands, south of Glenrock Lagoon, included in a larger coastal park. On 29 November 2001, "Belmont wetlands conservationists celebrated a sweet victory after Premier Bob Carr announced land at Belmont and West Wallsend would become part of an environmental reserve. There would be no residential development on 400ha of coastal sand dunes and forest, and more than 100ha of wetlands near Belmont." Land is to be handed over as part of a deal between BHP and the NSW Government. Lake Macquarie Coastal and Wetlands Alliance spokesperson Don Owers said the decision vindicated a struggle by residents to keep some 'breathing space' in the area. After fighting for five years "… we are delighted that there will be no residential development." It is hoped that a small eco-tourism facility will be established at the wetlands.
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