GP JOBS IN AUSTRALIA

Newcastle waterfront

Newcastle:

We’ve quite a few GP jobs in the Newcastle area. Would it be the right place for you?

Newcastle is named after Newcastle in the north east of England and its early settlement by Europeans was as a penal colony – and a tough one at that. The coal mines in the area were worked by the convicts who’d fallen foul of the rules and regulations in other penal colonies elsewhere in Australia. By 1823 though, Newcastle was a free of the penal law and became a pioneer settlement.

During the 19th and 20th centuries Newcastle prospered with abundant supplies of coal, iron ore and copper and it became a major industrial city. As well as heavy industry, Newcastle was and is blessed by being on the banks of the Hunter River, famous for wine production, horse breeding and more recently, tourism.

Newcastle’s prosperity came to a grinding halt in the 1990′s as a recession caused havoc with the local heavy industries. Unemployment rose, reaching 17% in 1993. Newcastle began to turn its attention to other industries and there was brief period of growth until the city was again hit by changing fortunes in its core industry. This time, it was the closure of the steel works in 1999. This proved to be the turning point though. As the commodities boom of 2001 onwards got underway, Newcastle again came to the fore because of the raw materials in the hinterland. Newcastle is currently the world’s largest coal export port. At the same time, health and education industries along with engineering support services have been growing fast, making Newcastle one of the fastest growing areas in Australia.

Bar Beach, Merewether, Newcastle, NSW

Areas to live in: Have a look at Kahibah (near to Dudley Beach) or its close neighbour, Kotara. There are several suburbs on Lake Macquarie which are worth looking at  as well – Warners Bay, Eleebana or Speers Point. You could also try the newly re-developed Quayside with lots of shops and restaurants – and some nice, but quite expensive, apartments. If you want to be closer to the city, have a look at Hamilton or Mereweather.

Key facts:

Newcastle is Australia’s 6th largest city

Famous for: coal, beaches & surfing, easy going climate, University of Newcastle (around 30,000 students, full & part-time, including a medical school)

Lonely Planet rate Newcastle as the 9th best city in the world: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/australia/new-south-wales/newcastle

Newcastle is 2hrs by car from Sydney via the Sydney – Newcastle Freeway

There’s a reasonably large local Indian / Asian population, with both Hindu and Islamic organisations as well as Indian food shops and restaurants.  Hindu council: http://www.hinducouncil.com.au/ahtl.html   Islamic council: http://www.icnsw.org.au/

7 cinema complexes, 30 art galeries, 7 annual festivals and a major theatre

First class cricket, Ice Hockey,, Rugby League, Soccer, Netball and Watersports

Twinned with Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newcastle NSW is matched suburb for suburb with Jesmond, Hexham, Wickham, Gateshead in the north east of England – and Morpeth, 20 miles north of Newcastle, NSW & 25 miles north of Newcastle England.

More information: apart from the ubiquitous Google maps (use Streetview – the little orange man by the scale bar – to look around the area) and Wikipedia, these two sites might help with more information. Not all areas are covered of course and there’s no guarantee on the quality of information. Still it might be helpful in helping you to find the best place to be:

http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/rate-your-place/

http://www.cityhobo.com/  (N.B. easiest way to get information from this site is to use the ‘maps’ tab on the top navigation)

Please note: this information is correct as far as we can tell. Please let us know if you think otherwise or if any links are broken – thanks