History of Belmont
The advent which set in motion factors leading to the
establishment of Belmont, took place quite by accident. In July
1800 a small vessel named the Martha, engaged in the sealing trade,
was driven inshore at the point which we know as Swansea Heads.
Reid, being master of the vessel, mistook the entrance of the lake
for the opening of the Hunter River. A portion of a wharf built by
him still exists at this place, which is still called Reid's
Mistake.
In 1825 Reverend L E Threlkeld sought a place on Lake Macquarie
for a mission station. He chose the locality of Belmont. He chose
it as it was one of the closest points on the Lake to Newcastle
while still being not too distant from the aborigines’
rallying point at Reid's Mistake. Threlkeld decided to build on a
spot situated approximately fifty yards from the present Pacific
Highway, Belmont, right in the centre of Victoria Street. Towards
the end of 1826 Threlkeld and his family moved into their new home,
which he called "Bah-tah-bah"; The name being taken from the
Awabakal tongue which means “a Hill near the lake".
The Bahtahbah Mission Station at Belmont became the first
European habitation at the lake, with Threlkeld's rough dray track
across the hills from Newcastle, becoming the first road into the
lake area. The tendencies set in motion by the lives of William
Reid and Lancelot Edward Threlkeld had now culminated in a germ of
settlement out of which Belmont as we know it today was to
emerge.
The mission at Belmont was closed in 1830 and so Threlkeld built
a mission house on the site of the present Toronto hotel and the
property he named “Ebenezer”.
FTF honours to The-Don
