Fort Scratchley Historic Site 4.4 (reviews)

The Fort Scratchley Historic Site is where you can tunnel into 200 years of history, and it's also where you can experience some of the most amazing views in Newcastle! Fort Scratchely Historic Site stands proud guarding the Hunter River, and is certainly one of the most spectacular vantage points in the entire city.

Once used by local Aboriginies, the fort has a strong history with coal, as well as navigation and defence - so kids will be exploring history first hand, as they learn about what happened right under their feet!

Did you know that it was the European explorers that came from Sydney who discovered the coal seams? This led it to be the first ever coal mine in the entire country!

Then, the coal-fired navigation beacon was set up, and was used right up until 1857 - can you imagine how much that helped those explorers and ships going past!

Of course, Fort Scratchley Historic Site has an incredible position, so it's no wonder it was used as a strategic defence point too!

A guided tour is by far the best way to unlock all the secrets here, with much more detail and of greater significance than you could find alone. A tour will take you around the full site including several tunnels!

On weekends it becomes one of the few sites left in the world's shorelines which fires a gun and time ball at 1pm precisely for sea farers to correct their watches by.

Are you excited to travel back in time to learn about history first hand? We certainly are!