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Research » A Virtual Tour of Nobbys
 A Virtual Tour of Nobbys PDF
Nobbys, looking exactly as it did when Captain Cook sailed past, will soon be a reality over the Internet courtesy of Monteath & Powys. Historians, researchers, teachers, students and just the plain curious will be able to fly over and see a virtual image of Nobbys as it used to be using Google Earth.
The whole project has been managed by one of our partners, Peter Sherlock and our Design Manager, Andrew Baker.
Mr Gionni DiGravio of Newcastle University's Archive Department, discovered a map drawn in 1801 by Ensign Barralier, who sailed into the mouth of the Hunter River on the "Lady Nelson".
He mapped Nobbys and the harbour and the shoals and reefs that lay between Nobbys and what is now Fort Scratchley and Stockton Peninsula.
Andrew Baker overlaid the map on to a satellite photograph of Nobbys. "Using the information we had from the map and the overlay supplied by Newcastle City Council, we developed a 3D model of what Nobbys looked like originally, then we downloaded Google Earth, focused in on Nobbys and overlaid the model. Soon the image will be available to download from the University's archive web site," Andrew said.
All the participants in the project are providing their time and services as a community contribution. The Nobbys of today is nothing like what Ensign Barralier saw.
The island itself, then cut off from the mainland, was almost twice the height it is today. "Using the Ensign's Maps we could estimate the height of Nobbys then at about 203 feet, however, the top and sides of Nobbys were covered in coal and that was cut away until it ran out, hence the reduction in size."
Later of course, Nobbys was linked to the mainland with a seawall to provide a safer entry into the Harbour. The early history of Newcastle, particularly around the East End is also being investigated by a number of groups and eventually a model of what it looked like may also be developed. |
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