Newcastle Family History Society Podcasts

From Glimpses of a Newcastle Life, a collection of short stories written by Thelma Cochrane, Society member, Julie Keating shares her mother’s memories of her time at the Newcastle School of Arts.

This podcast is an audio extract from a presentation given by local historian and Society member, Dr Jude Conway, at our February 2026 meeting, where she explores the growing popularity of ballet in Newcastle during the 20th century and looks at the teachers who played a significant role in nurturing the city’s remarkable tradition of ballet.

This is the story of William Bancroft Armitage, a stonemason whose work became part of the heritage of Newcastle and the Hunter Valley.

Get a preview of our October podcasts.

Mel Woodford tells us of James Henry Crummer, Police Magistrate in Newcastle in 1836 and an active member of the Newcastle community throughout the 1830s and 1840s. As a magistrate he was popular with the ordinary people due to his fairness but not so much with the powers that be!

Society member Lea Harris, tells the story of her 3 times great-grandfather, Peter Nettle—a young Englishman whose life changed forever when a death sentence was commuted to transportation to New South Wales giving him a second chance and beginning a family story that continues today.

In this final episode of Westy Women, written and narrated by Benita Parker of the West Wallsend District Heritage Group we meet Elizabeth Birrell - a woman whose life was shaped by tragedy, resilience and service. Emigrating from Scotland to Australia with two young daughters, she cared for generations of local families as a trusted nurse and midwife in Holmesville and West Wallsend for more than forty years, delivering babies, tending the injured and comforting the sick, long before rural nursing was formally recognised.

Get a preview of our September podcasts.

In this episode of Notable Novocastrians, Associate Professor Nancy Cushing from the University of Newcastle, uncovers the life of one of Newcastle's most accomplished and fascinating women - Dora Birtles. A writer, journalist, adventurer and feminist whose remarkable life took her from her childhood in the Newcastle suburb of Wickham to Europe, Asia and the Australian outback.

In this episode of Felonious Females, Mel Woodford tells the story of Mary Stewart, her husband John, and their young daughter Rachael who in 1834, stood together before a Yorkshire court, convicted of theft and sentenced to transportation to New South Wales. Separated by the convict system and sent on different ships, their story became one of hardship, resilience, and unanswered questions.