The expression "carrying coals to Newcastle" could be consigned to history, Mark Metrikas suggests.
The famous saying, of course, means doing a pointless or redundant task. Why would someone carry coals to Newcastle when there's already loads there? It'd be a bit like bringing sand to the Sahara or taking ice to Antarctica.
Some may think the expression originates in Newcastle in NSW.
But as Mark points out, it came from Newcastle in the United Kingdom. That is, Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England, where the "Geordies" live.
Mark, chairman of the Hunter Branch of the National Trust, was doing a spot of research when he came across an article that noted the end of an era - "the last shipment of coal from our namesake, Newcastle upon Tyne".
Coal has been exported from the Tyne since the 13th century.
"The Tyneside includes the suburbs of Gateshead and Wallsend, with Whickam on its outskirts," Mark said.
He also noted that Captain James Cook had a connection to the area.
Cook began his maritime career in 1746, "serving an apprenticeship on coal carriers originating out of Whitby Harbour" near Newcastle upon Tyne.
And HMS Endeavour - the British Royal Navy ship that Cook commanded to Australia - was "a former Whitby coal carrier".
On May 10, 1770, the Endeavour "sailed northward up the Hunter coastline with a load of coal used as ballast and to fuel stoves used for preparing the crew's food".
"Cook's journal noted 'a small round rock or island' [Nobbys], without spotting our harbour entrance, or seams of coal [he was more than 11 km off the coast]."
Mark said the coal port in Newcastle - or, as he quipped, "Newcastle upon Hunter" - "dates back to 1799 when coal was first gathered from the beaches and cliffs around Signal Hill [the site of Fort Scratchley] by Sydney traders in small vessels".
"Of course, the Awabakal and Worimi have gathered coal for eons to cook food and warm themselves."
As the Endeavour sailed further north, the ship damaged its hull on the Great Barrier Reef on June 11, 1770.
Mark said the coal was "temporarily offloaded at a river" [later named Endeavour River after the vessel] to "enable repairs to the ship".
This area, in what is now Far North Queensland, became Cooktown [old Cookie wasn't the modest type].
Counting Chickens
Fred Saunders, of Waratah West, has an idea for the Stroud area and its chicken farms.
He sent us a clipping in the snail mail of a story from the International Express, with the headline: "The town being powered by chicken manure".
South Molton in Devon was reported to be the "first in Britain to get all its gas from renewable energy made of chicken dung".
"A process called anaerobic digestion transforms energy crops, agriculture waste and animal manure into renewable gas and electricity," the story said.
It provided the town with "all their gas and 40 per cent of their electricity".
"The Condate Biogas plant, on the outskirts of town, turns crops and chicken poo into enough energy for every home. And it gets everything it needs from local farmers."
Sounds like the town can count its chickens.
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