An account of the life of Newcastle pioneer James Steele, the Engineer & later Colliery Manager of Australian Agricultural Company coal mines in Newcastle, the site of Australia’s first railway. Words by Mark Anning, Mr. Steele’s direct descendant.
In the early 1800s, two young men worked together at a colliery, aka a coal mine in the North of England, maintaining the pit machinery. George Stephenson, whose destiny led him to fame as the trailblazer of the locomotive engine and railways. The other man, James Steele, blazed his path working on the advancement of the rail and coal industries in Newcastle, New South Wales, using convict labour.
I have an interest in writing this blog, my ancestor was James Steele, Colliery Engineer employed by Australian Agricultural Company. James came to Australia in 1826, aged 43, to work for the coal mines at Newcastle.
Our family name is Steele though in many records it is written as Steel, so it can be like looking at two different people, but there is only one James Steele. 58,000 people came to Australia between 1815 and 1840, many of them were free settlers who saw opportunities in a new country.
Australian Agricultural Company
Established in 1824, the Australian Agricultural Company acquired a monopoly on the coal mines at Newcastle and began the search for experienced individuals to oversee their mining operations.
They selected Mr. James Steele as the engineer and Mr. John Henderson as the colliery manager or viewer. The reference from Steele’s friend, George Stephenson, certainly helped. Henderson and Steele set sail aboard the ship ‘Australia’ with their families and arrived in 1826.
The original founding document from Australian Agricultural Company 1824.
In these early days, all the work at the various collieries was carried out by convict labour, with many hundreds directly under the personal supervision of Mr. Steele.
By all accounts seen, he was generally liked by the men and encountered no serious difficulties in managing them. Often, through acts of genuine kindness, he granted small concessions that left a lasting impression, resulting in their cheerful obedience to his orders.
What was life like for convicts at Newcastle?
There’s considerable debate about James Steel’s role overseeing the camp for the convicts assigned to AACo in Newcastle.
The convicts had it tough as forced hard labour for the Crown and in the AACo coal mines. James Steel made regular court appearances in matters dealing with the convict labour as the representative of AACo.
The AACo engineer effectively also became the convict camp overseer responsible for the men.
Accounts have James Steel being fair on the convicts who were in prison serving hard labour. He went down the mineshaft with new men who baulked at going in.
After finishing their shift in the coal mines, the men were often permitted to gather on the green for an hour to play quoits and perhaps, cricket.
Nothing brought greater satisfaction to the seasoned manager than watching the men enjoying themselves, momentarily forgetting the harsh realities of their circumstances.
While Steele may not have been a violent man, there were controversial and unfair actions committed in the early convict days, not all in AACo’s name.
Sketch of the AACo’s A Pit mine attributed to J. C. White, 1832
(State Library of NSW, SSV1B/NEWC/1840-9/1a128615).
James Steele and Australia’s first railway locomotive
There’s some controversy about a claim James Steele was the “founder of Australia’s first railway in 1831” from the river into the coal mines in Newcastle, NSW. His boss John Henderson probably deserves the title of Founder as the colliery viewer. He died in 1839, and James Steele then became AACo’s colliery viewer in Newcastle, while still holding his position as Engineer.
For someone to take the time to debunk someone’s statement that James Steel was the ‘father of trains in Australia’, it must be true.
Regardless of any claim to a title, we have records where James Steel accompanied the locomotive engine up from Sydney to Australia’s first railway line from the coal pits to the Hunter River wharf, and he was a hands on manager responsible for Australia’s first rail project as AACo’s Engineer.
The New South Wales’ railway system opened on 10 December 1831, when the Australian Agricultural Company opened Australia’s first railway at the corner of Brown and Church Streets in Newcastle.
This railway was specifically designed to cater to the needs of the A Pit coal mine near the top of Brown St.
It operated a cast iron fishbelly rail on an inclined plane, two loaded wagons going down hauled another two emptied ones up, as a gravitational railway.
The Australian Agricultural Company’s initial mine, referred to as the ‘A’ Pit, was situated atop ‘the hill’ at what is now Brown Street.
A railway utilising iron rails imported from England was constructed, starting from the pit and descending the hill to reach a coal-loading ‘staithe’ at the river.
Coal-laden one-ton wagons were transported down the railway, tethered to empty wagons at the wharf via ropes. The loaded wagons descended while the empty ones ascended the slope.
Unfortunately, there is no remaining physical evidence of the precise location of Australia’s pioneering railway.
This railway also holds the distinction of being Australia’s inaugural iron-railed railway. 330 yards in length, it functioned as an incline railway, connecting the Company’s A pit located on Church Street in Newcastle to Newcastle Harbour.
In the accompanying image, a segment of the rail can be observed extending towards the ships, accompanied by the brick wall that provided support for the line.
Australian Agricultural Company Wharf, Newcastle, 23 September 1897. From the Ralph Snowball/Norm Barney Collection, University of Newcastle, Cultural Collections.
More, scroll down
Residence at Brown Street, Newcastle
Mr. Steele built a house just 100 yards from the A Pit. Around 1836, James Steele constructed a residence on what is now Brown Street, at that time it graced a picturesque green hill overlooking the coal pit, with a fairly steep slope towards the wharf on the Hunter River.
In those days, no other dwelling existed westward of Wolfe Street or southward of Church Street in Newcastle.
Surrounding the house was a spacious garden where, at times, as many as two hundred convicts would be employed simultaneously. There was a strict directive to keep them occupied, so if there wasn’t enough work at the coal mines for all the company’s convicts and servants, they were temporarily assigned with gardening duties.
History of Jesmond, Newcastle
Jesmond, now a suburb of Newcastle, was the Steele family farm, around Steel St. These street names are family members. Robert St was named for my grandfather, Robert Jesmond Steel, who I’m guessing was James Steel’s grandson (?) He worked as a sign writer & painter at Eveleigh Railway Yards, now Carriageworks.
There are many Australian suburbs with a history of being farms on the outskirts of growing towns, this is Jesmond, Newcastle. I’ve never found other descendants of Robert Jesmond Steel, contact us or comment below if you have.
Mr. Steele was twice married. There were four children by the first marriage including Michael Steele, who came out with his father to be blacksmith for the A.A. Co, Joseph Steele, Alexander Brown and Mrs. Ihnen, the wife of Captain Ihnen.
The second family are James William, Michael Robert, Ralph and Alexander Steele, Mrs. Hutchinson and Mrs. Captain Jewell and Mrs. Firth, wife of Captain Firth.
Mr. Steele finally resigned from the Australian Agriculture Company in the 1870s or 1880s when a Mr. White was appointed colliery viewer.
James Steele served the AACo company for over 50 years. He received flattering recognitions of his services from the directors of the company. James Steele died on 10 May 1902 in Newcastle.
To place my ancestor’s life into context, here’s a brief history of coal mining in Newcastle:
Escaping convicts find coal in Newcastle
In March 1791, a group of desperate convict escapees, including William and Mary Bryant, along with their young daughter, infant son, and seven others, embarked on a perilous journey. Two days rowing in a fishing boat after fleeing Sydney Cove, they pulled into a safe river and found coal on the beach.
A log maintained by their fellow escapee James Martin documented their find, probably at the Hunter River. “Several large pieces of Coal were found. Upon further exploration, we stumbled upon a spot where we gathered some high-quality coal with an axe, rivalling any found in England. We tested it in the fire and found it burned exceedingly well.”
Over the next 69 days, the group rowed more than 4800km northward, eventually reaching Timor and freedom.
In 1797, a gang of convicts commandeered the colonially constructed vessel Cumberland, acclaimed as the “largest and finest” boat in the colony, and escaped northward.
Naval Lieutenant John Shortland set out in pursuit and made landfall on 9 September 1797, describing “a very fine river.” He named the river after Governor John Hunter and this is widely recognised as the founding point for Newcastle.
In 1798, ships began loading coal from the Hunter River banks to sell in Sydney, and by 1799 the first shipment of Newcastle coal was sent to Bengal likely as Australia’s first export. The first permanent coal mine in Australia opened at Newcastle in 1804.
Australian Agricultural Company’s coal mines
In 1824 the Australian Agricultural Company was formed and in 1828 this company was given a monopoly on coal mining in NSW, taking over from the convict miners who had initiated Australia’s first mines in 1804.
This denotes a shift from government control to private enterprise. The Australian Agricultural Company was granted 2000 acres of land in Newcastle.
The Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) established three gravitational railways in total. The second was constructed in 1837 to facilitate operations at B Pit, while the third was developed in the mid-1842 to service C Pit.
The gravitational railway from B Pit was interconnected with the initial 1831 railway. Utilising the last allocation of convict labor offered by the government, the gravitational railway from C Pit was extended to reach the port. It is assumed that upon the end of A Pit mine in July 1846, its railway was possibly repurposed to form the C Pit railway.
The company operated mines in Newcastle and Hamilton. The mines in the colony of NSW had started their spread from the ocean fringe to west and the Upper Hunter.
These mines were worked by convicts and immigrants from England Wales and Scotland. During the 1840s drought and depression, mining created more profit than wool production did.
Although the Australian Agricultural Company was granted a monopoly on coal mining, other mines came into operation into existence before the monopoly was agreement was terminated in 1847.
Mining developed in the majority of suburbs in Newcastle and Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld and William Brooks operated mines at Lake Macquarie while John Eales, John Christian and James Brown operated mines at East Maitland.
Mines were established in Cessnock and surrounding Maitland and soon operated throughout the Hunter Valley.
Newcastle Coal Mining Company
Later in the 1800s, the largest collieries in the area were those owned and operated by the Newcastle Coal Mining Company, who also controlled the railway. The final mines, including Hillside Extended, Glebe End, and Glebe Main, remained operational until August 1954.
These mines were connected to the company’s railway network, which diverged from the main Government line in the city centre. Passing through Hunter Street, Burwood Street, Civic Park, and under Laman Street, the railway traversed Cook’s Hill suburb, reaching The Junction, where it passed the local school.
Continuing along Merewether Street embankment, the railway crossed Llewellyn, Caldwell, and Ridge Streets before reaching the Newcastle Coal Mining Company’s colliery complex. Additionally, Happy Valley Colliery, managed by the Maheen family and located opposite Rowan Street, ceased operations around the same period.
My ancestor’s story connects a few lives and important events happening in the colony during the convict era and the early days of Newcastle. James Steele probably didn’t expect to become a prison labour camp commandant when he was working on the locomotives with his friend, George Stephenson.
James Steele as AACo’s Engineer had considerable responsibility overseeing the beginnings of the railway and coal mining industries, and the convict labour camp in Newcastle, Australia.
Please comment below if you can add to the facts we’ve laid out in our account of our ancestor’s life, or suggest stories on AAC’s early years, or want to continue the debate about the history of railway in Australia, or the coal industry or convict history in Newcastle.
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