ABC NewcastleCast

Calling all Novocastrians! Laurise Dickson and the ABC Newcastle team are back in your podcast feeds with a brand new season of NewcastleCast.

Young people encounter grief in moments of loss, such as when they lose a parent or grandparent. But how do young people cope when a partner unexpectedly passes away?

This week, Laurise Dickson reflects on what Liddell has meant to the Upper Hunter communities who have grown up in the shadow of the smokestacks and speaks with former workers about their time on site. 

Tiny homes are often pitched as a low-footprint, cost-effective housing solution. But as rents spike across Newcastle-Hunter, are they a realistic option?

In the 1950s when homosexuality was criminalised, queer people were trying their best to live their authentic lives. Yellow socks were part of a secret gay code that helped the queer community to evade policing.  

Did you know there's a tunnel under Newcastle? 

The cost of living crisis is forcing renters to make incredibly tough decisions.

It’s 22 years to the day since Newcastle woman Maria hit rock bottom and stopped playing pokies for good, but she says local clubs and lawmakers need to break their own addictions to gambling revenue.

It's a journey that took hundreds of years and thousands of kilometres.

Back in the 1950s, Pommy Town was the place to be. That was the nickname for Belmont North in Newcastle where 50 Nissan huts housed British migrants . Now, 70 years later, more than half of that temporary accommodation has been knocked down. A few people reckon there's a place for this history alongside modern housing. Laurise Dickson hits the streets with Darlene Cameron who grew up in a tin can...

The oldest still standing theatre in NSW is boarded up on Perkins St.

Where did 2022 go?

We've been hearing a lot about the future of energy around the Hunter.

1 in 6 women have experienced intimate partner violence. 

Local musos are enjoying a renaissance. 

How do you mourn a pet when it passes?

Christine Mastello knows what a haircut can do.

Everybody has their favourite local beach.

How safe are you online?

With the rise in true crime as entertainment in podcasts and documentaries, cold cases and curious legal decisions are getting more and more attention than ever before – but do these shows match the reality of legal advocacy?

Simon Schofield's house is like any other. Behind the front door, it's what Simon and his house mates are doing that is blazing a new trail for people living with a disability. And while Simon's now enjoying share life of cricket and cleaning, the journey to find a place to call home is much like any other in the Hunter – but with the added challenges of disability, it's something Simon wants ever...

Buses of supporters screamed their lungs out on Sunday for the Knights, as the NRLW squad rolled into their first premiership. It has evoked memories of the mens Knights first win in ’97 – but the plan of an NRLW win came together long before the women held the trophy aloft.

With the cost of living rising and affordable housing becoming rarer than hen's teeth, more and more people are falling into homelessness. But you won't necessarily see this in the Hunter Street Mall. People are crashing on friend's couches with no fixed address, or sleeping in parks in tents.

For Rolanda Clout-Collins and Harriet Bell, two young women farming in very different ways in very different parts of the Hunter, the past year has been challenging. But both are committed to smashing the stereotype of the old white man standing around his paddock. 

This week, we're uncovering the nearly 200 year old history of Jewish settlement in the Hunter. And it all starts with an overgrown and forgotten cemetery on the edge of town and a 100 year old woman who wanted a quiet place to rest.