Mining wheel installed at West Wallsend park to honour suburb’s coal history

newy.com.au – A former headframe wheel from West Wallsend Colliery No.2 has been installed at Gregory Park in West Wallsend, Lake Macquarie Mayor Adam Shultz officially opening the new display on Monday 15 December 2025.

The installation is intended as a public reminder of the suburb’s coal mining past, with an interpretive sign explaining how mine pit head wheels worked and where the wheel once sat in the local landscape.

Council said the wheel was used at West Wallsend Colliery No.2 in the 1970s and 1980s, mounted on a headframe to guide cables down a mine shaft.

It was donated by Glencore Australia after the mine shut down in 2016, with the wheel now positioned as a permanent feature in the park.

“The wheel highlights a key part of a mine site’s operational history and provides a glimpse back to a time when West Wallsend and surrounding suburbs were a hive of coal mining activity,” Shultz said.

Third generation mine worker Nigel Perry, who spent 36 years at the West Wallsend Colliery before its closure, said it was “great to see a tangible piece of the mine’s heritage standing proud”.

“It’s a symbol of all the hard work of so many people,” Perry said. “A lot of great people worked there and a lot of them aren’t with us any more […] It was hard work, and this is a tribute to them.”

The installation has been dedicated to West Wallsend District Heritage Group volunteer Leah Buchanan, who council said was pivotal in preserving the wheel and died earlier this year.

Her sister Chrissie, also a member of the heritage group, said Buchanan “waited so long to get it”. “It’s part of the history of our town and it’s what we’re all about,” she said.

Council is encouraging residents and visitors wanting to learn more about West Wallsend and its mining history to visit the Sugar Valley Library Museum, kirantakamyari, at Cameron Park Shopping Centre.