The Illustrated Town
Kurri Kurri is indeed a tidy though rather unusual town near Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia.
Image right: Kurri Kurri Hotel, Lang & Hampden Streets
Locals know it as "Kurri" whose catchy name stands out from the Welsh-named villages comprising this formerly-thriving coal mining collective.
NSW Tidy Towns awarded Kurri a string of firsts in the mid-nineties and state winner in ‘93. In the 19 years of competition Kurri rated top 3 or highly-commended. Visit Kurri and you will see why.
Visit Kurri and you will see more - far more than you might expect: a permanent festival of art celebrating the region’s history; a banquet of over 40 billboard-sized paintings.
Image right: Stairway to Nowhere at the Kurri Kurri Hotel ~ makes sense after a few drinks :0)
The most stunning display of wall and street art transforming this small town - with apparently so little going for it - into one of Australia’s greatest outdoor galleries.
Click on images in this article to see full size versions. Some are quite large, so allow between 5 and 30 seconds (or more) for them to load.
Close the image window by again clicking on the larger picture.
Panoramas
Below, the Coal Lockout and Kurri Antiques are too wide to effectively display as a picture on screen. Click the images to open in a Flash player window.
While viewing, you can drag the image with mouse cursor to scroll. Note the controls in the viewer. Click the full-screen icon and be really impressed!
** Allow up to a minute to load before being visible on slow Internet.
Image above: Chris Fussell’s Great Coal Lockout of 1929 ~ Behind shops, from Lane between Mitchell Av, Lang & Maitland streets. Click picture to view panorama movie
Image above: Kurri Kurri Antiques ~ Click picture to view panorama movie, opens in new window
Each year Kurri hosts the Nostalgia Festival and Cruise, a procession of bands and dance, vintage cars, bikes, and dragsters, talent quest and markets.
Mark your calendar for March 27 - 29.
Find out more about Kurri Kurri at the website where you can find the official map of mural locations, the book "Kurri Kurri - A Town of Mural" and murals guided tours.
Images: Restroom in Rotary Park ~ 4 altogether, each side is different
The text that follows is from WikiPedia’s article on Kurri Kurri reproduced here not only for your information, but to provide somewhere to hang the pictures!
Adjoined by Weston, 
Abermain, Heddon Greta, Stanford Merthyr, Neath, and Pelaw Main, about ten thousand residents live quite happily, thank you.
Retired Newcastle Knights Rugby League player Andrew Johns - described as the world’s greatest living player - lived in Kurri as a kid, playing under-16’s for them when Cessnock was unable to field a team.
It’s claimed, and probably true (though you can trawl the specifics) Kurri claims more Aussie Rugby League internationals than any other town in Australia.
Image right: Butcher’s Delivery ~ Lang St north side towards Allworth St
"Kurri Kurri" local Awabakal language for "Hurry Up" that coincidentally is an English saying for giving one a prod to action.
The town’s economy relies on an aluminium smelter, associated contractors and small businesses, and nearby vineyards of Cessnock.
Otherwise, workers must commute considerable distances to Newcastle, Maitland, or to Hunter Valley coal mines and power-generating plants.
Image, right: Radio Broadcasting history ~ Lang & Hampden streets. Not in Google street view yet.
Kurri Kurri was founded in 1902 to service an explosion of activity Stanford Merthyr and Pelaw Main collieries and mining communities.
Its collection of magnificent large hotels stand testament to the swarms of workers who created this fine township in what would have seemed quite the wilderness in those times.
Image right: Sue Linton’s The Bullocky
For example, in 1904 the Kurri Kurri Hotel featured three storeys of prominent verandahs with cast iron lacework, and several others were equally too grand for this tiny settlement.
Image, right: Timber cutters
South Maitland Coalfields began at East Greta in 1891, after an 1886 exploration by Sir Edgeworth David, a government geological surveyor, uncovered the potential of the Greta coal seam. More mines were opened in the early 1900s, supplanting those older pits at Newcastle where the Australian Agricultural Company enjoyed almost a monopoly.
Image, right: Fire Station ~ Lang St near Mitchell Av.
During this period there were a number of accidents including the death of six miners at the Stanford Merthyr Colliery in 1905, which is commemorated by a monument in the Kurri Kurri cemetery.
Image, right: Bush Santa ~ behind shops from Lane off Mitchell Av
Richmond Main Colliery, also in the Kurri Kurri vicinity, was once the State’s largest producer, at 3,400 tons per day, and which reputedly had the deepest shaft permitting access to two separate coal seams, the Scholey shaft, named after its founder, John Scholey.
Following the serious slump in the coal industry Stanford Merthyr Colliery closed in 1957, Pelaw Main in 1962, and Richmond Main in 1967.
Image, right: Galloways Store
The power station at Richmond Main Colliery, which provided the electricity for Kurri Kurri and surrounding districts, remained in operation for some years after the mine’s closure, until the entire district was attached to the National Grid.
Image, right: Steam train ~ cnr Mitchell Av & Lang St.
Kurri Kurri was served by the South Maitland Railway and originally had two passenger stations - one at Stanford Merthyr, and one on the main SMR line at North Kurri Kurri (opened in June 1904). A new red-brick station building and platform was built at Stanford Merthyr and opened in January 1909. It was renamed Kurri Kurri Station on 3 June 1922.
Image, right: On the buses ~ behind shops in lane off Mitchell Av
However, with the closure of the SMR’s branch line from Aberdare Junction to Stanford Merthyr, due to subsidence, North Kurri Kurri station was renamed Kurri Kurri in the mid-1930s. The station at Stanford Merthyr fell into disuse although the line from the colliery which passed through it was still in operation via the Richmond Vale Railway to Hexham. While passenger services on the South Maitland Railway have ceased, the line is still in use for coal haulage.
A new bridge is to be constructed to relocate the railway line to allow construction of the F3 to Branxton link road.
Image, right: Christian churchgoers ~ aptly, Hopetoun St
Until the creation of the local government area known as the City of Cessnock, Kurri Kurri was the centre of the Shire of Kearsley, which included most of the rural areas and villages around the township of Cessnock and part of the western suburbs of Maitland.
From 1946 to 1949 the Shire was unique in Australia in having a majority of the councillors who were members of the Communist Party of Australia.
Image, right: Townsfolk ~ behind Lang St shops in lane off Mitchell Av
In 1988 the town established a Tidy Town Committee under the stewardship of the Keep Australia Beautiful competition. The town achieved immediate success and in the space of 6 years took out the best town in NSW in 1993 and was a finalist in the best town in Australia.
Image, right: Bickmore’s Store ~ Stanford & Lang streets.
Since those early days the town has taken out more than 20 awards in this competition.
If it wasn’t for the start of this project back in 1988 the town wouldn’t be where it is today.
Image, right: Clothing factory ~ Lang St just east of Mitchell Av
This was followed by the establishment of the Small Towns committee known as Towns with Heart.
Their work has continued on the great work undertaken by the Tidy Town committee.
Image, right: Milk Bar ~ Barton & Lang Sts.
2007 saw Kurri Kurri as the world motorcycle racing Mecca with MotoGP champion Casey Stoner, Supercross champion Chad Reed and Australian Superbike champion Jamie Stauffer all natives of the town.
The words end here. Enjoy the remaining images from Kurri Kurri, the illustrated town.
Koori art ~ Alexandra & Lang Sts - on blast wall behind servo, near LPG tank
Family Picnic ~ Lane between Maitland, Merthry, Lang Sts - on clubhouse
Time tunnel ~ Alexandra & Lang Sts - on blast wall behind servo, near LPG tank
Rotary Park restrooms ~ Rotary Park
Rotary Park restrooms ~ Note the four images on this page are of 4 different sides
Drive in movie theatre behind Kurri Hotel ~ Hampden St.
The Great War WW1 at Kurri Workers Club
Werekata Park ~ above shops Lang St - south side opposite Mitre 10
Scottish Pipe Band - east wall of The Store - Lang St north side
This is the old "Servo" in Lang St - east wall facing Workers Club
Blacksmiths - horse repair while you wait ~ cnr Merthyr & Lang Sts, south-west corner
Cricket ‘Ashes’ in 2002 - south wall of pub
Friday night for the pioneers ~ Lang & Merthyr Sts, facing Lang, same corner as blacksmith mural
Kurri Public School ~ Opposite the school grounds in Allworth St
Kookaburras, there’s one in every mural ~ Lang & Hampden streets.
Workers Club relaxing - western wall
Mineworkers ~ What it’s all about - south wall of pub, cnr Lang & Victoria streets
Pay office ~ near cnr Barton & Hampden streets beside Masonic temple.
