Stories Of Our Town

04/09/2026

We recorded a crazy story with Newcastle Herald legend Ian Kirkwood for our Bizarre Newcastle film. One of the many stories Ian broke while at the Herald. Top bloke who knows a lot about a lot. This. film is shaping up to be a beauty. If you want to be one of the first to see it, come to our Bizarre Newcastle night on the 1st of Oct. A new film with amazing musical acts performing live. Tickets here https://newannual.com/explore/events/bizarre-newcastle

03/09/2026

We had 3 interviews today. First up was Konrad from Punter's Politics. A Newy local with a massive social media following and a ton of mates that work in mining. He’s a master communicator who believes that Coal companies should be taxed more and a lager proportion of that tax should go to the Hunter Region, to deal with “The Scars” left by mining. The money should be spent on infrastructure, training, revegetation and new industries. It’s been paramount to us making these three How Coal Made Newcastle films that all voices get heard. Left, right and the middle. Konrad doesn’t align with any political party, he just wants the best for the region. He is one of 50 voices, so far, in these films.

02/09/2026

Today we were interviewing one of our favourites, Ed Tonks. Ed is an ex high school teacher turned author and one of the most respected historians in the city. He’s opinionated and thoroughly researched making him perfect for our films. He specialises in Coal, Rail and Pubs, making him perfect for our How Coal Shaped Newcastle film, in fact this is the fourth time we’ve interviewed him for this documentary so far. He also gave us a cracker story for our Bizarre Newcastle film. Good day indeed. We love doing this.

02/09/2026

A short film we made a few years back on the fascinating history of this iconic building. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGoKYZMJpl8

It has been called the ice cream cone, the egg cup, we argue if it’...

30/08/2026

Bizarre Newcastle is our event coming up on the 1st of Oct King St for New Annual. King St is a confusing venue title for a venue that used to be The Castle, opposite MacDonald on King St. We are launching a new 20min film called Bizarre Newcastle but there will also be live performances. Steve Abbott aka Sandman (Castanets, Good News Week, Triple J) is playing a buch of songs. Christa Hughes (Machine Gun Fe****io. Circus Oz) will astound you with her voice and performance. Pucko (every Newcastle Band Ever) will start the show with his special weirdness and keeping you moving in between will be DJ Maynard. It's going to be a hoot. Doors open at 6.30 and performance will end around 9. Tickets are already selling fast. Please come and support the project. This gig will never happen again. Tickets are here and yes there is a concession rate. https://newannual.com/explore/events/bizarre-newcastle

30/08/2026

On Friday, Tony and I got to chat the very passionate and articulate Steve Phillips from Hunter Renewal about the importance of training investment to help Newcastle and the Hunter prosper through the transition away from coal. This is for or How Coal Shaped Newcastle film. So far we've interviewed about 50 people for the film and they all agree that coal mining in the region will end, the big discussion is really about when. Based on that fact, Steve and Hunter Renewal are pushing to get investment in training to happen now to help "re-tool". We are are hoping to start releasing these three films by late October. It's a monster story Chit Chat Von Loopin Stab Carnivore Films

21/08/2026

We had the best night last night at Newcastle Museum filming some of the best storytellers in Newcastle for our Bizarre Newcastle film. Already it's chock full of hysterical tales from our past. We've still got space for more, so send us ideas in the comments. Thank you to all at the Museum for opening up your house after hours. Thanks to New Annual for setting this challenge. Thanks to those who made us laugh so hard David Hampton Carol Duncan OAM , Barney Collins, Dr Ann Hardy (not Pictured), Dr. Ross Kerridge, Robert Watson, Stephen from Smith Pinball, Gionni Di Gravio and Mike Scanlon from Newcastle Herald. This film will premier 1st Oct King St Hotel with start studded musical performances. Tickets are selling fast https://tickets.newannual.com/WEBPAGES/EntaWebEvent/EventSBAndPrices.aspx

11/08/2026

Last week we found ourselves at Eraring Powerstation talking to Brett Murphy (operations manager) about coal fired power past/present/future. Brett is the son of a miner and started at Eraring as an apprentice and now he’s there to navigate its closure in 2030. Currently this power station generates 25% of all NSW power. As part of the transition they’ve installed a $1b battery to capture the excess solar through the day and pump it out at night. I’d always heard the warm water coming out of the power station made for good fishing. We went to the outlet and met a guy (pictured) who retired 5 weeks ago from Eraring and had only made it 500m to this fishing spot. While we were there he pulled in 3 bream, so I guess the rumours are true.

10/08/2026

So happy that Singleton Public Library is playing our film The Scott Sisters of Ash. It's such an important story and we are grateful to everyone that helped us make the film.

Cinema Club 🎬🍿
The Scott Sisters of Ash Island Documentary Screening
By Stories Of Our Town
Thursday 13 August | 6 - 7pm

The Scott Sisters of Ash Island is a story about Art, Science, Family, Survival, Loss and Conservation. It’s a story of two teenage sisters ignoring obstacles and turning the science world on its head at a time when women couldn’t study science. It is also a story of work so accurate and ground-breaking it is still used 170yrs later. This is an international story and the best parts of it happened in Newcastle.

Join us for this local history documentary screening!

10/08/2026

Come along to our Bizarre Newcastle event on the 1st of Oct at King St Hotel. A new film from us plus live performances from Pucko, Christa Hughes (MGF, Circus Oz) and Steve Abbott aka Sandman. Our DJ for the evening will be the "Bizarre" man in the video DJ Maynard (Triple J, Castanets, Channel V). It's going to a heap of fun. Please support live music and the project by coming along. Tickets here https://tickets.newannual.com/WEBPAGES/EntaWebEvent/EventSBAndPrices.aspx