At 10.27am on Thursday, 28 December 1989, Newcastle was devastated by an ML 5.6 (MW 5.4) earthquake. This was one of the most significant natural disasters in Australia's history.
- The epicentre was approximately 15 km SW of the Newcastle CBD (near Boolaroo) and the focus was calculated to be at a depth of about 11 km
- The earthquake claimed 13 lives: nine people died at the Newcastle Workers Club, three people were killed along Beaumont Street in Hamilton, and one person died of shock
- 300,000 people were affected and 1,000 were made homeless
- 50,000 buildings were damaged (approximately 35,000 of these were homes)
- 300 buildings were demolished
- 160 people required hospitalisation, while the Royal Newcastle Hospital was evacuated
- It left a damage bill estimated over $4 billion (Insurance Council of Australia) - normalised to 2017 values
- The effects were felt over an area of about 200,000 sq. km, with isolated reports of shaking felt up to 800 km from Newcastle
- Damage to buildings and facilities occurred over a 9000 sq. km region, an area equivalent to over 160 times the size of the Sydney Harbour
- The damage was most severe on soft sediments from the Hunter River, with shaking intensity of MMI VIII observed at many locations
- One aftershock (ML 2.1) was recorded on 29 December 1989
(Source: Newcastle Library and others)
If the earthquake had happened later in the evening, the number of casualties could have been much higher as thousands of people were expected to attend a Split Enz concert at the Newcastle Workers Club. It was also fortunate that, being a few days after Christmas, many heavily damaged education facilities were unoccupied at the time of the earthquake.