Saturday, 1 March 2025

Scouts in the news today

 Lake Macquarie Council has reported this morning that Scouts from the Carey Bay Toronto Scouts will be out in the community tomorrow cleaning up the foreshore on our Lake on Clean Up Australia Day.

The article is available here, https://www.lakemac.com.au/News-articles/Scouts-honour-Clean-Up-Australia-Day on the Council website.

Seagrass and shells along the foreshore at Carey Bay

Wednesday, 19 February 2025

Less than 1,000 Persons

This afternoon I was wondering how many people live in Carey Bay so I took myself off to the Search Census Data Page on the Australian Bureau of Statistics site. I found that data was available for four previous censuses. As a lover of spreadsheets I copied some of the Carey Bay data into a new sheet (see below). 

According to the 2021 Census of Australia there were 865 people living in 242 households in Carey Bay on Census night, Tuesday August 2021. I wonder if the recent pandemic influenced those results.

When comparing results it's interesting to note that the population in Carey Bay has been declining over the 15 year period represented in the data, Carey Bay is definitely not a growth area. That females outnumber males is no surprise. I wonder if the median age of residents is impacted by the presence of a nursing home and other over 55's accommodation in the suburb. 

One statistic that stood out was the figure for average monthly mortgage repayments which was less in 2021 than 2016. In the two recent censuses mortgage repayments took a larger slice of  median weekly household income than in earlier years.

What this data also tells me is that I have a big job ahead of me to collect data on all these current and dwellings and past residents of Carey Bay.

Carey Bay Census Quickstats Data 2006-2021






Tuesday, 11 February 2025

William Cary

Carey Bay was named for William Carey, as was Cary Street in neighbouring Toronto. Carey was one of the directors of The Excelsior Land Investment & Building Co. which developed land in Carey Bay.

It was interesting to note that another of the local streets was named Excelsior Parade and that Ambrose Street was probably named after another Director of the Excelsior Company, Ambrose Thornley.

As I was seeking biographical information on Mr Cary this morning I came across this article from the City of Sydney Archives,  https://www.sydneyaldermen.com.au/alderman/william-cary/, which gave me a better glimpse into the William's life than on the entry Lake Macquarie local history site, https://history.lakemac.com.au/narrative/25.

William Carey 1831-1906
Source: https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/600414

I cannot find any copyright restrictions on this image of William Cary.

Tuesday, 21 January 2025

Plugging Away

Recently I came across and joined a local photography group, Lake Macquarie Area in Photos on Facebook, that issues a weekly challenge or two to its members. I love a challenge so I very quickly entered some photos as it is an opportunity to share some of my better snaps. As I am mostly sharing photos of Carey Bay the focus of my One Place Study it may help me to connect with people from the local area. 

I have received lots of positive reinforcement from members of the group and even received an honourable mention for my first entry. Since then I've had a few honourable mentions. 

One of last week's themes was "Shimmer", I was overjoyed when my image of the moon's reflection in our Backyard (Lake Macquarie) was chosen as photo of the week. As well as gallons of personal satisfaction I was rewarded with my image being posted as the header image for the week on the Facebook Group.

My winning Image "Shimmer at Carey Bay"

Meanwhile I am plugging away building biographies of Carey Bay People in RootsMagic and adding data about Carey Bay Places to the Place Page on this blog.

I have started adding profiles of Carey Bay People to the online WikiTree. You can see the Beginnings of this activity here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Carey_Bay%2C_New_South_Wales.

Friday, 20 December 2024

Wandering Koala

 70 Years ago today

1954 'To-day's Topics', Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), 20 December, p. 2. , viewed 20 Dec 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article134086324


Tuesday, 17 December 2024

Christmas at Carey Bay

 Christmas 1949

1949 'No title', The Newcastle Sun (NSW : 1918 - 1954), 17 December, p. 2. , viewed 09 Dec 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158357861


1949 'about newcastle People', The Newcastle Sun (NSW : 1918 - 1954), 19 December, p. 8. , viewed 09 Dec 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158357080

Sunday, 1 December 2024

Carey Bay Snap - a Winner

In our local area of Lake Macquarie there are several active Facebook Groups. After lurking on Lake Macquarie Area in photos for several months I submitted a photo from Carey Bay to one of their weekly challenges. The theme for the week was #BirdShadows, the images must be from an area in Lake Macquarie. 

I was delighted to find my photo on the list of weekly winners. Here is the image I shared of a local pelican having a rest on our jetty. 

Pelican resting on a jetty in Carey Bay

I was so thrilled that I submitted a photo for this weeks challenge, @mornings.

I am hoping that this activity will help me connect with more locals.