Newcastle

The fourth town to be founded in Natal, the warm, well-watered and sunshine-filled Newcastle has a distinguished military history.

In 1881 it was the location of the penultimate battle of Transvaal's first war of independence. Newcastle was also a strategic town in the Anglo-Boer war, eventually featuring prominently in both the Boer and English defence.

Coal was discovered in the district in the late 1800s, but the town's original industry was washing and spinning wool from the sheep that are farmed in the area.

Steel furnaces dominate the town today, as well as coal-related industries. The local Indian population have erected what is reputed to be the largest domed Hindu temple in the Southern Hemisphere.

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