Category: Newcastle News

A man has been arrested after a service station employee was allegedly threatened with a knife during an attempted robbery at Mayfield West this morning.
Officers from Newcastle City Police District were called to the service station on Maitland Road after a man entered the business and threatened the console operator about 12.20am (Wednesday 14 November 2018).
Police have been told the employee retreated to a back room after being threatened with a knife. The man initially left the store but returned when he saw the staff member return to the console. He again threatened the employee before leaving empty-handed.
Police patrolling were alerted and arrested a 30-year-old man in nearby Hanbury Street. A knife was seized and has been taken for forensic examination.
He has been taken to Newcastle Police Station and charged with assault with intent to rob armed with offensive weapon, and custody of knife in public place.
The man, from Surry Hills, was refused bail to appear in Newcastle Local Court today.

A juvenile justice officer has been charged after a detainee was allegedly assaulted at a Central Coast facility.
On Monday (12 November 2018), officers from Brisbane Water Police District attended a juvenile justice centre at Kariong, after reports a 17-year-old detainee had been assaulted.
Police were notified after the teen suffered facial injuries when allegedly assaulted by an officer on Saturday (10 November 2018).
Following inquiries, investigators arrested a 54-year-old man at Tumbi Umbi today (Tuesday 13 November 2018).
He was taken to Wyong Police Station and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The man was granted conditional bail to appear at Gosford Local Court on Tuesday 4 December 2018.

Police have released a CCTV image and are appealing for public assistance to help identify two men who might be able to assist with inquiries into an armed robbery on the Central Coast last month.
About 3:20am on Thursday 11 October 2018, two men armed with hammers, smashed through the entrance of a service station located on the corner of Bellevue Road and The Entrance Road, Forresters Beach.
Fearing for his safety a station attendant on duty locked himself in a rear office and called 000 for assistance.
Once inside the two men climbed over the front counter and stole cigarettes, and money from the till.
Officers from Brisbane Water Police District commenced inquiries and have released a CCTV image of one of the two men who they believe may be able to assist with their inquiries.
The man in the image is described as being approximately 160 -170 cm tall, wearing a black mask with white dots, black hooded jumper and long black pants/jeans.
The second man is described as being approximately 160 – 170 cm tall, wearing a black mask, and a hooded jumper (colour unknown).
The men fled on foot and were last seen on Bellevue Road.
Detectives from Gosford Police Station are undertaking the investigation and are urging anyone with information about the incident to contact Crime Stoppers.

OLSEN ORMANDY: a creative force, a new exhibition from artists Louise Olsen and Stephen Ormandy, opens at Newcastle Art Gallery on Saturday 17 November.
Featuring a series of more than 50 works of art and sculptures, the exhibition celebrates the pair’s three decades of creative partnership and evolving artistic practice.

This vibrant creative tour de force showcases individual works of art from each artist alongside pieces made in collaboration, drawing on Olsen and Ormandy’s substantial archive, but also incorporating new paintings and large-scale sculptural installations.
“For more than 30 years, Louise and Stephen have built a reputation as the artists behind one of Australia’s most iconic brands – Dinosaur Designs,” said Newcastle Art Gallery Director Lauretta Morton.
“An earlier significant touring exhibition The Art of Dinosaur Designs showcased the couple’s work in the context of their design success. This summer in Newcastle, we will look closer at these two artists and their bodies of work.
“Paintings, tapestries and sculptures in marble, aluminium, wood and resin – many of these new works yet to be exhibited – showcasing new mediums or new directions the artists have been exploring.
“This nationally relevant exhibition tells the next chapter for this artist duo – partners in life, art and work.”
OLSEN ORMANDY: a creative force features joint commissions such as Series 8: Movement (2011), a set of eight disks in dazzling colours commissioned to mark the fifth anniversary of Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), and Collar Bone (2014), a wall hanging characterised by chroma clashes from orange to blue rendered in a painterly application.
A highlight of the exhibition is a new expression of Ormandy’s life-sized totems, rendered in signature resin. First shown at London Design Week 2016, these larger sculptures are formed from interconnected pieces to create extraordinary silhouettes and bold interplays of solid colours. Also on display is a series of mesmerising, never-before-seen watercolours by Olsen, exploring in two dimensions many of the themes of her decades of design and sculpture work.
“I have a fascination with balance and the relationship between being bold and the sensitivity of the delicate,” Olsen said.

“I’m constantly inspired by nature; there is something beautiful about the time things take to evolve and perfect in the natural world. Resin, one of the materials we have worked with in this exhibition, has a wonderful viscous fluidity that allows us to cross the boundaries of sculpture and painting.”
Ormandy said that his work is born of the subconscious mind.
“I’m looking for vibration and rhythm, the play of line creating positive and negative space, searching for tonal balance through contrast or harmony, while developing chroma relationships that hug or repel,” he said.
OLSEN ORMANDY: a creative force is on exhibition at Newcastle Art Gallery, 1 Laman Street Newcastle, from 17 November 2018 to 17 February 2019. The Gallery is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm (open seven days during school holidays) and entry is free.
Street Party and opening celebration
Join us for a fantastic, artistic street party and outdoor celebration in Laman Street for the opening of OLSEN ORMANDY: A creative force, 5-9pm, Friday 16 November.
Bring your picnic blanket and settle in for a great night. We’ll have art, music, food and wine, and you can get a sneak peek of the exhibition before its official Saturday opening.
ART: The individual and collaborative works of Louise Olsen and Stephen Ormandy.
MUSIC: Funk, soul, disco and jackin house DJ set by STEPHEN ORMANDY; eclectic blend of heady, dream pop textures from I KNOW LEOPARD; punk-pop-meets-riot-grrrl tunes of BLOODS; and vintage inspired, experimental local act LACHLAN X. MORRIS.
FOOD & WINE: STREET FEAST joins the party with their delicious range of food trucks, sweet treats and alcoholic beverages. An outdoor night food market presented by HUNT & GATHER.
A full event schedule is available online.

Construction on the region’s biggest solar farm has begun after Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes turned the first sod today on a disused landfill site at the Summerhill Waste Management Centre facility.
The City of Newcastle’s single largest investment in a renewable energy project follows eight other solar installations at its Waratah Works Depot , Art Gallery, City, Wallsend and New Lambton libraries, No.1 and No.2 Sportsgrounds and Newcastle Museum.
^{Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes and Deputy Mayor Declan Clausen turn the furst sod at the solar farm}
The five-megawatt solar arm will increase the City’s renewable energy generation capacity tenfold and save rate payers around $9 million over its 25-year lifespan.
“Today’s sod turning is a major milestone for this City and another exciting step forward in the delivery of renewable energy for our region,” the Lord Mayor said from Summerhill today.
“The solar farm will produce enough energy to run the equivalent of all the City of Newcastle’s facilities during the day, which represents significant environmental returns for ratepayers and millions of dollars in savings.”
Covering an area of around five football fields on a capped landfill once part of the Wallsend Borehole Colliery, the solar farm’s 14,500 photovoltaic solar arrays will help dramatically reduce the city’s $4m annual electricity bill.
The City of Newcastle secured a $6.5 million loan from Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to help build the farm, which will comprise solar panels and infrastructure built by international property and infrastructure group Lendlease and EMC.

^{Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes, Program Coordinator Adam Clarke, Climate Council representative Cassie Brenmer and Deputy Mayor Declan Clausen}
The new facility builds on one of Australia’s most advanced renewable energy setups at a waste facility — with a 2.2megawatt landfill gas generator and a small wind turbine already located at Summerhill.
The solar farm and the other rooftop installations already installed by the City are part of actions endorsed by the Cities Power Partnership, a Climate Council program in which cities and towns pledge key actions to reduce their climate impact.
“We are building sustainability into everything we do after reiterating our commitment last year to generate 30 per cent of our electricity needs from low-carbon sources and cut overall electricity usage by 30 per cent by 2020,” Cr Nelmes said.

A man has been charged over a carjacking in Newcastle on Friday.
About 1.15am (Friday 9 November 2018), four men who are known to each other were in a Holden Commodore on Hansen Place, Shortland, when the driver stopped and got out of the vehicle.
A 27-year-old man in the passenger seat was then allegedly threatened with a knife by the two other passengers.
The man was forced from the vehicle by the two men, who then drove it from the scene. No injuries were suffered.
Police from Newcastle City Police District commenced an investigation.
About 7pm yesterday (Saturday 10 November 2018), a 23-year-old man was arrested at Speers Point.
He was taken to Belmont Police Station and charged with aggravated robbery, possess prohibited drug and disqualified driving.
He was refused bail to appear at Newcastle Local Court today (Sunday 11 November 2018).
Inquiries continue to locate the second offender.

A man has allegedly been caught drink-driving more than five times the legal limit in Belmont yesterday.
Police will allege a man was refused entry about 2.15pm (Friday 9 November 2018), to a licensed premises on the Pacific Highway, Belmont, before he left the area in a Subaru station wagon.
Hotel staff notified police and officers from the Lake Macquarie Highway Patrol Command observed the vehicle a short time later in a carpark on Macquarie Street, Belmont.
After a conversation with the man, he returned a positive reading to a roadside breath test and was arrested and taken to Belmont Police Station.
He underwent a breath analysis and returned an alleged reading of 0.263.
The 34-year-old man was issued a Field Court Attendance Notice for the offence of high-range PCA and is due to appear at Belmont Local Court on Wednesday 5 December 2018.

Investigations are continuing after a large amount of dried cannabis leaf and 12 cannabis plants were seized from a home in Newcastle.
About 11:15am yesterday (Friday 9 November 2018), officers from Newcastle City Police District executed a search warrant at a house on Teralba Road, Broadmeadow.
During the search, officers located and seized 12 cannabis plants, over 21kg of dried cannabis, a quantity of steroids, ketamine and a large quantity of hydroponic equipment.
No persons were found in the home.
A crime scene was established, and police identified unmetered power sources being used in the operation.
Investigations have commenced, and inquiries continue.

A man will face court next month after being charged with fraud and intimidation offences in the Lake Macquarie area.
Police from Lake Macquarie Police District received a complaint about a fundraising scheme established in July 2018 to benefit drought-stricken farmers.
A donation event was held to raise money and collect goods at a park near Newcastle.
Following the event, police will allege a member involved in the scheme attempted to speak to the organiser about the expenditure of funds and was intimidated.
It will also be alleged personal items were purchased with some of the money raised.
During the course of the investigation, a senior constable was allegedly harassed.
Following inquiries, about 8am today (Friday 9 November 2018), detectives attended a home on Fourth Street, Boolaroo, and arrested a 36-year-old man after he attempted to flee.
He was taken to Belmont Police Station and charged with seven offences including dishonestly obtain property by deception (x3), stalk/intimidate intend fear physical etc harm, intimidate police officer in execution of duty, obtain personal information about officer, and resist officer in execution of duty.
The man was granted conditional bail to appear at Belmont Local Court on Wednesday 5 December 2018.
Investigations are ongoing.