Pelaw Main is a hamlet a few kilometres south-west of Kurri Kurri

Kurri Kurri, New South Wales

Kurri Kurri is a small town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Cessnock LGA. At the 2006 census its population was 5,644...

, in the Hunter Region of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It owes its origins entirely to the colliery there of the same name.

Pelaw Main Colliery

About 1900 the coal mining company of J. & A. Brown Ltd., purchased the leasehold of the proposed Stanford Greta No. 2 Colliery from the East Greta Coal Mining Company and immediately changed the name of the property to Pelaw Main. By 1901 they had driven two two tunnels into the 17 foot seam of coal there. They then constructed a railway extension westwards from the terminus of the South Maitland Railways branch line at Victoria Street, Stanford Merthyr, to Pelaw Main, a distance of about one mile, which opened for traffic on 17 November 1901.

A brick-faced passenger platform was built at Reception Road, Pelaw Main, but passenger traffic ceased in 1932 with the scaling down of the branch from Aberdare Junction on the South Maitland Railways coupled with the fact that from 1918 coal from the Stanford Merthyr Colliery was being transported via the Richmond Vale Railway. In addition, the SMR branch was abandoned altogether by 1940 following major subsidence beneath it, leaving the Richmond Vale Railway to service fully Stanford Merthyr and Pelaw Main.

Pelaw Main Colliery was a major concern and large employer. By 1902 there were four coal loading 'roads' which accommodated sufficient wagons to hold 4000 tons of coal at any one time. Richmond Vale Railway was extended to form a main link, past the South Maitland Cemetery, to the South Maitland Railways at Weston Exchange Sidings near the eastern end of Weston Railway Station, the link being completed in 1936. This meant that in the unlikely event that the Richmond Vale Railway was blocked an alternative route for coal trains was available. The link was occasionally used when flooding blocked one, but not both rail lines-it was rare for both lines to be blocked at the same time.

Pelaw Main Colliery closed in 1962 owing to the major coal industry slump at that time.

Recent history

Pelaw Main has not changed much since the closing of the colliery. The population stays fairly small, recorded at 835 people in 2006 (a 1% growth since the 2001 census). The town had a small general store

General store

A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...

, but it has since closed. Most shopping is now done in nearby Kurri Kurri.

It also has a primary school, which was established in 1903. Most of the students continue education in Kurri Kurri High School, while others may enrol in one of the high schools closer to Cessnock

Cessnock

Cessnock can refer to:*Cessnock, New South Wales** Electoral district of Cessnock, an electoral district in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, based around the area** City of Cessnock, the Local Government Area...

.