Newcastle

	Newcastle's Anglican cathedral

This film was made some years ago when I was optimising everything for 28K modems, the ultimate in technology back then. The quality isn't great, but the interest does, I hope, make up for it.

Newcastle was an important steel manufacturing city back then and I can remember touring the steel works. I think the thing which impressed me most was not the glowing metal nor the massive machinery, but a huge tank of acid - sulphuric? - which was used in the manufacturing process. It looked just like water, but the consequences of an incautious plunge were too horrible to contemplate - though contemplate them I did in my nightmares for many years afterwards!

The steel works have long since closed down, but Newcastle remains a thriving and popular city on the east coast of Australia. The surf at Nobby's Head seems to me as good as the more famous beaches in Sydney, the historical buildings as interesting, and the massive cathedral as awe-inspiring as any to be found in the Antipodes.