House washing and roof cleaning in Stockton

What does living between river and ocean mean for Stockton's houses?

The peninsula was first called Pirate Point, after escaped convicts wrecked the stolen Norfolk there in 1800, and convicts later burned shell from the Worimi middens into lime for colonial brick buildings. For much of the 19th century it was an industrial and mining base for timber, lime and salt, and in the 20th century it became a working-class dormitory suburb. Vehicles have crossed by the Stockton Bridge since 1971, and a passenger ferry still runs from the city.

Separate houses were 82.0% of homes in 2021, and flats 10.1%. With the ocean on one side and the river on the other, the air carries salt, and COLORBOND wants the parts of a steel home the rain never reaches hosed more often than six-monthly where sea spray is common, which a house wash covers. Roofs, whether tile or Colorbond, are cleaned by a low-pressure soft wash. Runoff matters on a peninsula too: under NSW EPA rules, washing water is kept off the street drains, since stormwater reaches the river and the sea with no treatment.

Key figures

1800

the Norfolk is wrecked at Pirate Point

1971

the Stockton Bridge opens

82.0%

of homes were separate houses in 2021

Sources

• Wikipedia, Stockton, New South Wales
• Wikipedia, Newcastle, New South Wales
• ABS 2021 Census QuickStats, Stockton
• BlueScope TB-4, maintenance of exterior coated steel (January 2021)
• NSW EPA, The drain is just for rain
• NSW Spatial Services, Administrative Boundaries (postcode, council, distance, neighbours)