"All those houses have been bought and sold, bought and sold, in my time," Mrs Watt says, as she gestures towards the mix of homes across the road.

"I'm the oldie in the street now. I'm 89."

More than seeing change in her suburb, Judy Watt lives amid history. Next door is the Bethel Chapel, built in 1868 by Welsh coal miners in their spare time, using locally quarried stone. The building now houses a hair and beauty salon.

Across the road is the Mark Hotel, which has been trading on that site in one form or another since 1874.

"I've seen three hotels there," says Mrs Watt.

Down the street there used to be another pub, the Northern Star Hotel, but it had been converted into a general store by the time Judy Watt arrived when she was 21. The local kids, including her children, would buy their lollies over the counter crafted from a thick slab of cedar.

Then there's Mrs Watt's house itself. The home where she and husband Owen raised six children was once a grocer's shop dating back to the 1800s.

"He had his market garden down the back," explains Mrs Watt. "He had a horse and cart and took vegetables around."

Leaning over the veranda railing and chatting with Mrs Watt is Jack and Thelma Cochrane's girl, Julie. Mrs Watt knew the Cochranes from the Catholic church up the road.

The Cochranes lived in Hill Street, with a view over Lambton. So from her home, young Julie Cochrane had a view to the mining suburb's past, with its collection of historic buildings. She particularly admired the post office, built in the early 1880s.

"It was one of the iconic buildings of Lambton," she says. "I didn't go much on the miners' cottages and things like that when I was a little girl. But in contrast you had that majestic post office, and it had to say something to the community that a facility of that size was built, and the amount of money that was spent on it. That was pretty impressive."

More than admire Lambton's history, Julie Keating, as she is now known, writes about it. The local historian is the co-author of Lambton: A nineteenth century mining town.

This week Mrs Keating has much to celebrate with her hometown's history, for it is 150 years since Lambton was proclaimed a municipality.

People had been living in the area long before that, with the Awabakal people drawing water from Ker-rai, the creek running through the swampy low area. In the 1860s, Lambton Colliery opened just over the hill, around the present-day Lewis Oval, and a town roughly took shape to support the miners and their families.

But it wasn't until 1871 that Lambton had its own council. The municipality came into being on June 24th, and the proclamation was published in the Government Gazette two days later.

Just before the Municipality of Lambton was born, a "correspondent" in the Newcastle Chronicle welcomed the impending proclamation, writing in the newspaper, "there is no place that I know of where it is more urgently needed."

Julie Keating says the proclamation and formation of the council would make a difference to the development of Lambton, and to the lives of those who called the mining town home.

"A huge difference, because basically they could start to raise rates, and then they could do things like streets and drainage," Mrs Keating says.

Lambton lived up to its elevated status, with fine buildings being constructed, including a string of hotels. By 1881, Julie Keating says, there were 16 pubs, and that number would grow to 22. There were five hotels along one block in Elder Street alone. And, according to former Lambton boy and community historian Robert Watson, at least one establishment, known as the Snake Gully Hotel, did more than serve the living.

"When there were too many bodies in the local funeral parlour, they were put in the [hotel] cellar," Mr Watson says.

In 1890, Lambton was the first municipality in the area to switch on electric lights.

"We beat Newcastle by three months," says Julie Keating.

If the mine was the economic lifeblood of the town, the park was its social heart.

"What it is now is not what it was like 150 years ago," explains Julie Keating. "This was a swampy area, creeks running through it, and low-lying."

In the 1870s, the park was developed and was the site of the first recognised soccer match in the Newcastle area, with the South of Lambton team and the North of Lambton side playing in 1885.

The park's centrepiece, the rotunda, was built in 1890. That stunning structure has hosted everything from band performances to miners' meetings.

"Basically this was the centre of the mining community," Julie Keating says, explaining that trams travelling from Newcastle and Wallsend would bring the miners to the park.

More than a century on, the park - and the village-like atmosphere of the surrounding suburb - continues to attract groups. Sitting in the shadow of the rotunda are not miners but mothers cradling their babies.

"It shows we like it here, because it's drawing us in from different areas," says Ella Crowfoot, from Jesmond. "Everyone's friendly."

While Lambton Council was dissolved in 1938, the original chambers have survived. The little weatherboard building is perched on the edge of the park, having been the suburb's library since 1950.

These architectural touchstones of history will feature this weekend, as the suburb celebrates its big birthday with an event called "Love Lambton: 150 Years".

As part of the event, a series of walking tours will be held, taking participants to some of the landmarks around Lambton.

More than being about bricks and mortar, the "Living History Tours" will give shape to the flesh and blood of Lambton's past. At each stop, there will be a re-enactment of historic events by actors from Newcastle Theatre Company, itself a Lambton institution, as its base has been in De Vitre Street for decades.

"It's not a boring history lecture," says Robert Watson, who has been involved in the scripting for the mini performances. "They're going to bring it to life."

One of those who will be portrayed is Thomas Croudace, often referred to as the "father of Lambton". Julie Keating calls Croudace a "visionary", for he was not just the mine manager but a community leader, serving on the council and being the prime mover for facilities, including the park and the Mechanics' and Miners' Institute, whose impressive Italianate-faced building still stands in Elder Street.

"He realised you can't just have people coming to a mine and working," says Mrs Keating. "He had a social conscience, that's why I admire him so much. You see his name on a number of things around the town. He was instrumental in getting services."

The celebrations will also include musical performances at Lizotte's, the entertainment landmark that began life as the Coronation Hall in 1910, a Love Lambton Night at the local bowling club, and a picnic and concert in the park on Sunday.

"It gives people an extra reason to come back and walk around Lambton," says Mr Watson of the weekend events. "There's a quaintness about here."

Julie Keating hopes the suburb can retain its quaintness.

But she says the very face of Lambton is changing, as the suburb is becoming ever more popular, and the land ever more expensive. In the rush to the future, reminders of the past are being knocked over, including somewhere close to Julie Keating's heart.

"My old home was demolished," she says, adding that a block of units is to be built on the land. "To be honest, it was very difficult. I've been past once to see the vacant site.

"You go through Lambton streets, and there are very few miners' cottages left.

"From a historical point of view, I'd love things to be preserved. But there is a cost associated, and the land around these suburbs is too valuable, so what do you do?"

The historian says at least there are enough surviving buildings to showcase them in a walking tour, something that could not be done in so many other old Newcastle suburbs, but she hopes the Love Lambton weekend bolsters the desire to save what remains.

"I want people to realise that history has a value," Julie Keating says. "It's not something we just demolish and get rid of, and that's the end of it. We've got to preserve it."

As she basks in the afternoon sun igniting her veranda, Judy Watt says she is pleased Lambton is holding a 150^th birthday party, "because the people should get together".

As to her favourite story about Lambton and its long history, Mrs Watt smiles and replies, "That I live here".

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