Wallsend sinkhole: Residents say their satisfied with emergency response despite ongoing saga

There were around 120 bowlers on the greens at the Wallsend Diggers Sport Club on Friday, March 24.

Only a day later, the club was closed indefinitely and the greenskeeper was taking stock of the massive damage after a mine subsidence caused around 100 square metres of ground to sink several inches in the suburban neighbourhood.

The club's three greens were effectively destroyed, with estimates running into the millions to fix the sweeping depressions across the grounds as the bordering street cracked and water pooled in the rubble.

The subsidence sparked a multi-agency emergency response spearheaded by the state's Subsidence Advisory, which has been undertaking geotechnical investigations for the past fortnight.

A spokesman said on Friday that crews had been drilling into the underground coal mine workings that honeycomb subterranean Wallsend to determine what remediation was needed.

Typically, subsidence remediation involves pumping grout material into the underground voids to stabilise them.

Fogo Street resident Colin Bashford has lived in the neighbourhood on and off for upwards of three decades and has been bowling at the club across the road from his home for years. He has spent the last two weeks taking stock of the damage on his doorstep.

"We couldn't understand what was going on," he said of watching the ground sinking on March 25. "There was a bit of a bump in the road that wasn't normally there ... and then all of a sudden, the next time you looked, it had gone down again. It was something I had never seen."

The collapse forced about 40 residents along Fogo Street to evacuate. Mr Bashford was quickly evacuated to his son's Maryland home before ultimately returning home late the same night. All 40 residents were returned to their homes in stages by Thursday, March 28.

Many members have been unable to return to retrieve their bowls since the bowling club's sudden closure, Mr Bashford said. North Lambton's Water Board Bowling Club has been hosting the displaced players in the interim.

"I would never have woken up thinking this was going to happen," Mr Bashford said.

Despite the disruption, Mr Bashford and several residents who have spoken to the Newcastle Herald since the incident commended authorities' response.

"They have been really good. You can talk to them during the day and they'll tell you what they know; and the people handling the traffic, you only have to say you're going out and they'll close things off and let your out," Mr Bashford said, "I can't complain about it."

A second subsidence on Platt Street that opened under a home the same day as the Fogo Street incident has been fully remediated. Residents of that property were able to return home on Thursday, the Subsidence Advisory spokesman said.