Nobbys Lighthouse evolves to become a beacon of creativity

For thousands of years, the enormous headland where the operational lighthouse now rests was an island of significance to local Aboriginal people. Convicts finished building Macquarie Pier (constructed with stone from the headland) in 1846, and just over 10 years later the lighthouse and the nearby cottages were built.

There's plenty of history over the centuries to dive into, and since 2021, a new creative energy has taken over the lighthouse. It now offers artist residencies and is attracting writers, photographers, musicians and more.

Lighthouse Arts has hosted 537 writers and artist residencies at Nobbys-Whibayganba Cottages. Seventy five per cent of the residencies are Hunter-based artists, 10 per cent from Sydney, 7 per cent from interstate, and the rest are from regional NSW and internationals.

Any artist who has undertaken a residency at the lighthouse will tell you a good story.

When I undertook my residency there in the spring of 2023 it helped me be still and think long enough to write a piece I would get published in a US magazine.

I am not alone. Other local names who have undertaken the Lighthouse Residency include local children's author Jess Black, former Newcastle Herald journalist Judith Whitfield, Sydney-based theatre-maker Scott Parker, Hunter Valley ceramicist Christie Little, and local musician Georgia Winchester.

Leslie Duffin has been an oil painter for decades, but she experienced a profound shift in her work when she went to the lighthouse.

"Each Wednesday for the month of September last year I trekked up to the lighthouse carrying my box of bits, then trekked back with my completed art collages," she says.

She had intended to work on her oil paintings during the residency, but wet items are not allowed in the space. She brought a box of colour swatches a mum had given her years ago when she worked as a teacher. She brought along pens, glue and scissors.

"Just looking out the window from my station at the lighthouse, I laid out the colours I could see in the landscape and then, initially I was just going to proportion them, this much blue green compared to white or yellow," she says.

She started with rudimentary collages, setting some ground rules that she wasn't going to draw any of the shapes, as that left bad impressions on the colour samples. It was very different from her typical art form. She used scissors for blind contouring, creating shapes and enjoying the freedom of having materials that cost her nothing.

"I wasn't precious about it," she says.

From there she created 10cm x 10cm collages of her views from the lighthouse. She captured scenes of Stockton, the breakwall, the industrial skyline, views towards Mount Sugarloaf, the wall around the lighthouse and ships at sea. Since then her collages have taken off, she's been exhibiting them across the region, from Lake Macquarie to Cessnock.

Opportunities like mine, Duffin's and so many other artists exist because of a local organisation called the Hunter Writers' Centre.

"When COVID came around, Karen Crofts [the director at the time] was visionary, she realised there was an opportunity for artists to use the cottages," says current director Katherine McLean.

Crofts put forward a proposal with a team, a multi-arts activation as a COVID response, and after a tremendous amount of work, Lighthouse Arts was born. While most people had known that it's an iconic location, residents have long struggled about what to do with it. Now it's a registered charity funded by City of Newcastle and the Port Authority.

Before 2021, the lighthouse had been closed with a few activations here and there. Now, every day artists arrive to take on creative residencies in the cottages. Every day from 10am to 4pm they get a different room with a view, and each view is spectacular.

On the weekends the lighthouse is open to the public. People are invited to view exhibitions and the shop full of local art. Duffin is currently one of seven local artists in the Repurposed exhibition, on until June 23.

Founded in 1995, the Hunter Writers' Centre is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to engaging, educating, and employing aspiring and established writers and other creatives in the Hunter Region and throughout Australia. The organisation has 360 members and a board of seven volunteers. They run all kinds of events, including live readings, a monthly book club, members-only writing competitions, writers' groups, and more. Their renowned Newcastle Poetry Prize is open for submission for both members and non members.

"Through the Hunter Writers' Centre we activate the lighthouse for artists, expand the notion of storytelling to not just words on paper but to multi-arts. Artists are storytellers, they are the ones who bring things into being," McLean says.

Previously Newcastle-based residents received a discounted rate when undertaking the Lighthouse Arts Residency, but a new pricing structure will be introduced soon. The Hunter Writers' Centre is also opening up membership to all creatives, not just writers, and residency prices will be based on members and non-members.

McLean returned to her home town of Newcastle 10 years ago after working for along period in the arts in Melbourne. She thought she was done working in the arts until this job came up.

"I thought 'This speaks to me. This is my job, and I'd like to build and be part of the writing and storytelling community in the Hunter', so I got the job, and then I had this amazing opportunity as a daughter of Newcastle to be a steward of the Nobbys Whibaganya cottages which is extraordinary," she says.

After working onsite since January, she's observed that for the artists, the first day is for settling into the space and understanding how they feel about it and what they want to do.

"It's a quiet space and it's dedicated pretty much to your craft; you can move around. There's whale watching, ships, birdlife, all this sort of stuff that can catch your attention and yet, it's a super austere environment. You, your work and an amazing view, no bells and whistles," she says.

She sees that during the week people find that they have breakthrough, a shift, something drops into their work, as was the case with Duffin.

"She came up with paint chips and thought she might figure out what to do with them and basically started a new career," McLean says. "There's something in the air."

She feels as people walk (or get a lift in the golf cart up the hill) it's as if they go over a threshold, partially because they've given themselves a week to work without distraction.

"The lighthouse provides big brain space," she says. "You've got 360 degree views of the ocean and air and you're watching world systems pass you by, whether that be weather systems, or energy systems. You've got, you know, a weather station up here. It's quite an incredible space and it does give you space, but you've given that space to yourself."

McLean has observed lots of camaraderie and friendships over shared lunches (although it's not mandatory for people to eat together). People share human experiences.

"We've found lots of opportunities have opened up for people. We have people who have works going into Spanish galleries, people who have exhibitions in France, all sorts of things happening. People have submitted articles for the very first time," she says.

I know I certainly found this experience when I attended. It made me realise how hard it is to actually give yourself decent time to create."

Duffin feels the same.

"It grew legs," she says of her collages. "I started a second Instagram page called @snipandglue, dedicated to my collages, separate to Leslie Duffin Art."

She now has a new set of fans and finds herself in a bit of an existential crisis as to whether to return to oil painting after the demand for her collages. Along with exhibiting all over the region, the Hunter Writers' Centre used her Stockton Ferry piece as the cover of last year's poetry prize anthology.

"The biggest gift that the lighthouse gives is what the writer gives themselves. A lot of time we get not professional artists, but people who have let go of their craft, or emerging crafts," McLean says.

"The lighthouse is a commitment to craft, and a commitment to the artist within, and there's a seriousness about the undertaking."