Ed Tonks is a retired Social Sciences teacher. Ed taught at Francis Greenway and Kotara High Schools from 1974 to 2009. For nearly 50 years he has been actively teaching, researching and promoting aspects of the Hunter’s history. Since 1990 Ed has delivered or conducted more than 1200 talks for service clubs, community groups and professional bodies. His “Mines and Lines”, “Urban Industrial Newcastle”,” Bridges of the Hunter” and “Pits and Pubs” tours are well known.

 

He has written the following books and calendars.

• South Maitland Coalfield Field Study Notes (1979)

• History of Redhead Colliery (1981)

• Beneath Tidal Water - The Story of Newcastle’s Harbour Collieries (1985)

• Northumberland-Newstan: 100 Years of Coalmining (1987)

• Adamstown Via Fernleigh: Trains & Collieries of the Belmont Line (1988)

• Wallsend and Pelton Collieries: A Chronology of the Newcastle Wallsend Coal Company (1990)

• Lambton by the Sea: The Last 19th Century Colliery on the Newcastle Coalfield (1995)

• EL Class: An Early History (1996)

• NR Class: An Early History NR1-NR15 (1998)

• NR Class: An Early History NR16-NR30 (1999)

• NR Class: An Early History NR31-NR45 (1999)

• From Pillars to Highwall: An Early History of Goodsir & Cooper and Bayswater Colliery Company Pty Limited (2000)

• Hotels of the South Maitland Coalfield (2000)

• NR Class: An Early History NR 46-NR 60 (2000)

• NR Class: An Early History NR61-NR 90 (2002)

• NR Class: An Early History NR91-NR 121 (2004)

• No Bar to Time. The Hotels of the Newcastle Local Government Area (2015)

• Ed Tonks’ Trains of the Fernleigh Track 2016 (Calendar) (2015)

• No Bar to Time. The Lost Hotels of Newcastle & Lake Macquarie ( Calendar) (2015)

• Ed Tonks’ Trains of the Fernleigh Track 2017 (Calendar) (2016)

• Smelters’ Haven to Artist’s Rest. The Hotels of Lake Macquarie (2016)

• Tracking Back. Rail Scenes of Newcastle & Lake Macquarie. 1970s – 1980s (2017)

• Trains of the Fernleigh Track 2018 (Calendar) (2017)

• No Bar to Time. The Current Hotels of the Newcastle Local Government Area. Revised Edition. (2017)

• Ed Tonks’ Calendar of the South Maitland Railways Area with events and happenings. 2019. (Calendar) (2018)

• Tracking Back 2. Rail Scenes of Newcastle & Lake Macquarie in the early 1990s. (2019)

• Hotels of Old Newcastle 2020 Calendar. Most photographs by Ralph Snowball. Text by Ed Tonks. (Calendar) (2019)

• Tracking Back 3. Rail Scenes of the Newcastle Area Mid-late 1990s (2021)

• 48 Class Locomotives at work in the Newcastle Area 2022 (Calendar) (2021)

• Railway Stations of Old Newcastle and Lake Macquarie 2023 (Calendar) (2022)

 

Ed has also been active as an historical consultant as well as a member of a number of committees. During 2013-2014 he worked on the historical content for much of the Fernleigh Track interpretive signage. He has been involved in a number of commemorative groups resulting in rededications or setting of plaques.  In 2003 he was awarded a Centenary Medal for “documenting and disseminating local history”.  During 2005 he was invited to deliver the John Turner Memorial Lecture.  In conjunction with the Festival of Heritage in 2010 Ed was presented with a “Bona Perpetual” award by the Hunter Heritage Network. In the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for 2019, Ed was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for, “Contributions to Community History and to Education.”