Tin City

To the North of Newcastle and the South of Nelson Bay sits a clump of 11 shacks on an infinite stretch of sand. They have no electricity, water or sewerage and there are no roads leading to this place. It is known as Tin City.

Tin City was founded in this area for the fishing. The beach is filled with all kinds of seafood, from fish to shellfish. Dangerous sharks have also been known to populate this area including white sharks.

All of the shacks were built by hand. They cannot be sold but are simply passed down to family or friends.

In this isolated place, the huts can be completely buried by sand in just two days. Another problem is that wet sand can collapse a shack if too much is on the roof. Sometimes waves can even cause flooding in the settlement.

Tim Elliot, writing about the place for the Newcastle Herald stated: “All of this is, of course, part of Tin City's charm. It's not just surreal, it's post-apocalyptically surreal, from the half-buried shacks and the wind that goes shooshooshoooo in your ear to the Sahara-like dunes that tower over the shacks to the west, dunes so gargantuan that when the photographer and I start walking up them in order to "get some perspective" we give up after 20 minutes, having only ascended one quarter of their height.”

Our photographers at Fotoref have been fortunate enough to visit Tin City. You can find the photo pack here.