Beresfield is a north-western suburb of Newcastle

Newcastle, New South Wales

The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...

, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, located 22 kilometres (14 mi) from Newcastle's central business district

Central business district

A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

. It is part of the City of Newcastle

City of Newcastle

Newcastle City Council is a Local Government Area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia.-Demographics:According to the Australian Bureau Statistics the City of Newcastle had an estimated resident population of 154,777 as of 30 June 2008...

 local government area

Local Government Areas of New South Wales

The local government areas of New South Wales, Australia have been subject to periodic bouts of restructuring and rationalisation by the State Government, involving voluntary and involuntary amalgamation of areas...

.

The suburb of Beresfield had a population of 3,118 in 2006.

Geography

Beresfield, like the neighbouring suburbs of Tarro, Woodberry and Thornton, is located on a low ridge rising out of the surrounding floodplain and wetlands of the Hunter River. Beresfield is divided by Anderson Drive (formerly Maitland Road) which runs east to west. The part of Beresfield to the north of Anderson Drive includes the shopping centre and railway station. The part south of Anderson Drive includes the bowling club, swimming pool, sports oval and Newcastle Memorial Park cemetery and crematorium.

Transport

It has a railway station

Beresfield railway station, New South Wales

Beresfield is a railway station on the Main North railway line, , in the western suburbs of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia...

, opened in 1925 on CityRail

CityRail

CityRail is an operating brand of RailCorp, a corporation owned by the state government of New South Wales, Australia. It is responsible for providing commuter rail services, and some coach services, in and around Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, the three largest cities of New South Wales. It is...

's Hunter line

Hunter railway line, New South Wales

The Hunter railway line is a regional railway line which is part of Sydney's CityRail network. The line runs from the central business district of Newcastle, on the coast, northwest to Scone and Dungog in the Hunter Valley area....

. It is just north of the New England Highway

New England Highway

The New England Highway is a highway in Australia running from Hexham near Newcastle at its southern end to Yarraman near Toowoomba at its northern end. At its southern end it connects to the Pacific Highway and at its northern end it connects to the D'Aguilar Highway. It traverses the Hunter...

.

Facilities

The first public school in Beresfield was Upper Hexham Public School, now in the grounds of Beresfield Public School. The closest public secondary school is Francis Greenway High School.

Beresfield has a small shopping centre featuring a post office, banks, Safeways (Woolworths) supermarket, newsagent, physiotherapist, doctors' surgeries, petrol stations, take-aways and other stores. There is a branch of the Newcastle Region Library and an unused police station.

Sporting facilities include a swimming pool, bowling club, golf course, cricket oval and rugby and soccer fields.

Churches include the Anglican church of St Pauls, which held its first service in 1949. The first timber St Pauls and its hall were built in 1955. A second brick church was built in 1980 following a fire.

In the 1970s a new Catholic parish church, Our Lady of Lourdes, was built at Beresfield. The original parish church had been located in Tarro. A station was opened at Beresfiled and to serve as a mass centre a former Army hut was transported from Greta and erected where the present parish church now stands. St Jude's was demolished with the new church taking the title of the old Parish church.

Active clubs & associations include local Scouting, Girl Guides, Lions & Rotary Clubs. Beresfield Thornton Girl Guide District is a very active youth organisation. The Girl Guides continue to give service to the local community by participating in Clean Up Australia Day, fundraising for charity and collecting items for those less fortunate.

Beresfield is the location of Newcastle Memorial Park cemetery and crematorium.

Sport

Beresfield has many sporting clubs including Thornton-Beresfield Bears Rugby League Club, Beresfield Memorial Cricket Club, Beresfield Junior & Senior Scoccer Clubs, Beresfield Touch Football, Beresfield Netball Club and Beresfield Golf Club.

Industry

The Kent Colliery was located in Beresfield. In the 1940s the colliery was the subject of an investigation into subsidence complaints.

A major employer in the area has been the Steggles poultry processing plant.