Boolaroo is a 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 19 kilometres (12 mi) west of 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 Lake Macquarie 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...

.

It was at the epicenter

Epicenter

The epicenter or epicentre is the point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or underground explosion originates...

 of the 1989 Newcastle earthquake

1989 Newcastle earthquake

The 1989 Newcastle earthquake was a Richter magnitude 5.6 earthquake that occurred in Newcastle, New South Wales on Thursday, 28 December 1989, at 10:27 am. It was one of Australia's most serious natural disasters, killing 13 people and injuring more than 160...

. Despite its relative obscurity, Boolaroo borders a number of well known towns and suburbs within the Lake Macquarie Region, including Warners Bay, Speers Point

Speers Point, New South Wales

Speers Point is a suburb within, and the location of the council seat of the City of Lake Macquarie Local Government Area in New South Wales, Australia...

 and Toronto

Toronto, New South Wales

Toronto is a town within the city of Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia, approximately from Newcastle's central business district and is a commercial hub for the sprawling suburbs on the western shore of the lake.-History:...

, and, for a small strip of land, fronts onto Lake Macquarie itself.

Within Boolaroo is Cockle Creek railway station, a small station on the Newcastle and Central Coast railway line. Also, Boolaroo previously housed a lead/zinc smelter

Cockle Creek Smelter

Cockle Creek Smelter was a zinc and lead smelter located at the northern end of Lake Macquarie near Boolaroo New South Wales.The smelter was built in by Sulphide Corporation Limited in 1896 and the first attempts to refine zinc using the Ashcroft Process began in 1897 and was abandoned shortly...

, owned by the former Pasminco (now Zinifex

Zinifex

Zinifex was an Australian company which operated two zinc and lead mines, three zinc refineries and a lead smelter. It was created following the insolvency of Pasminco in 2002, taking on Pasminco operations. In 2008 it merged with Oxiana Limited to form OZ Minerals.-History:Zinifex was the...

) however the site has been cleared since the smelter ceased operations in 2003.

Boolaroo is home to several churches, of various denominations, as well as Boolaroo Public School, a library, a cinema (which was partially destroyed in the 1989 Newcastle earthquake) and a number of shops.