Catherine Hill Bay is a heritagelisted village on Awabakal land just south of Newcastle. Once a mining town, it was named for the schooner Catherine Hill, which ran aground nearby during a fierce winter storm in 1867.
Garden designer Linda (Linnie) Ross washed up in “Catho” rather more recently when she and Sparky, her “best friend and husband”, found a coalminer’s cottage for sale within a stone’s throw of one of New South Wales’ loveliest beaches.
Linnie introduces herself as “mother to three children — Willow (in heaven), Melaleuca, 15, and Flinders, 11, who are deeply connected to country, and our Aussie Shepherd, Pearl”.
If pressed, she’ll add “avid plant collector, master gardener, landscape architect,
