Rothbury Colliery was first surveyed in 1898 and contained one of the steepest coal seams in the Hunter Coalfields region.

This was the site of one of the most serious industrial riots in Australian history caused by the Northern Coal lockout - March 1st 1929 to June 3rd 1930.

Thousands of miners charged the Rothbury Colliery gates, clashing with hundreds of Police and Troopers over the use of non - union labour at the mine.

This occured on Monday December 16th 1929. One miner Norman Brown was shot and killed. An unknown number of miners and police were seriously wounded.

The mine closed in 1974 leaving many interesting colliery industrial buildings, stuctures and relics on the site today.