23Working in Morisset
Air conditioning in Morisset 2264
Morisset is on the lake but a long way from the surf, and the Bureau's figures show it: three degrees hotter than Nobbys on a January afternoon, and about three colder on a July night.
Morisset sits on the south-western side of Lake Macquarie, about 45 km from Newcastle, just off the M1. It is named after Major James Morisset, who camped here in 1823 on the first overland journey between Newcastle and Sydney. The town barely existed until the railway came through in 1887, and before that most traffic came up Dora Creek by boat. Dora Creek, 5 km north-north-east, is one of the lake's two main feeder creeks. Morisset Hospital took its first patients in 1909 and its grounds, about 1,244 hectares, run down to the lake shore; they have been on the State Heritage Register since 1999. To the west, Mandalong is quiet rural country near the Watagans. The Bureau's Cooranbong (Lake Macquarie AWS) station averages 28.6°C in January and drops to 5.2°C on July nights over its 2008 to 2026 record. Newcastle Nobbys, on the coast, averages 25.6°C and 8.5°C for the same months.