Federal City was on the western side of Middle Camp between the creek and Pit Road.
None of the houses here were ever placed on title and the land on which the houses were built remained the property of the Mining Company. The last of the houses disappeared in the 1990s.
There was a good deal of movement between areas as families moved into better houses as they became vacant.
In the early days, the Robertson family lived for a number of years in Federal City and had four children before they secured a house in Flowers Drive Middle Camp.
Mrs Robertson was determined her boys would not go down the pit and sent her two oldest boys David and Donald to High School in Newcastle. To earn the necessary money to pay the bus fares Mrs Robertson made toffee apples and coconut ices to sell around town and at the picture theatre. Her son Donald went on to have a good career in the Education Department as Headmaster in a number of Public Schools in the Newcastle District. He was the first Bay boy to attend teacher’s College. Brother David opted to stay in the town.
The houses were weatherboard and tin, small and not well made until years later when some were renovated.
Kate and Fred Northwood and son Gordon spent a short while in federal city until they moved to Slack Alley. Bill and Dorrie Trowbridge also spent a short while there while waiting for something better to come up.
In the 1950s Bill and Zina Hancock son Robert and daughter Clare were living there along with Les and Dot D’arcy and son Stephen, Ivy and Clary Poxon and family.
Doug and Yvonne Wiltshire built a new fibro and timber house there in the 60’s, supposedly from pit timber, which they later had moved to Nords Wharf and continued to live in it for many years.
A site west of the houses along Flowers Drive, behind the house owned by the Robertson’s was a track which ran higher than the one to Federal city and going a little further into the bush was another row of houses.
The first one was occupied by Dot and Percy Pritchard and their daughter Irene.
Percy was a miner; Dot was a Bay girl from the Harris family.
This house was another homemade type built of timber and flat tin,but very comfortable and well kept by Percy and Dot.
In the late 1930’s they lived on a bush track to the rifle range. (Dirt floor, bush timber, newspapers and bags). Their daughter Irene was born whilst they were living in this house.
Mining was very shallow in this area and the house collapsed into the mine tunnel and half disappeared. A long pole from the mine was slid under the house to try to stabilise the house. “There was mining beneath the houses in this area and the houses used to tremble”
Next to Pritchard’s was another house occupied by Johnny and Dolly Slaven.
John was a brother of Mat and Pat Slaven.
John was the local barber for some time and he and Dolly were very keen bowlers.
Another house was built next door by Jim Segelow and his wife Lydia sometime in the 50’s, this along with the other two were eventually demolished.