Valentine is a suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia from Newcastle's central business district along the eastern shoreline of Lake Macquarie near the town of Belmont, facing north and west, looking over the shallow waters of Croudace Bay. It is now a large residential district, a development commenced in the late 1980s. Valentine is home to number of convenience and specialty shops, including a butcher, post office, GP office, petrol station, newsagent and a bowling club. Valentine was named after Mr Henry Valentine Joseph Geary, a property speculator and company director who grew up in Melbourne, Victoria, and settled in NSW after 1909, speculating in mining. He owned land in Valentine, but lived on the Hawkesbury River, and died there in 1933. Henry Halloran, a surveyor who surveyed the area in 1916, named the area after him. He was also responsible for surveying many of the suburbs in Sydney, including Seaforth. Coal was mined near Valentine by the Hartley Company in the mid 1800s. The name of "Hartley Point" at the Western end of Dilkera Avenue, facing Toronto, is a nod to the original coal mining venture from the 1800s which went bankrupt after the sinking of both of its coal ships at the lake's treacherous entrance in the 1860s. The first house was built by Mr Thomas Croudace in the 1860s adjacent to the park on Valentine Crescent, and some of the trees from that original house still stand within the eastern portion of the park. A dairy was located further up the creek to the south, and at one stage the creek was dammed for a swimming area. The first holiday cottage was built in the late 1920s but there being no usable road, no water, electricity or sewerage, development was slow. A ferry provided holiday makers with access from Speers Point and a small shop was open on weekends. Because the only access was by water, most of the houses were built on or near the foreshore adjacent to Dilkera Avenue whilst a new school opened in 1958. The streets mostly have aboriginal names, except for the area originally owned then subdivided by the Toll family which are named after Albert Toll and his children - Christopher, Frederick, Victor, Peter and Andrew.
