samanthag17

I lived in Muswellbrook for 5 years before moving away. It’s a nice quiet respite from city life; always enjoyed the drives nearby. Decent amenities (at least we have Big W, Aldi, Coles, Woolies) but we always drove out to Maitland for K Mart and drove out to Newcastle for the beach.
I did like Muswellbrook but as we had more kids (we had 1 when we first moved there), we felt like we always wanted to travel further to Singleton, Maitland, Newcastle for more. It started to feel a bit too isolated after a few years there. Struggled to find much for the kids.
We always felt like perhaps Maitland or Newcastle would have been better.
Air quality is not the best due to the mines. My newborn baby back then had bad asthma and we always had to take her to the hospital. Now she’s older and has no asthma issues after we’ve moved away. Of course, not everyone is affected. My older daughter who was 7 then was ok. Just saying we had that issue with our newborn then.
It’s a known thing not to leave your washing out at night as it gets way dustier from the mines at night time.
My take is, if you are from the city or like busier towns, Muswellbrook might be a little too quiet.
If you have to live in Muswellbrook,
Wollombi in the south side is a known area to avoid. Break ins, thefts, burn outs and at one point, even a riot.
The North side public school (Roger St) is the better public school and you can only get in if you live in the North side.

This is my personal experience and I do still have fond memories of Muswellbrook. It’s not all bad. I loved the views, the lack of heavy traffic and I did enjoy the peace and quiet for a while.