[2][1] The component sites are all situated along the striking coastal topography of Newcastle Harbour's South Head: sites of Aboriginal cultural significance and occupation and probable subsurface evidence; Fort Scratchley, Signal Hill Convict Coal Mine Workings, associated post-convict coastal defences; Macquarie Pier.

The associations, over time, of particular places, sites and areas of the Precincts and of their distinctive landforms with Aboriginal culture can be revealed, as permissible, through further consultation and study.

Slavery, indentured labour, convict transportation and penal settlement have contributed to the spread of diverse cultural influences throughout the world and are global heritage themes.

[1] The Coal River Historic Precincts have State significance because they concentrate the whole story of the development of New South Wales' first and most important industrial centre.

[1] Coal River Precinct was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 19 December 2003 having satisfied the following criteria.

It is significant for providing major evidence of convict colonisation and of the interrelated work and punishment orientated regime of daily life.

Coal River's convict population awaits identification and evaluation, for example, the supporters of Governor Bligh when overthrown by the military, were exiled to Newcastle.

In more recent times, Fort Scratchley was the only fortification in NSW to receive and return enemy fire, during WWII, an event still accessible, no doubt to oral historians.

[1] The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

The combination of harbour, nineteenth and early twentieth century buildings and Signal Hill forms one of the finest coastal and maritime townscapes in New South Wales.

The associations, over time, of particular places, sites and areas of the Precincts and of their distinctive landforms with Aboriginal culture will be revealed, as permissible, through further consultation and study.

Interpretation of Coal River as a single entity will enable unification of elements that have been dismembered by subsequent development and urban evolution.

Investigation of the core of Macquarie's Pier may reveal the technical achievement of quarrying and masonry work carried out by the convict workforce.

Coal River demonstrates the capabilities of the convict workforce to undertake not only mining, but also quarrying, timber getting, lime burning, building and industrial trades, farming and gardening, navigation and harbour work, as well as improvising in a frontier environment.

The period of transition from military rule to civil administration is of great interest and educational value and is rare in Australian settlement history and society.

From Lieutenant Menzies' to Captain Wallis' commands, the military played a central role in designing and constructing Coal River.