Think you know your backyard? This lost city could change everything you know about it

A forgotten city, hidden beneath dense bushland, has resurfaced in the Hunter Valley—its story almost lost to history.

Designed to be a capital, the city was never built, leaving only faint traces of its ambitious plans.

A Sydney-based urban planner stumbled across it entirely by accident.

Sam Austin, a Canadian urban planner living in Sydney, said he discovered the hidden city while exploring Google Maps.

He noticed outlines that resembled a fully planned urban layout, including train stations, a port terminal and administrative buildings.

He also noticed a subdivision concealed within the trees.

‘I did some googling and discovered North Arm Cove and thought it was absolutely fascinating,’ he said.

The city, known as Port Stephens City, was designed by architect Walter Burley Griffin and was intended to be the national capital.

Its plans were developed alongside designs that eventually became Canberra.

However, a decision in 1924 by the NSW parliament to focus investment on Newcastle halted the project, and the Great Lakes Council later ruled the area non-urban, effectively ending it.

‘It’s really fascinating. There are examples like this all over NSW,’ Mr Austin said.

He explained that such locations were referred to as paper subdivisions, intended to create new towns across the country.

The city followed a garden city design, featuring a central rail terminal with concentric circles radiating outward.

Amid Australia’s current housing crisis, some landowners have lobbied the NSW and federal governments to rezone the area for development.

North Arm Council, which oversees the Port Stephens plot, warned that infrastructure is lacking and developing the land would be expensive.

Mr Austin urged caution about altering the bushland.

‘I much prefer to see urban consolidation, or development around existing settlements, particularly given there is very strong ecological value in that area,’ he said.

‘I do have some reservations on broad-scale development in essentially pristine bushland, which is what it is,’ he said.

Could uncovering hidden cities like this reshape how we balance heritage, urban planning and environmental protection?