Adopted 12 December 1939 as labelled on Admiralty Charts and numerous government maps since 1860.

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

Named in 1853 by officers of the Hudson's Bay Company - while surveying the Nanaimo area under J.D. Pemberton, Surveyor General for Vancouver Island for the Hudson's Bay Company - after the ancient coal city of Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland. (Walbran, British Columbia Coast Names, 1909)

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

HBC officials realized in the early 1850s that coal was abundant in the Nanaimo region. They named this island, which had clear evidence of coal seams, after the ancient British coal city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The name appears on the first map of the area, made by surveyor Joseph Pemberton in 1852. Coal mining took place there, 1853-83. Quarries also operated from 1870 to 1932, producing sandstone (used in Nanaimo post office and the US Mint at San Francisco) and grinding stones for the pulp industry. A Japanese herring saltery and shipyard were established on Newcastle as well. In 1930 the CPR brought the 3.4-sq-km island and turned it into a resort, complete with dance pavilion, wading pool, tea house, playing fields and floating hotel. The city of Nanaimo acquired the property in 1955, and it became a provincial marine park in 1961. Newcastle Island Passage was shown as Exit Passage on Pemberton’s 1852 map and identified the preferred route used by sailing vessels departing Nanaimo.

Source: Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009, page 425.