"Coaches with Character"
Kitchener Bus Depot is the home of Barrett's Charter Coaches
Kitchener, NSW Australia
Enhanced photograph of the poppet head on the "B" shaft of the former Aberdare Central Colliery.
The opening of the Aberdare Central mine and its mining of coal in September 1917 attracted numerous mine workers, many of whom lived in shacks around the new pit. These mine workers soon brought their families to join them at their shacks, and the village of Kitchener adjoining Aberdare Central Colliery came into existence.
Kitchener NSW, an hour from Newcastle, and around 15 minutes to the Hunter Valley Vineyards.
The reason for the naming of the village as Kitchener is not clear. It could be assumed that some of the early miners had been Boer War veterans. This Boer War influence at Kitchener even carried over to the naming of the local inn, the Khartoum Hotel. This hotel licence had been transferred from Morpeth to Kitchener in 1925.
Kitchener was proclaimed as a village by the NSW Lands Department on the 23rd February 1917.
Aberdare Central Colliery closed in November 1961 but the poppet head has been allowed to remain standing for historical interest. 
The first public transport was a horse-drawn bus operated by the Batterham family. In a short time, this gave way to small petrol motorised omnibuses.
These not only transported the Kitchener residents, but also the colliery mine workers to and from from their homes in Cessnock.
The Batterham family operated a bus service for Kitchener people and in later years, school students traveling to St. Joseph's catholic school at Lochinvar were transported by the Batterhams, as well as a daily Sydney to Cessnock express service.
Batterhams tours were conducted under the "antelope tours" trading name.
Today, Reg Batterham's residence and former depot is owned and operated by Alex Barrett, for the operation of Barrett's Charter Coaches fleet, as well as storage of heritage buses for preservation purposes.
Information sourced from the Newcastle regional museum website, Greta coal measures records. Batterham's bus photographs, sources unknown.