Port Kembla is some 85 km south of Sydney. Extensive deposits of Aboriginal shell middens in the
beach dunes testify to extended use of the area.
Nineteenth century
Known by the settlers as
Illawarra Farm, the Five Islands or Red Point.
A military garrison and stockade relocated from Red Point in Port Kembla to the
boat harbour at Wollongong in 1829. In 1897, the NSW Public Works Department selected
Port Kembla as the most suitable deep-water port for shipping coal from the Illawarra coalmines.
1907
The Electrolytic Refining and Smelting Company of Australia Ltd (ER&S) copper
refinery and smelter set up at Port Kembla in 1907 to process the ores from Mt
Lyell in Tasmania.
1916
Metal Manufacturers Pty Ltd (a manufacturing company
established by Australia copper producer Mt Morgan and Mt Lyell and its English
partners British Insulated and Helsby Cables) set up in Port Kembla. MM
activities included a wire factory, a telephone cable factory and tube factory.
MM became a
major consumer of the ER&S refined copper. MM gave its name to the beach
in front of its workshop and next
door to the Port Kembla steelworks.
1947
Central Illawarra Shire, North Illawarra and Bulli Shire were
amalgamated with the municipality of Wollongong in 1947 to form the City of
Greater Wollongong.
In the 1950s
Measurements of air pollution taken by the NSW Department of Public Health
indicated Port Kembla was one of the most polluted areas in the Southern
Hemisphere. Air quality has greatly improved since the 1950s.
Access
to toilet/change facilities
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