Bulli, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Wollongong, New South Wales
Wollongong is a seaside city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 82 kilometres south of Sydney...
situated on the south coast of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Bulli is derived from an Aboriginal word signifying "double or two mountains".
Originally inhabited by Wodi Wodi Aborigines
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
, European wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
cutters worked in the area from about 1815. The area was once abundant in Red Cedars, these are now still seen but thinly. The first permanent European settler was Cornelius O'Brien, who established a farm in 1823 and whose name was given in the pass at O'Briens Road south at Figtree
Figtree, New South Wales
Figtree is an inner western suburb of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. It is southwest of West Wollongong and connected to Wollongong by the Princes Highway and The Avenue....
.
Coal
The Bulli Coal Company opened a mineMining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
in 1862 on the escarpment
Illawarra escarpment
The Illawarra Escarpment is the fold created cliffs and plateau eroded outcrop mountain range west of the Illawarra coastal plain south of Sydney, Australia, enclosing the region known as the Illawarra which stretches from Stanwell Park in the north to Kiama, Gerringong and the Shoalhaven river in...
and built cottages to house miners and their families. Coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
was transported by rail from the mine to a jetty at Sandon Point where it was loaded onto ships.
The miners were paid in accordance with production, they were not paid a set wage. The first trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
in the Illawarra region was formed by miners at Bulli in 1879. Management retaliated by firing and evicting union miners and hiring non-union
Scab
Scab can refer to the following:* Scab, a hard coating on the skin formed during the wound healing reconstruction phase* Derogatory term for a strikebreaker, a person who works despite strike action or against the will of other employees...
labour.
On March 23, 1887 a gas explosion
Gas explosion
A gas explosion is an explosion resulting from a gas leak in the presence of an ignition source. The principal explosive gases are natural gas, methane, propane and butane, because they are widely used for heating purposes. However, many other gases like hydrogen, are combustible and have caused...
in the mine killed 81 men and boys, leaving 50 women widows and 150 children without fathers. There was one survivor, a 17 year old boy who became known as "Boy Cope". The mine reopened later in the year. The Bulli Mine Disaster was one of the worst in the region's history, see Mount Kembla
Mount Kembla
Mount Kembla is a mountain in New South Wales, Australia, as well a semi-rural township of Wollongong, which gets its name from the mountain.Kembla is an Aboriginal word meaning "plenty of game"....
. The mine has since long been leveled, with only concrete foundations revealing the location of the old office area and other buildings. Hidden along the cliff behind said foundations can be found the old mine entrances. These have been sealed with up to 12 feet of concrete, with a drainage line set in the concrete. To the east is the remnants of the sorting site, a few scattered foundations and a tar patch.
The old railway line from the mine to the coast has mostly been removed, but as you drive south into Bulli you will see the bridge it was set in, now used as a walkway over the highway after a fatal car accident involving a school child saw it restored. This bridge now features a welcome sign for the historic 'black diamond' district.
Landmarks
Bulli's main historical feature is the railway station
Bulli railway station, New South Wales
-Neighbouring stations:...
, situated between the escarpment and the surf beaches. The station was the first on the south coast and contains a museum which is open every Sunday.
Another historic feature is the Bulli Heritage Hotel, which was opened in 1889. This is in the heart of the 'Black Diamond' district.
The Illawarra Grevillea Park is an arboretum and botanic garden which opened in 1993. It houses the repository or living collection of the Grevillea Study Group of the Australian Plants Society (previously SGAP). It is a botanic garden containing plants native to Australia – its collections include grevillea
Grevillea
Grevillea is a diverse genus of about 360 species of evergreen flowering plants in the protea family Proteaceae, native to Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, and Sulawesi. It was named in honour of Charles Francis Greville. The species range from prostrate shrubs less than 0.5 m tall to trees...
s, prostanthera
Prostanthera
Prostanthera, commonly known as Mintbush, is a genus of plants of the family Lamiaceae. There are about 90 species within the genus, all of which are endemic to Australia. The word is derived from the Greek, which refers to an appendage...
s and rainforest plants. Staffed and run by volunteers, it is open 6 weekends a year.
Behind the Illawarra Grevillea Park is Slacky Flat Park which is home to some reasonably undisturbed remnant rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
and numerous species of native birds and marsupials.
The town has a small chain of commerce in its central district west of the station, and includes a newsagent and several specialty stores. The town is home to St Joseph's Catholic Primary School (current principal Mr Terry Westblade), Bulli Public School, Waniora Public School and Bulli High School.
At Sandon Point and Tramway Creek immediately north of the promontory, there is some remnant bushland including turpentine forest. This is an important migratory bird location and a history walk has been set up along the road were the old railway used to go. This point is also the site of a midden
Midden
A midden, is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics , and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation...
area. For over fifteen years the local community has been campaigning against residential development of this coastal floodplain and wetland. This included over 150 submissions to a Commission of Inquiry which recommended against further major development. Minister for Planning, Frank Sartor, however has overridden his COI to give Stockland and the Anglican Village Retirement Trust approval to add over 1000 residential houses and units.
External links
- "Illawarra Coal" – An unofficial history of coal mining in the Illawarra
- The Illawarra Grevillea Park Page