Mount Kembla
Encyclopedia
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".
It is a coal
mining area, notable for the Mount Kembla Mine disaster of 1902 in which 96 people lost their lives.
Four sub-areas are often classified collectively as "Mount Kembla": Kembla Heights, Windy Gully, Cordeaux Valley and Kembla Village (known formerly as American Creek and Violet Hill, respectively).
Mount Kembla Village is considered the "main" village. The village includes a local primary school, church and graveyard, several hundred houses and the Mount Kembla Hotel, which was built in 1896. The general store/post office closed in 2010, making it the first time in 145 years the village has been without one. The village also has a heritage centre showcasing local history, emphasizing the mining disaster. An annual Heritage Festival and 96 Candles Ceremony, commemorating the victims of the mine disaster, have been performed consistently every year since the disaster. The village is accessible from Wollongong
, via Cordeaux Road, named after early settlers; and from Mount Keira
via Harry Graham Drive. The small village of Kembla Heights is to the northwest, reached by Harry Graham Drive.
The Mount Kembla Colliery was established in 1883, and the purpose-built township was constructed by the company to house the employees. The community thrived until late-1970 when the mine closed and the town went into decline, losing its general store, post office, Presbyterian church, tennis courts and public telephones during the following years.
BHP Billiton
is a mining/steel export company which owns substantial property on and around Mount Kembla. It is currently mining at the Dendrobium site, half a kilometre west of the village.
Mount Kembla is joined to the west by the Illawarra escarpment
and, in particular, a mass with two lower summits, Kembla West (512 m) and Mount Burelli (531 m). The mountain forms a prominent peak pointing approximately eastward.
by flames used as torches by the miners. 96 workers were killed by the explosion. Hundreds of people helped in the rescue of survivors.
A quote from the mine manager, William Rogers, stated that the mine was "absolutely without danger from gases", the Illawarra Mercury
reported that "gas had never been known to exist in the mine before" and the Sydney Morning Herald recorded "one of the best ventilated mines in the State".
However, after the explosion left 33 widows and 120 fatherless children; an enquiry returned a conclusion that Mount Kembla Mine was both gassy and dusty and that the Meurant brothers and William Nelson "came to their death … from carbon monoxide poisoning produced by an explosion of fire-damp ignited by the naked lights in use in the mine, and accelerated by a series of coal-dust explosions starting at a point in or about the number one main level back headings, and extending in a westerly direction to the small goaf, marked 11 perches on the mine plan."
A royal commission concerning the disaster, held in March, April and May 1903, confirmed the gas and coal-dust theory accepted by the earlier coroner's jury. Rather than holding any individual official of the Mount Kembla Company responsible, the Commission stated that only the substitution of safety lamps for flame lights could have saved the lives of the 96 victims. However, flame lights continued to be used well into the 1940s.
Some of the dead were buried in Mount Kembla's village cemetery, which also contains a 2.5-metre-tall memorial to the disaster, listing the names of the miners and two rescuers who perished. The majority were buried in the more remote Windy Gully cemetery, 1.5 kilometres south-west of the village, at which an annual memorial ceremony is observed during the Mt Kembla Mining Heritage Festival on the weekend after 31 July.
legends told of Mount Kembla and Mount Keira
being sisters and the Five Islands being daughters of the wind. The first European to observe the mountain was Captain James Cook
on his voyage from Whitby. While navigating the east coast of Australia
, he noted it as 'a round hill', its top resembling a hat. The village was first settled in 1817 by George Molle.
Two old pit-pony watering holes on the ring track are still visible, as are the remains of an intended carriageway to the top (suspended in the 19th century and never completed) to the north of the Summit Track. On the eastern part of the Ring Track there are two mine entrances. Lantana
weed
has become a problem in the bushland of Mount Kembla, as have feral
goat
s and deer
.
During European times Mount Kembla has had a very significant role in mining industry. Mount Kembla is noted as being the home of the first kerosene mine in Australia. This mine was located near American Creek on land owned by John Graham, who remained one of the proprietors once mining operations commenced in mid July 1865.
Coal mining has been the main industry in the area and continues presently with Dendrobium Mine still operating.
In addition to mining, Mount Kembla has a significant agricultural history; in particular the Cordeaux Valley area which was one of Australia's top fruit growing industries, exporting as far away as London in its hey day as one of the country's best apples producers.
Mount Kembla is known for producing or attracting many creative people; painters, poets, writers, photographers and history buffs are inspired by this beautiful and fascinating area. Notables are Wendy Richardson
OAM (playwright), Ivan and Patricia Englund ( both renowned potters) and John Leo McNamara OAM (poet and historian), Fred Moore (miner and activist)
.
Mount Kembla forms part of the Illawarra Escarpment State Conservation Area, which stretches from Stanwell Park in the north to Wongawilli
in the south. The SCA is managed by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service.
, overlooking Wollongong
.
The summit is 534 metres above sea level and is a prominent local landmark, where it has a lookout linked to a 5.5 km ring track. The mountain has a unique collection of flora, being the fusing point for northern and southern types of eucalypt
growth and containing many types of rainforest. It also has two orchards on the western slope. American Creek flows down the mountain, past the mine and village. The mountain is a high outcrop of mainly sandstone in a roughly east-west ridge extending from the escarpment to about two kilometres to its east. It has a summit plateau divided into two sections, the higher one raised slightly above the west one, forming a small rise at the top. The ridge descends from the plateau and the mountain is generally quite thin at the top, widening below to create foothills that extend into the outer western suburbs of Wollongong and Unanderra. Many high trees are to be found there and pockets of rainforest grow about Dapto Creek and American Creek. American Creek flows to the north of the mountain from the joint to the escarpment and Dapto Creek from the southern side. A prominent foothill is at its southeast side, which juts out above farmland.
.
Fauna on the mountain includes swamp wallabies
, Deer, spotted-tailed quolls, southern brown bandicoots, grey-headed flying foxes, sugar gliders, wombat
s, possum
s, giant burrowing frog
s, red-crowned toadlets
, Striped Marsh Frogs, Eastern Water Dragons, Water Skinks, blue-tongued lizards, Diamond Pythons, red-bellied black snakes, Golden-Crowned Snakes and broad-headed snakes
, although it is not common to see snakes, as some sources state incorrectly.
Common birds are Lyrebird
s, spotted turtle doves, kookaburra
s, satin bower birds, superb blue wrens
,Crimson Rosellas, King Parrots, White-Headed Pigeons, Brown Cuckoo-Doves, Silvereyes, Eastern Yellow Robins, Rainbow Lorrikeets, Little Wattlebirds, grey and pied butcherbirds, Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos, Golden Whistlers, Topknot ("Flocker") Pigeons, Wonga Pigeons, Australian magpie
s, pied currawong
s, Australian raven
s, noisy miner
s, honeyeater
s (Lewin's, New Holland, Spinebill, Yellow-Faced) Eastern Whipbirds, White-Browed Scrub Wrens, Rufous Fantails, Red-Browed Finches, and welcome swallow
s. In 1804 a logrunner bird was collected on Mount Kembla, this being the first to be scientifically described, although it is not common to see logrunners, or brush turkeys as some sources incorrectly state.
The European and scientific discovery of the koala in Australia was made at Mount Kembla and took place between June–August 1803 and involved type specimens collected and brought in to Sydney in August 1803 where they were immediately figured by botanical draughtsman Ferdinand Bauer (1760–1826) and described by noted botanist Robert Brown (1773–1858). Koalas disappeared from the area probably during a subsequent gradual period of time due to the affect of clearing of forest in the habitat by settlers - however they were noticeably absent after a great fire of 1909 swept the Cordeax Valley and Mount Kembla area. The last report of suspected koala activity was in 1919 in the Cordeaux area.
watering holes on the east side of the mountain. The right turnoff goes into private property on Farmborough Road, but the left goes north to the second watering hole and a mine entrance. Another deviation on this side goes to another mine entrance, both are closed due to tunnel collapse risk. From here it goes through more open canopied Sclerophyll
growth before coming out at Cordeaux Road near private property, though the track is legal for walking as long as within this marked section one does not deviate from the track itself. To complete the walk one must go up the road back to the lookout. This is generally done as described in an anti-clockwise fashion. Deer and Wallabies are a not uncommon sight, with occasional snakes and feral goats seen.
The Mount Kembla Summit Track goes along the same small stretch of dry bush that begins the Ring Track but then branches to the left after a map/information stand. It climbs gradually up the summit ridge and on to the two summit plateaus, one by one, before going along the second to the trigonometry
station.
The plateaus are both thin and go in an east-west direction along the ridge. The track is signposted near the beginning warning of 'crumbling edges' but is also known for being saved from weathering and allowing easy access to the top. Beside this track to the left (north) is an old carriageway built but not completed, after finding large sandstone boulders at the top, in the late 19th century. It is still clear though overgrown. Halfway along this track there are several rock outcrop lookouts where good views south and west can be seen, the summit offering views northeast to southeast. Lyrebird
s are often seen as well as pigeons and occasional wild turkeys.
A former bridle track, the now somewhat overgrown after a while track that starts on the west side of the Cordeaux Road carpark at the Kembla Lookout is known as the Bridle Track on most maps. It goes along the escarpment, just below the edge, and can be quite slippery in moist conditions, several stages requiring jumping from rock to rock, however for the most part it is accessible if careful. The track goes through Illawarra rainforest with Lyrebird
s quite common as well as swamp wallabies. The track used to go all the way to the Unanderra - Moss Vale railway line but is now overgrown beyond several hundred metres or so.
Further up Cordeaux Road, the Ridge Track used to give walkers access to Harry Graham Drive, bypassing the summits of both Mount Burelli (531 m) and Kembla West (512 m), but this was closed recently and included in the catchment zone. A small section was still open to walking as of the 2005 map upgrade.
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
in 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...
, as well a semi-rural township of Wollongong
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...
, which gets its name from the mountain.
Kembla is an Aboriginal
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....
word meaning "plenty of game".
It is a 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...
mining area, notable for the Mount Kembla Mine disaster of 1902 in which 96 people lost their lives.
Four sub-areas are often classified collectively as "Mount Kembla": Kembla Heights, Windy Gully, Cordeaux Valley and Kembla Village (known formerly as American Creek and Violet Hill, respectively).
Mount Kembla Village is considered the "main" village. The village includes a local primary school, church and graveyard, several hundred houses and the Mount Kembla Hotel, which was built in 1896. The general store/post office closed in 2010, making it the first time in 145 years the village has been without one. The village also has a heritage centre showcasing local history, emphasizing the mining disaster. An annual Heritage Festival and 96 Candles Ceremony, commemorating the victims of the mine disaster, have been performed consistently every year since the disaster. The village is accessible from Wollongong
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...
, via Cordeaux Road, named after early settlers; and from Mount Keira
Mount Keira
Mount Keira is a 464 metre high mountain lying 4 kilometres northwest of the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Its distinctive shape and proximity to Wollongong make it a major local landmark. It is noted for the views of the city from the popular summit lookout and its history of...
via Harry Graham Drive. The small village of Kembla Heights is to the northwest, reached by Harry Graham Drive.
The Mount Kembla Colliery was established in 1883, and the purpose-built township was constructed by the company to house the employees. The community thrived until late-1970 when the mine closed and the town went into decline, losing its general store, post office, Presbyterian church, tennis courts and public telephones during the following years.
BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...
is a mining/steel export company which owns substantial property on and around Mount Kembla. It is currently mining at the Dendrobium site, half a kilometre west of the village.
Mount Kembla is joined to the west by the Illawarra 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, in particular, a mass with two lower summits, Kembla West (512 m) and Mount Burelli (531 m). The mountain forms a prominent peak pointing approximately eastward.
Mine disaster
The Mount Kembla Mine disaster was the worst peace-time disaster of Australia's history, until the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria. It occurred at the colliery adjacent to the village at 2pm on 31 July 1902. The explosion was caused by ignition of gas and coal dustCoal dust
Coal dust is a fine powdered form of coal, which is created by the crushing, grinding, or pulverizing of coal. Because of the brittle nature of coal, coal dust can be created during mining, transportation, or by mechanically handling coal.-Explosions:...
by flames used as torches by the miners. 96 workers were killed by the explosion. Hundreds of people helped in the rescue of survivors.
A quote from the mine manager, William Rogers, stated that the mine was "absolutely without danger from gases", the Illawarra Mercury
Illawarra Mercury
The Illawarra Mercury is the only daily newspaper in Wollongong, the third largest city in the State of New South Wales, Australia. It has been published since 1855, making it one of Australia's oldest newspapers...
reported that "gas had never been known to exist in the mine before" and the Sydney Morning Herald recorded "one of the best ventilated mines in the State".
However, after the explosion left 33 widows and 120 fatherless children; an enquiry returned a conclusion that Mount Kembla Mine was both gassy and dusty and that the Meurant brothers and William Nelson "came to their death … from carbon monoxide poisoning produced by an explosion of fire-damp ignited by the naked lights in use in the mine, and accelerated by a series of coal-dust explosions starting at a point in or about the number one main level back headings, and extending in a westerly direction to the small goaf, marked 11 perches on the mine plan."
A royal commission concerning the disaster, held in March, April and May 1903, confirmed the gas and coal-dust theory accepted by the earlier coroner's jury. Rather than holding any individual official of the Mount Kembla Company responsible, the Commission stated that only the substitution of safety lamps for flame lights could have saved the lives of the 96 victims. However, flame lights continued to be used well into the 1940s.
Some of the dead were buried in Mount Kembla's village cemetery, which also contains a 2.5-metre-tall memorial to the disaster, listing the names of the miners and two rescuers who perished. The majority were buried in the more remote Windy Gully cemetery, 1.5 kilometres south-west of the village, at which an annual memorial ceremony is observed during the Mt Kembla Mining Heritage Festival on the weekend after 31 July.
History
Local AboriginalIndigenous 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....
legends told of Mount Kembla and Mount Keira
Mount Keira
Mount Keira is a 464 metre high mountain lying 4 kilometres northwest of the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Its distinctive shape and proximity to Wollongong make it a major local landmark. It is noted for the views of the city from the popular summit lookout and its history of...
being sisters and the Five Islands being daughters of the wind. The first European to observe the mountain was Captain James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
on his voyage from Whitby. While navigating the east coast of 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...
, he noted it as 'a round hill', its top resembling a hat. The village was first settled in 1817 by George Molle.
Two old pit-pony watering holes on the ring track are still visible, as are the remains of an intended carriageway to the top (suspended in the 19th century and never completed) to the north of the Summit Track. On the eastern part of the Ring Track there are two mine entrances. Lantana
Lantana
Lantana is a genus of about 150 species of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in numerous areas, especially in the Australian-Pacific region. The genus includes both...
weed
Weed
A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...
has become a problem in the bushland of Mount Kembla, as have feral
Feral
A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...
goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s and deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
.
During European times Mount Kembla has had a very significant role in mining industry. Mount Kembla is noted as being the home of the first kerosene mine in Australia. This mine was located near American Creek on land owned by John Graham, who remained one of the proprietors once mining operations commenced in mid July 1865.
Coal mining has been the main industry in the area and continues presently with Dendrobium Mine still operating.
In addition to mining, Mount Kembla has a significant agricultural history; in particular the Cordeaux Valley area which was one of Australia's top fruit growing industries, exporting as far away as London in its hey day as one of the country's best apples producers.
Mount Kembla is known for producing or attracting many creative people; painters, poets, writers, photographers and history buffs are inspired by this beautiful and fascinating area. Notables are Wendy Richardson
Wendy Richardson
Wendy Richardson, OAM is one of Australia's most popular playwrights, best known as the author of Windy Gully. Richardson lives in Mount Kembla near Wollongong, New South Wales...
OAM (playwright), Ivan and Patricia Englund ( both renowned potters) and John Leo McNamara OAM (poet and historian), Fred Moore (miner and activist)
Fred Moore (miner and activist)
Fred Moore is a working class activist and author associated with the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia, in particular the Mount Kembla area. He was born in 1922 in Cobar, New South Wales, Australia...
.
Mount Kembla forms part of the Illawarra Escarpment State Conservation Area, which stretches from Stanwell Park in the north to Wongawilli
Wongawilli
Wongawilli is a southern suburb of Wollongong, Australia and is located at the foot hills of the Illawarra escarpment. The word 'Wonga' is a native aboriginal word meaning native pigeon. It contains a mixture of small rural properties and family homes. It houses a NSW Rural Fire Service station and...
in the south. The SCA is managed by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Geography
Mount Kembla is joined to the sandstone cliffs of the Illawarra escarpmentIllawarra 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...
, overlooking Wollongong
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...
.
The summit is 534 metres above sea level and is a prominent local landmark, where it has a lookout linked to a 5.5 km ring track. The mountain has a unique collection of flora, being the fusing point for northern and southern types of eucalypt
Eucalypt
Eucalypts are woody plants belonging to three closely related genera:Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora.In 1995 new evidence, largely genetic, indicated that some prominent Eucalyptus species were actually more closely related to Angophora than to the other eucalypts; they were split off into the...
growth and containing many types of rainforest. It also has two orchards on the western slope. American Creek flows down the mountain, past the mine and village. The mountain is a high outcrop of mainly sandstone in a roughly east-west ridge extending from the escarpment to about two kilometres to its east. It has a summit plateau divided into two sections, the higher one raised slightly above the west one, forming a small rise at the top. The ridge descends from the plateau and the mountain is generally quite thin at the top, widening below to create foothills that extend into the outer western suburbs of Wollongong and Unanderra. Many high trees are to be found there and pockets of rainforest grow about Dapto Creek and American Creek. American Creek flows to the north of the mountain from the joint to the escarpment and Dapto Creek from the southern side. A prominent foothill is at its southeast side, which juts out above farmland.
Flora and fauna
Flora on the mountain includes blackwood, native peach, bastard rosewood, native cucumber,Sandpaper Fig, Moreton Bay Fig, native Ginger, native Raspberries and hibiscusHibiscus heterophyllus
Hibiscus heterophyllus, also known as Native Rosella, is a species of hibiscus that is endemic to New South Wales and Queensland in Australia....
.
Fauna on the mountain includes swamp wallabies
Swamp Wallaby
The Swamp Wallaby is a small macropod marsupial of eastern Australia. This wallaby is also commonly known as the Black Wallaby, with other names including Black-tailed Wallaby, Fern Wallaby, Black Pademelon, Stinker , and Black Stinker...
, Deer, spotted-tailed quolls, southern brown bandicoots, grey-headed flying foxes, sugar gliders, wombat
Wombat
Wombats are Australian marsupials; they are short-legged, muscular quadrupeds, approximately in length with a short, stubby tail. They are adaptable in their habitat tolerances, and are found in forested, mountainous, and heathland areas of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania, as well as...
s, possum
Possum
A possum is any of about 70 small to medium-sized arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi .Possums are quadrupedal diprotodont marsupials with long tails...
s, giant burrowing frog
Giant Burrowing Frog
The Giant Burrowing Frog is a large frog species that occurs in coastal south east New South Wales and Victoria in Australia-Physical description:...
s, red-crowned toadlets
Red-crowned Toadlet
The Red-crowned Toadlet, is a species of Australian ground frog, restricted to the Sydney Basin, New South Wales. It is only found around sandstone escarpment areas around Sydney, from Ourimbah in the north, Nowra to the south and the Blue Mountains areas to the west...
, Striped Marsh Frogs, Eastern Water Dragons, Water Skinks, blue-tongued lizards, Diamond Pythons, red-bellied black snakes, Golden-Crowned Snakes and broad-headed snakes
Broad-Headed Snake
The Broad-Headed Snake is a venomous snake that is restricted to the Sydney Basin in NSW, Australia. It is one of 3 snakes in the genus Hoplocephalus, all restricted to eastern Australia...
, although it is not common to see snakes, as some sources state incorrectly.
Common birds are Lyrebird
Lyrebird
A Lyrebird is either of two species of ground-dwelling Australian birds, that form the genus, Menura, and the family Menuridae. They are most notable for their superb ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment. Lyrebirds have unique plumes of neutral coloured...
s, spotted turtle doves, kookaburra
Kookaburra
Kookaburras are terrestrial kingfishers native to Australia and New Guinea. They are large to very large, with a total length of . The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri guuguubarra, and is onomatopoeic of its call...
s, satin bower birds, superb blue wrens
Superb Fairy-wren
The Superb Fairywren , also known as the Superb Blue-wren or colloquially as the Blue Wren, is a passerine bird of the Maluridae family, common and familiar across south-eastern Australia...
,Crimson Rosellas, King Parrots, White-Headed Pigeons, Brown Cuckoo-Doves, Silvereyes, Eastern Yellow Robins, Rainbow Lorrikeets, Little Wattlebirds, grey and pied butcherbirds, Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos, Golden Whistlers, Topknot ("Flocker") Pigeons, Wonga Pigeons, Australian magpie
Australian Magpie
The Australian Magpie is a medium-sized black and white passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea. A member of the Artamidae, it is closely related to the butcherbirds...
s, pied currawong
Pied Currawong
The Pied Currawong is a medium-sized black passerine bird native to eastern Australia and Lord Howe Island. One of three currawong species in the genus Strepera, it is closely related to the butcherbirds and Australian Magpie of the family Artamidae. Six subspecies are recognised...
s, Australian raven
Australian Raven
The Australian Raven is the largest Australian member of the genus Corvus and one of three Australian species commonly known as ravens. It is a more slender bird than the Common Raven of the Northern Hemisphere but is otherwise similar...
s, noisy miner
Noisy Miner
The Noisy Miner is a bird common to the eastern and southern states of Australia. It ranges from northern Queensland along the eastern coast to South Australia and Tasmania. Its typical diet consists of nectar, fruit and insects, and occasionally it feeds on small reptiles or amphibians...
s, honeyeater
Honeyeater
The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family of small to medium sized birds most common in Australia and New Guinea, but also found in New Zealand, the Pacific islands as far east as Samoa and Tonga, and the islands to the north and west of New Guinea known as Wallacea...
s (Lewin's, New Holland, Spinebill, Yellow-Faced) Eastern Whipbirds, White-Browed Scrub Wrens, Rufous Fantails, Red-Browed Finches, and welcome swallow
Welcome Swallow
The Welcome Swallow is a small passerine bird in the swallow family.It is a species native to Australia and nearby islands, but not until recently to New Zealand, which has been colonised in the last half century...
s. In 1804 a logrunner bird was collected on Mount Kembla, this being the first to be scientifically described, although it is not common to see logrunners, or brush turkeys as some sources incorrectly state.
The European and scientific discovery of the koala in Australia was made at Mount Kembla and took place between June–August 1803 and involved type specimens collected and brought in to Sydney in August 1803 where they were immediately figured by botanical draughtsman Ferdinand Bauer (1760–1826) and described by noted botanist Robert Brown (1773–1858). Koalas disappeared from the area probably during a subsequent gradual period of time due to the affect of clearing of forest in the habitat by settlers - however they were noticeably absent after a great fire of 1909 swept the Cordeax Valley and Mount Kembla area. The last report of suspected koala activity was in 1919 in the Cordeaux area.
Walking Tracks
The Mount Kembla Ring Track follows a course around the mountain starting from the Kembla Lookout carpark on Cordeaux Road. It goes down some stone steps into a gully that flows down into Dapto Creek and then goes along the southern side of the mountain through palm and fern growth before turning at a junction. At this junction there is one of two pit ponyPony
A pony is a small horse . Depending on context, a pony may be a horse that is under an approximate or exact height at the withers, or a small horse with a specific conformation and temperament. There are many different breeds...
watering holes on the east side of the mountain. The right turnoff goes into private property on Farmborough Road, but the left goes north to the second watering hole and a mine entrance. Another deviation on this side goes to another mine entrance, both are closed due to tunnel collapse risk. From here it goes through more open canopied Sclerophyll
Sclerophyll
Sclerophyll is the term for a type of vegetation that has hard leaves and short internodes . The word comes from the Greek sclero and phyllon ....
growth before coming out at Cordeaux Road near private property, though the track is legal for walking as long as within this marked section one does not deviate from the track itself. To complete the walk one must go up the road back to the lookout. This is generally done as described in an anti-clockwise fashion. Deer and Wallabies are a not uncommon sight, with occasional snakes and feral goats seen.
Trigonometry
Trigonometry is a branch of mathematics that studies triangles and the relationships between their sides and the angles between these sides. Trigonometry defines the trigonometric functions, which describe those relationships and have applicability to cyclical phenomena, such as waves...
station.
Lyrebird
A Lyrebird is either of two species of ground-dwelling Australian birds, that form the genus, Menura, and the family Menuridae. They are most notable for their superb ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment. Lyrebirds have unique plumes of neutral coloured...
s are often seen as well as pigeons and occasional wild turkeys.
Lyrebird
A Lyrebird is either of two species of ground-dwelling Australian birds, that form the genus, Menura, and the family Menuridae. They are most notable for their superb ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment. Lyrebirds have unique plumes of neutral coloured...
s quite common as well as swamp wallabies. The track used to go all the way to the Unanderra - Moss Vale railway line but is now overgrown beyond several hundred metres or so.
Further up Cordeaux Road, the Ridge Track used to give walkers access to Harry Graham Drive, bypassing the summits of both Mount Burelli (531 m) and Kembla West (512 m), but this was closed recently and included in the catchment zone. A small section was still open to walking as of the 2005 map upgrade.
See also
- WollongongWollongong, New South WalesWollongong 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...
- IllawarraIllawarraIllawarra is a region in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is a coastal region situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the Shoalhaven or South Coast region. It encompasses the cities of Wollongong, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven and the town of Kiama. The central region contains Lake...
- Mount KeiraMount KeiraMount Keira is a 464 metre high mountain lying 4 kilometres northwest of the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Its distinctive shape and proximity to Wollongong make it a major local landmark. It is noted for the views of the city from the popular summit lookout and its history of...
- Illawarra escarpmentIllawarra escarpmentThe 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...
- Dendrobium, New South Wales