When Roy and I were deciding where to visit this week, we were looking through photographs of places which are important to Australian's. There were a lot of photographs of Sydney Harbour, which seems to be one of the places we hold most dear. Yet Sydney Harbour is not the only beautiful harbour in New South Wales, and nor is it the only one with an interesting history. So this week, Roy decided to show you one of our most significant heritage Harbours, Wollongong Harbour.
Wollongong Harbour is of immense significance, being the oldest and most complete block wall harbour in New South Wales. Although most of the original machinery and buildings have gone, you can see much of the original harbour today, including mooring rings, the original walls, the Belmore Basin/Breakwater Lighthouse and the original slipway. The entire area has been heritage listed and look out for more about other features of the heritage precinct in future posts!
The harbour at Wollongong has a very long history, even before the arrival of Europeans in the area. For between 20,000 and 40,000 years before Europeans arrived in the area the sheltered natural harbour was used by the Aboriginal Dharawal People. There were good natural food and water resources in the area and it was used for a range of cultural and ceremonial purposes. Today, there are extensive Aboriginal Middens in the area.
Europeans first came to the area in 1815, grazing livestock not far from where the harbour is. In 1816 John Oxley surveyed the area and the first land grants were granted. By 1820 the Brighton Beach area was being used as a shipping point to transport goods, particularly the resources and goods from the area bound for the Sydney market. The ships would moor off the beach and goods would be taken out to them by small, flat bottomed boats or floated out. As the areas population increased, with the Regiment and Convicts stationed at Red Point (Point Kembla) being moved to Wollongong in 1829 and the area proclaimed a town in 1834, this method of loading ships became increasingly impractical.
Governor Bourke instructed Colonial Engineer Captain George Barney to design and oversee construction of Wollongong Harbour in 1837. Barney designed a basin style harbour which was originally to be 100 feet long, 35 feet wide and 8 feet deep at low tide but in 1841 this plan was increased to be 300 feet long and 150 feet wide. Convicts were used in the construction which kept the costs down and the original harbour was completed in 1844. It was a 'block wall harbour' which used sandstone excavated from the harbour construction in making the vertical sea walls and the breakwater.
When completed, the harbour was not as deep as it should have been. It had been excavated behind what is known as a coffer dam which held back the water while it was built. When finished, the coffer dam was not properly removed and so at low tide the anchorage was only 5 foot 6 inches. The mooring chain spread across the harbour also made it dangerous. As a result, over time the harbour was improved upon. In 1858 a petition was put to the Government for an enlarged, improved harbour and in 1861 work began. It was decided that the original basin would be deepened to 10 feet and another basin would be constructed, emptying into the original basin. The excavated rock would be used to construct a new breakwater. The new basin was to be 300 feet long, 102 feet wide and 10 feet deep, but before it was finished it was decided this wouldn't be big enough for the coal transports which took coal from Wollongong. The new basin design was enlarged to 455 feet long and 153 feet wide in 1864. In 1866 it was decided that the basin needed to be deeper again so the original basin was deepened to 14 feet and the outer to 18 feet. This was to allow the big international coal ships to dock. The new, extended basin was opened in 1868 and had room for 15 ships to moor along side one another. The basin was called Belmore Basin after the then Governor. If you would like to learn more about Wollongong Harbour, click here.