Charles Throsby Smith has been called the ‘Father of Wollongong’ because it was on the site of his 300 acre property that the township of Wollongong was formed in 1834 following a survey of the area.
The name Wollongong is said to translate as “the sound of the sea”, although there have been other suggestions that dispute this. A number of words – Wol-lon-yuh, Wolonya, Wollonga, Wollyunyal, Wollungah or Wullungah – have all been suggested as its origin.
In the new township’s early years the main source of employment was in the timber and agriculture industries. From 1837 convict labour was also used to build the Wollongong Harbour, which was completed seven years later.
The first regular steamboat services between Wollongong and Sydney commenced even before the Harbour was finished, paving the way for easier transportation and migration between the two areas of New South Wales.
However it was the opening of the first coal mine in the Illawarra Escarpment at Mount Keira by James Shoobert in 1849 that led to an increase in the amount of trade passing through Wollongong Harbour, leading to its redevelopment in the 1860s.
By this stage Wollongong had become a municipality. On 11 September 1942 it received city status, since when it has become the third largest city in the state of New South Wales with a population of around 250,000 people.
Another important event in the history of Wollongong and the surrounding area came in 1894 when Lawrence Hargrave made the world’s first human flight from Bald Hill at Stanwell Park – now one of Australia’s leading sites for hang gliding.
The early 20th Century saw a steelworks industry begin in Wollongong, one which today provides an important element of the economy.