How Illawarra mining town Wongawilli has become part of 20,000-home expansion

PHOTO: The expanding town of Wongawilli lies at the foot of the Illawarra escarpment.(ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)

A former small coal and farming town is being transformed into a unique outpost of urban expansion in the Illawarra, south of Sydney.

Wongawilli sits in the foothills of the escarpment just 20 minutes’ drive from the Wollongong CBD.

It marks the western edge of the West Dapto Urban Release Area which will add 20,000 homes to the region, the equivalent of a city larger than Coffs Harbour.

The population shrank to just 141 in 2016, but all that is changing rapidly with about 450 homes now either completed or under construction, along with a new childcare centre and a general store with a cafe.

“The area really does still have its own identity,” says Terence Watts, owner of the soon-to-open Smiths Lane Dairy store and Wollongong wine bar The Throsby.

a smiling young man stands in front of a shop window — **Terence Watts owns the Smith Lane Dairy store, which is due to open next month.(ABC Illawarra: Nick McLaren)**

Mr Watts wants his new establishment to provide locals with not just coffees, but also specialist dairy products.

“We have got a really big focus obviously with the history of the dairy with selling loads of cheeses from places like Pecora Dairy, Cupitt’s in Ulladulla, the Tilba [Real] Dairy and loads of other smaller cheese producers like the Pines in Kiama as well,” he said.

Rich mining history

It’s a monumental shift from the area’s main history as a coal mining town.

Historian Glenn Mitchell says early works on the mine were carried out by Wollongong businessman Andrew Lang in the late 1800s, but things really started to take off when the Hoskins family, owner of the Lithgow Steelworks, bought the mine.

“When Hoskins buys the mine in 1915, 1916 he’s got capital and he’s got technological know-how,” Dr Mitchell said.