Wollongong

Wollongong is a town of News-Wales of the South in Australia on the " South Coast" , within the area of the Illawarra.

It is the third city of the State in term of population. It is to 82 km in the south of Sydney, at 45 minutes by the road.

Known sometimes under the nickname of “the Gong” (abbreviation of the complete name of the city), the town of Wollongong is equipped with a mining rich person industrial history and resources. The city is also regarded as the regional center of the fishing industry of the Southern part of the Nouvelle Wales of the South. It has a university of international repute which attracts a great number of students coming from the foreigner, in particular of Asia. One can find also there two cathedrals regional, and of many places of worship of various religions, whose Buddhist temple of Nan Tien celebrates it, which is the largest Buddhist temple of the southern hemisphere.

Geography

The town of Wollongong has a rather particular geographical location: on a plate wedged between the Pacific Ocean in the east and a particularly stiff escarpment in the west.

The plate on which the northern suburbs of the city are located is so narrow that it was necessary to build a spectacular bridge in 2005 to replace the road of origin, constantly threatened by rock and landslides. This bridge, called the Sea Cliff Bridge , constitutes from now on an important tourist site for the area.

The escarpment rises with 750 meters at its culminating point and it shelters important coal reserves and other raw materials. The plate itself is crossed by several high-risk brooks of Inondation. The inhabitants of the city can benefit from many sand beaches white.

A little in the south the downtown area Wollongong, close to Kembla Port, are five islands which one calls islands the five (five islands). The island of Gang-man-glove to the largest surface.

Another pride of the city is the lake of Illawarra, located a little at the south of the downtown area. Formerly of an immense natural beauty, it today is very polluted because of the presence of many over-populated suburbs which are in the neighborhoods. Moreover, one steel-works employing several thousands of people are in the same sector, and its pollution comes to be added to that of the dwellings. The steel-works have a port, one of largest of the country. Districts of Wollongong:

Keiraville
Port Kembla
Gwyneville
Fairy Meadow
Coniston
Figtree
North Wollongong
Mount Keira
Mount Osley

Close cities:

Stanwell Park
Bulli
Shell Harbor
Kiama

Kangaroo valley

History

Indigenous people the Dharwals - live the area for a long time. The first European explorers having visited the area were the British navigators George Bass and Matthew Flinders, which unloaded close to the lake of Illawarra in 1796. The first white inhabitants, in 1810, were farmers. The plans of the city were formally created only in 1834. A road crossing the escarpment thus connecting the plate to the remainder of the country was built in 1835-1836. In 1856, the population of Wollongong was of 864 inhabitants. The railway line Sydney-Wollongong ensured the connection with the capital since 1887. It continues nowadays until Bombaderry, located at banks of the river of Shoalhaven.

The English navigator George Bass was the first to describe the existence of resources coal in the area in 1797. Thereafter several coal mines were open. The mining accident most serious of the history of Australia occurred in 1902 in the suburb of Mount Kembla: an explosion killing 94 people, whose youngest victim was old only 14 years. Two other men assisting from the victims from the explosion also died.

Heavy industry was attracted towards the area thanks to coal. The first steel-works are open in 1928, then it was repurchased in 1935 by the company Broken Hill Proprietory Limited, become today BHP Billiton. The steel-works of Kembla Port are today an Australian leader of the production of steel with approximately 5 produced million tons each year.

In spite of the major reduction in traditional industries due to the Protectionist abandonment of the policies S in the years 1980, there exists still much of industries. That did not prevent the town of Wollongong from having one of the highest unemployment rates in all the country, like one of the greatest numbers of drug addicts. The local economy nevertheless rebounded these last years, grace in particular to the diversification of the economic activity, including the higher education, the beautiful arts, the Tourisme.

Demography

In 2001 the population of the town of Wollongong was of 181.612 inhabitants. That of the area neighborhood (the town of Shellharbour and the municipality of Kiama, for example) was of 274.072.

Wollongong is equipped with a strong proportion of emigrants resulting from the countries from southernmost Europe, in particular from the République of Macedonia, Italy, Greece, Turkey and countries of ex-Yugoslavia, because in particular of a considerable need for labor following the Second world war. Since, emigrants came in mass especially from the Vietnam, of the Lebanon, Iran, the Portugal, Spain, Africa, Latin America and Bosnia-Herzégovine. Still more recently, Wollongong became a destination headlight for new inhabitants resulting from the suburbs of Sydney, who seek to place themselves less expensive, to have a road traffic more reduced and a medium less urbanized. The existence of public transport binding Wollongong to Sydney made that many young families come to settle in Wollongong while working in Sydney.

Climate

Education

There exists in Wollongong only one university, the Université of Wollongong, which belonged to the Université of News-Wales of the South, as well as a technical institute. The university at summer elected twice better Australian university. There is also a selective secondary school located in the middle of the downtown area, like several other colleges and colleges of fame.

Media

The city has three commercial television channels, two governmental chains, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), six radio stations suitable for Wollongong.

There is only one daily newspaper, “Illawarra Mercury”, like several free Community newspapers.

Sport

The Rugby with XIII is generally regarded as the most popular sport of Wollongong and Illawarra. Many players of national and international fame come from this area. A club of Rugby to XIII of Wollongong even almost succeeded in obtaining the services of the large French player Puig-Aubert. Saint-George Illawarra Dragons represent the area in the national league (National Rubgy League) since 1982.

The Wollongong Hawks take part in the national competition of Basket-ball and even gained the championship of 2001.

The Wollongong Wolves are a club of the " First League" from News-Wales of the South of football, and took part in the Australian Championnat of football until in 2005.

Simple: Wollongong, New South Wales

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