Bulli, New South Wales

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Bulli viewed from Sandon Point

Bulli is a town on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. It sits near the middle of the Illawarra region, north of Wollongong and south of Thirroul. Bulli is derived from an Aboriginal word signifying "double or two mountains".

Originally inhabited by Wodi Wodi Aborigines, European wood cutters worked in the area from about 1815. The first permanent European settler was Cornelius O'Brien, who established a farm in 1823.

Bulli Coal Train

[edit] Coal

The Bulli Coal Company opened a mine in 1862 on the escarpment and built cottages to house miners and their families. Coal was transported by rail from the mine to a jetty at Sandon Point where it was loaded onto ships. The train depicted is a remnant of the type of train that transported the coal.

The miners were paid in accordance with production, they were not paid a set wage. The first trade union in the Illawarra region was formed by miners at Bulli in 1879. Management retaliated by firing and evicting union miners and hiring non-union labour.

On March 23, 1887 a gas explosion in the mine killed 81 men and boys, leaving 50 women widows and 150 children without fathers. There was 1 survivor, a 17 year old boy who became known as "Boy Cope". The mine reopened later in the year. The Bulli Mine Disaster was one of the worst in the region's history.

Bulli Railway Station

[edit] Landmarks

Bulli Family Hotel

Bulli Beach (pictured above) is a popular surfing spot. The northern tip (Sandon Point) is a venue for regular surfing competitions.

Bulli's main historical feature is the railway station, situated between the escarpment and the surf beaches. The station was the first on the south coast and contains a museum which is open every Sunday.

Another historic feature is the Bulli Family Hotel, which was opened in 1889.

The Illawarra Grevillea Park is an arboretum and botanic garden which opened in 1993. It houses the repository or Living collection of the Grevillea Study Group of the Australian Plants Society (previously SGAP). It is a botanic garden containing plants native to Australia - its collections include grevilleas, prostantheras and Rainforest Plants. Staffed and run by volunteers, it is open 6 weekends a year.

Prostrate Cootamundra Wattle, Grevillea Park

Slacky Flat Park

Behind the Illawarra Grevillea Park is Slacky Flat Park which is home to some reasonably undisturbed remnant rainforest and numerous species of native birds and marsupials.