Corrimal, New South Wales

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Corrimal is a northern town suburb of the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. It has a central business district with a few centres and many variety stores. It has a railway station and high school, opened in 1951, and to the east a beach and tourist park. To the west of the High School is Phil Adams Park opened in 1959. The park features tall trees and two diagonal paths, one of cement and one of dirt. It has several seats. Corrimal's CBD is situated on the Princes Highway, and several streets adjacent to it. The main shopping centres are Stockland Corrimal and Corrimal Park Mall; next to the park on the highway. Outside this centre is an old locomotive that Corrimal is known for, the welcome signs featuring it. To the west is a lawn bowls club and a wealthy foothill neighbourhood of residences bordering bushland. Immediately west of Corrimal railway station is the Corrimal Cokeworks, open to the public on Tuesdays. The towers are a prominent local sight and can be seen from Wollongong. It is still operational. The railway crosses the first level crossing north of Wollongong immediately north of the station.

Corrimal is served by Corrimal station on the South Coast Line (formerly, and unofficially still, known as the Illawarra Line). This is on Railway Street which connects the station to the heart of the town.

Every September on the second Sunday (the ninth) the town hosts the Spring Into Corrimal festival, which includes market stalls on the closed main streets, a parade, contest and other activities. It is, as of 2007, 28 years old. In the 2007 festival the world's largest skateboard was displayed.

[edit] History

The suburb takes it name from the a point on the bordering escarpment which was known as Mount Corrimal (named after the Aboriginal Dreamtime warrior Kurimul), this point on the range is locally known as Brokers Nose.^[1]

The first industry and settlement at Corrimal was that of logging, followed by mining operations. In 1830 the first grant of land was made, to James Martin, of fifty acres. Corrimal was first recorded in 1839 when a grant was sold at Corrimal.

In 1834 the Bulli Parish road was made with convict labour, directed by Major Mitchell. In 1883 Thomas Bertram opened the Corrimal colliery, also known as the Corrimal-Balgownie Colliery. Corrimal station opened in 1887. In 1887 bullock teams stopped transporting coal from the mine to the railway, being replaced by a private colliery mine constructed by the Southern Coal Company, which had taken over operations from Bertram. In 1889 Broker's Nose Colliery was renamed Corrimal Colliery.

Streets ice cream was founded there in the 1930s.^[2]

The colliery closed in 1985.

The suburb is served by CityRail services at Corrimal railway station on the South Coast Line. It is serviced by local services which operate between Thirroul and Port Kembla at an hourly frequency at most times.

[edit] Geography

The suburb is situated on the Illawarra Coastal Plain, a thin plain formed by water eroding the nearby Illawarra Escarpment. A promontory summit on the escarpment featuring cliffs and a sharp turn inland making it a prominent sight, as well as a communications tower and, from Corrimal, visible trigonometry station, is Broker's Nose, at 440 meters above sea level, towers to the west, it's foothills encroached somewhat by wealthy housing sites. The centre of the town is in the middle of the plain, and has several streets of shops, including a few centres such as Stockland Corrimal. To the east is East Corrimal and Corrimal Beach, which joins Bellambi Lagoon, a protected area of coastal vegetation. This contains a small dune hill at the southern end and is covered in bushland. The lagoon has a few islands and is important migratory and permanent bird habitat.

[edit] References

Coordinates: 34°22′S, 150°53.5′E