| Coalcliff Wollongong, New South Wales |
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View of Coalcliff from the Illawarra Escarpment |
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| Population: | 179[1] | ||||||||||||
| Postcode: | 2508 | ||||||||||||
| Coordinates: | [2] | ||||||||||||
| LGA: | City of Wollongong | ||||||||||||
| State District: | Heathcote | ||||||||||||
| Federal Division: | Cunningham | ||||||||||||
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Coalcliff is a town on the coast of New South Wales, Australia, between Sydney and Wollongong. Together with Stanwell Park it belongs to the Little Bulli indentation of the northern Illawarra coast strip.
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In 1796 William Clark and others trekking north to Port Jackson from the wrecked ship Sydney Cove noticed coal exposed at the cliffs there and made a fire from it, attracting rescuers, giving the area its name.[3] George Bass was despatched to report on it and traced the deposit along the shore and inland.[4] There was nowhere for ships to safely land though, so it was not until 1850 that it began to be excavated.
The Sea Cliff Bridge surrounding the Coal Cliffs was opened on 11 December 2005 and offers a spectacular sidewalk above the ocean and along the escarpment. There are splendid views offered towards Wollongong and Port Kembla in the south such as towards Bald Hill and the Royal National Park in the north.
Coalcliff hosts its own Surf Life Saving Club with events like Nippers in summertime and assuring beach safety. The Sea Eals winter swimming club takes place in the rock pool and is co-organized together with the Helensburgh-Stanwell Park Surf Life Saving Club such as the yearly 2.4 km Ocean Challenge swim between the two clubs in early April.
Coalcliff hosts the Illawarra Coke Company (ICC) as one of the two main sites. The Cokeworks here and at Corrimal produce approximately 250,000 tonnes of coke per annum using non-recovery technology. Since over 90 years coke has been produced here.