Corrimal - History

Land grants

Two of the earliest land grants in this area were to issued to Harriet Overington and John Buckland.

Harriet Overington (who married James Stares Spearing of Paulsgrove Estate) was promised a grant of 2000 acres in 1827, which was named Pallamba or Bellambi. It faced a small bay, now known as Bellambi Harbour, which was used for shipping cedar, and later, coal. James Spearing used the land as a sheep run until 1842 when the estate was subdivided and the village of Bellambi established.

John Buckland received a grant of 1920 acres in 1835, which he called Balgownie Estate. In 1839 it was subdivided into 132 lots and sold. Buckland lived in Hoare Town (now known as Douglas Park) and it appears he didn’t take up residence on this estate.

(Cousins, Arthur. The Garden of New South Wales: A History of the Illawarra and Shoalhaven Districts 1770-1900. Illawarra Historical Society. Wollongong. 1994 ; Jervis, James. Illawarra: A Century of History, 1788-1888. Royal Australian Historical Society. Sydney. 1942)

Early residents

Dr George Cox

George Cox was born in Nottinghamshire, England, about 1805. He arrived in Australia in 1840 and acquired approximately 50 acres of land at Corrimal. The property was named Summer Hill and he resided there until his death in 1880.

Dr Cox was one of three trustees elected under the Parish Roads Act (the other two being Captain Plunkett and Mr George Anderson who also had properties between Fairy Meadow and Bulli) to form the Bulli Road. Up until 1846-47 the road beyond Fairy Meadow was just a track. He and Captain Plunkett succeeded in having the road run past the boundaries of their properties, along the route first surveyed by Major Mitchell in 1834. This was very much to their benefit as it meant that they didn’t have to construct roads from their own properties to the main road.

Dr Cox was medically trained but did not practice his profession, though he was known to be 'most considerate and kind' to locals who fell ill. He was also a great collector and Fred Zeims recalls the doctor’s study being ‘more like a museum than a surgery’! His property was also known locally as the Coxton Estate and Cox’s Hill.

(Stewart, Alexander. Reminiscences of Illawarra. Illawarra Historical Publications. 1987; Young, Frank. Old Pioneer's Reminiscences of Illawarra (1830's-1920's). Illawarra Historical Publications. 1989)

Henry (Harry) Angel

Henry was transported to the Colony in 1818. In 1824 he was assigned, as one of six servants, to accompany Hume and Hovell on their explorations of inland Australia. On this journey they discovered the Murray River and went on to Port Phillip Bay, close to where Geelong now stands. He also accompanied Hume on his journey with Sturt in 1828-29 when the Darling River was discovered.

In 1834 Henry Angel came to the Illawarra and married Mary Ledwidge, a widow with two young boys. Mary was the daughter of John Brooker (after which Brokers Nose is named) and Mary Wade. They purchased land near Towradgi Creek (also known as Angels Creek) and a bridge was built over the creek on what was eventually to become the main road. It was known as Angels Bridge and still is today.

Henry and Hamilton Hume remained firm friends and Hume, in gratitude for the service Henry gave, gifted him two bullocks of prime quality which were seen, on occasion, hauling firewood to the local school.

In 1844 Henry moved his family to a property in the Riverina and then eventually to Spring Vale, a property near Wagga Wagga, where he lived and worked with Mary, until his death at 91, in 1881.

(Australian Dic of Biog. Vol.3 1851-90 A-C: Article in IHS Bulletin Nov, 1975 p71)

Early industry

Coal Mining

Thomas Bertram opened Corrimal Colliery (also known as the Corrimal-Balgownie Colliery) in 1883 and until 1887 coal was transported to the government railway by bullock team. A private colliery line was then constructed to connect with the government line by the Southern Coal Company, which had bought out Bertram. Coal from Corrimal was then shipped from the Southern Coal Company jetty at Port Kembla. By 1890, 60 men were working at the Corrimal mine and 200 tons of coal was being carried away per day. Coal from Corrimal Colliery was also shipped from Wollongong Harbour, Bulli and Bellambi Jetties.

A colliery existed at Corrimal until 1985 http://www.illawarracoal.com/

 (McCarthy, Ken. The Corrimal Colliery Railway. Light Railway Research Society of Australia. 1978)

Streets Ice cream

The Streets Ice cream Company came from humble beginnings. Edwin (Ted) Street operated a fruit run at Corrimal in the early 1930’s before buying a mixed business and milk bar. He started making ice cream in a small churn, just after the Depression, to supply his milk bar. It tasted so good that other shops wanted to buy it and before long Mr Street was supplying ice cream to dozens of shops. He built an ice works and factory near the corner of the Princes Highway and Tarrawanna Road and the first deliveries to Sydney were made by van. Another factory was opened at Turella, in Sydney in 1947. Many locals still remember the huge neon sign, featuring polar bear licking an ice cream, that was outside the Corrimal works (it was also the first moving neon sign in Wollongong). Mr Street became a multi-millionaire in 1961 when he sold his business to Unilever Australia P/L for approximately $8 million.

Edwin Street made many donations to South Coast organisations, including $100,000 for accommodation for the aged in Narooma, where he spent his retirement; $10,000 to the Illawarra Retirement Trust to establish Diment Towers; $50,000 each to Batemans Bay and Nowra to build Ambulance Stations and $10,000 for Corrimal Swimming Pool.

He received and OBE in recognition of his services and donations to charity. Edwin Street died in August, 1975

Early transport

Road

With the growth of the coal industry in the Wollongong region, villages appeared close to the sites of the mines and roads were developed to link the district and also provide an overland link to Sydney, previously travelled to by sea.

In 1834 the Bulli Parish road route was laid out by Major Mitchell from the intersection of Keira and Smith Streets in Wollongong. Convicts made the road as far as Para Creek, however past that point, it remained a bridle track. In 1846 local landowners met to elect trustees under the Parish Roads Act, so that the road could be built. After much local debate it was decided that the road should follow the route surveyed by Mitchell (Robert Westmacott and others had favoured a route following the coastline). The road was built over Plunkett’s Hill and Cox’s Hill making these sections very steep and causing problems for drays and carriages. Eventually these hills were cut away making the route more suitable. All steams and creeks were forded and no bridges built until the road was taken over by the North Illawarra Municipal Council. A toll bar was put in place in 1871 but was strongly objected to and eventually closed in 1881. The Trust transferred responsibility for the road to the Government in 1878.

(Black Diamonds: History of Bulli District, New South Wales. William A. Bayley. Illawarra Historical Society. 1989)

Railway

A railway linking the Illawarra to Sydney was first seriously considered in 1873 following a paper read by James Manning to the Royal Society. Later that year a meeting was called in Wollongong to press for its construction. Following public meetings, letters to the press and deputations to parliament construction of the line was approved in 1881. The Illawarra section (from Coal Cliff to the Macquarie River and then on to Kiama) was put out for tender in July 1883 and was to link up with the second section which was to be built from Georges River to Coal Cliff. The line opened on Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Day, 21 June,1887 with stations at Clifton, Bulli and Wollongong. (The link to Sydney was not completed until 1888)

Corrimal Railway Station was in operation by November, 1887 when a rail service from Clifton to Kiama began and Bellambi Station opened soon after, in 1888.

Towradgi did not get a railway station until 1948.

(Black Diamonds: History of Bulli District, New South Wales. William A. Bayley. Illawarra Historical Society. 1989)