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Mount Kembla - Timeline
| 1770 | Captain James Cook sights Mt Kembla and describes it as "a round hill the top of which looked like the Crown of a hatt" |
| 1796 | Matthew Flinders records Mt Kembla as Hat Hill |
| 1810 | Cedar getters commence felling Cedar Trees in the area |
| 1817 | First grant of land in the Parish of Kembla was made to George Molle |
| 1821 | Construction of O'Briens Road, passing between Mt Keira and Mt Kembla |
| 1834 | First record of the name 'Mount Kembla' on H. F. White's map of the Illawarra |
| 1843 | Land grants, with frontages to American Creek, made to Henry Gordon and Patrick Lehaey |
| 1849 | Oil bearing shale from Mount Kembla tested by Rev. W. B. Clarke. |
| 1852 | William Stafford granted property lots 74, 135 and 153 at American Creek |
| 1858 | Service of the first church at Mt Kembla (Church of England) |
| 1859 | First school at Mount Kembla established. Originally known as Violet Hill |
| 1864 | Primitive Methodist Church established at Kembla Heights |
| 1865 | Pioneer Kerosene Works opened at Mt Kembla |
| 1878 | Mount Kembla Coal and Oil Co. established to work coal seams. E. Vickery principal shareholder |
| 1882 | Railway constructed by the Mt Kembla Coal & Oil Co from Mt Kembla Colliery to the Port Kembla jetty |
| 1883 | Post Office established at Mt Kembla on 1 October 1883 |
| 1883 | Mt Kembla Colliery opened |
| 1884 | Name of school changed from Violet Hill to Mt Kembla |
| 1887 | A second coal mine was opened directly below the summit of Mt Kembla |
| 1887 | Mt Kembla signal box was built at Unanderra on the main southern line |
| 1889 | Mt Kembla Gun Club established |
| 1894 | First Roman Catholic Church at Mt Kembla opened by Dr Higgins, Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney |
| 1896 | Workmen's Club formed at Windy Gully |
| 1896 | New two story school building and teachers residence opened on 18 April |
| 1898 | Mt Kembla Hotel receives confirmation of its license |
| 1899 | Mt. Lyell Co. establishes coke ovens alongside Mount Kembla Co's jetty - operated until 1925 |
| 1901 | 336 men employed at the Mt Kembla mine |
| 1902 | Mount Kembla Colliery disaster 31 July 1902. 96 men and boys die |
| 1902 | Royal Commission into the Mt Kembla Colliery disaster begins |
| 1905 | Memorial to the victims of the Mount Kembla Colliery disaster unveiled on 12 August 1905 |
| 1910 | Cordeau Dam under construction |
| 1946 | Nebo Colliery opened on the site of the old Kerosene Works |
| 1950 | Mt Keira and Mt Kembla collieries joined by an underground tunnel to make Kemira Colliery |
| 1970 | Mt Kembla mine closes on 18 September 1970 |
| 1984 | Mt Kembla and Kembla Heights zoned as a Village by Wollongong City Council |
| 2001 | BHP Billiton gives the go ahead to the $200 million Dendrobium mine at Mount Kembla. The first mine to be built on the southern coalfields in 20 years. |
| 2004 |
Nick Whitlam, the son of former prime minister Gough Whitlam, buys the historic Mount Kembla Hotel. |
Last Modified: 20/11/2009
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