Cringila - History

Land grants

Cringila was part of a 1000 acre grant made to Robert Jenkins. Robert Jenkins named his farm "Berkeley Estate" but he never lived on the land. Robert Jenkins died in 1822 after falling off his horse and the land was passed to his wife Jemima Jenkins. Jemima Jenkins later purchased 2,000 acres to the west of Robert's grant and then five small parcels of land adjacent to this 2,000 acres. The name "Berkeley Estate" covered all Jemima Jenkins' seven properties. (Reynolds, 2001)

A 1923 map of this area shows that Pat Fitzgerald and Michael O'Donnell owned farms on the "Berkeley Estate". The land for the "Steeltown Estate" was probably purchased from the O'Donnell family. The subdivision extended from the southern side of Five Islands Road to just north of Fitzgerald's homestead. The southern extent of the subdivision is midway between Cringila Street and Fitzgerald Street. It is presumed that this was the boundary between the O'Donnell family's property and Fitzgerald's property. (Reynolds, 2001)

Early residents

O'Donnell Family
Michael O'Donnell and his wife arrived in Sydney from Ireland in 1841. He became teacher-in-charge of the Wollongong Roman Catholic Denominational School in 1842. In 1843/44 Michael O'Donnell and a fellow school teacher undertook the management of Wentworth's "Five Islands Estate". In 1853 O'Donnell leased the Estate from Wentworth with a proviso that he would clear 500 acres of the land. Evidence suggests that the O'Donnell family still held a lease with Wentworth in 1900. The O'Donnell's farm house was built, not on "Five Islands Estate" but on 'Berkeley Estate". (Reynolds, 2001)

Marcella O'Donnell, the third child of Michael O'Donnell Jnr married Sidney Arkell and lived in Port Kembla. Sidney operated a trucking business and worked during the construction of the Steelworks. Marcella and Sid moved into a home on the "Berkeley Estate". This home was located on Birmingham Street on land the size of about six domestic sized blocks. Marcella and Sidney lived here until about 1940 and after they left the house was moved to the edge of the block and the block was subdivided into normal sized building blocks. (Reynolds, 2001)

Fitzgerald Family
Paddy Fitzgerald purchased an old homestead and land from the O'Donnell family in the early 1920's. This land was located just inside the Berkeley Estate. The border between the Fitzgerald and the O'Donnell properties is approximately midway between the present Cringila and Fitzgerald Streets. Two of Fitzgerald's sons worked horses and drays on the Steelworks site during excavations for the blast furnace. (Reynolds, 2001)

Early industry

The early settlers in the area were dairy farmers and crop growers.

In 1926 Charles Hoskins purchased 400 acres of land at Port Kembla to develop a steelworks. In 1927 the Hoskins Steelworks was established. Although it was referred to as AI & S Port Kembla, the blast furnace and the surrounding mills and foundries were closer to Cringila and Warrawong than to Port Kembla. In 1928 the Hoskins Steelworks commenced production with the opening of the No.1 blast furnace.

In the 1930's suburbs around Port Kembla, including Cringila, began to grow as people moved into the area to be close to their work. Cringila was a combination of two suburbs, The Steeltown housing estate which opened in the late 1920's and Belvedere estate which opened in the mid 1930's. In 1934 Charles Hippisley opened a mixed business and unofficial post office in Newcastle Street, Cringila. (Reynolds, 2002)

Early transport

In 1900 the Port Kembla area was relatively isolated because of bad roads. By the 1920's better roads had been constructed which meant that workers no longer had to cross lagoons or construct their own bridges to get to work. In 1940, however, the road between Wollongong and Port Kembla was still unsealed and crossed by unmarked train lines.

Construction of a direct railway line from Port Kembla to Wollongong commenced in 1913 in the vicinity of the present Cringila railway station. It progressed north to meet the main Illawarra line at Mt Drummond. The new Port Kembla branch was opened in 1916 and the original line from Cringila to Unanderra was abandoned. Passenger services from Port Kembla to Wollongong began in 1920. (Southern, 1978; Eklund, 2002)