Dapto - local area information

Dapto is a suburb in the Wollongong Local Government Area. The following information on our local area is provided by Wollongong City Library. Please select a topic from the following list.

Location

Dapto is Wollongong’s fastest growing suburb. It is located to the south of Wollongong, with its retail centre situated around the intersection of Bong Bong Road and the Princes Highway. Dapto was traditionally a dairying community until the recent expansion of residential and commercial development.

Local attractions

Dapto’s rural history is linked to a number of tourist attractions in the area. These include the Yallah Woolshed a popular music and line dancing centre, Logbridge Farm, the Four Seasons Riding Academy, Kanahooka Point Indoor Equestrian Centre, Koonawarra Lakeview Lodge Stud and Kembla Grange Racecourse. The Sunday trash and treasure markets are also popular with locals.

Lake Illawarra is used for a variety of water sports, including sailing, canoeing, water skiing and fishing. It also offers opportunities for picnics, walks and cycling. Dapto is ideally located on its western shore allowing residents to take advantage of these opportunities.

Lake Illawarra (Illawarra Image Library)

Dapto is also well known for its greyhound racing a popular weekly activity. The Dapto show is an annual event which reflects the suburb’s agricultural heritage.

For more information see Tourism Wollongong

Members of Parliament

Federal: Throsby

State: Shellharbour

Education

Local schools

Non-Government Schools

St Johns Primary School
Jerramatta Street
Dapto

Telephone: (61 2) 4261 4611

Government Schools

Dapto High School
Cleveland Road
Dapto

Telephone: (61 2) 4261 1416

Dapto Public School
Sierra Drive
Horsley

Telephone: (61 2) 4261 2247
Telephone: (61 2) 4261 1015 (Infants Department)

Hayes Park Public School
Kanahooka Road
Dapto

Telephone: (61 2) 4261 4222

Kanahooka High School
Roberts Street
Kanahooka

Telephone: (61 2) 4261 4011

Koonawarra Public School
Cnr Fowlers and Byamee Street
Dapto

Telephone: (61 2) 4261 2880

Lakelands Public School
Lakelands Drive
Dapto

Telephone: (61 2) 4261 1540

Illawarra Institute of Technology, Dapto Campus
Princes Highway
Dapto NSW 2530

Telephone: (61 2) 4221 8900

Environment

Dapto is located on the western shore of Lake Illawarra a valuable natural resource and habitat for local wildlife.

Lake Illawarra is a shallow coastal lagoon approximately 31 square kilometres in area. The lake has approximately 39 kilometres of shoreline, very little of it remaining natural. It is predominantly an urban lake with 68% of the shoreline covered in urban or industrial development. The wetland areas of the lake provide habitats that are used extensively by waterbirds.

The following are some of the species found on the lake:

• Pelicans
• Cormorants
• Musk Ducks
• Hoary-headed Grebes
• Black Swans
• Black Ducks
• Grey Teal Ducks
• Herons
• Ibises
• Spoonbills

Mullet Creek contributes to areas of sand and mud flats which gives rise to large concentrations of waders during summer. These mud flats are important feeding areas for these species.

Very little natural forest remains around the lake, where it does it is generally degraded from its natural condition. Most of this vegetation is composed of the swamp she-oak Casuarina glauca.

(Mills, Kevin. Evaluation and Inventory of the Wetland Habitats Associated with Lake Illawarra. Illawarra Lake Management Committee. 1983.)

To the west of Dapto lies the Illawarra escarpment. It ranges in elevation from 220 metres at Garie in the north to over 600 metres at Barren Grounds in the south. The cliffline of the escarpment is formed of Hawkesbury Sandstone up to 130 metres thick. Although rainforest was widespread on the escarpment, there were only a few areas where contiguous rainforest "brush" occurred. During a visit in 1836, Backhouse commented on a walk:

"….to the top of a conical, basaltic hill (probably Marshall Mount) and had a view of Illawarra Lake, the sea, the mountains in the western back-ground, topped by sandstone crags, emerging from the boundless forest, and at the intervening plain, some parts of which are naturally clear." (Mills,K. Jakeman, J. Rainforests of the Illawarra District. Coachwood Publishing. Jamberoo. 1995)

The natural vegetation of the Dapto area was drier grassy woodlands and was described in 1857 as being cleared cultivated and lightly timbered.

Illawarra Images Scene near Dapto from the "Illustrated Sydney News" 1855

More information

More information and further reading can be found at:

Wollongong City Library
Local Studies Section
Burelli Street
WOLLONGONG NSW 2500

Telephone (02) 4227 7418

Dapto District Library
Byamee Street
Dapto

Ph (02) 4251 7722

Community Information Directory - search for local organisations and groups

Weblinks - Illawarra links

Illawarra Index - An index to references to the Illawarra area from newspapers and other publications 1788 to the present (select Illawarra Index from the left menu bar)

Place Names of the Wollongong Region - meanings of many local place names

Illawarra Images - historical photographs

Tourism Wollongong - links to places of interest

Things to see and do - some interesting ideas