Wongawilli - History

Land grants

Early land grants in the Wongawilli locality belonged to John Vaughan Thompson, grant number 46 (106 acres). This included the area of the Wongawilli Public School. James Larkin owned grants 245/246, 40 and 52 acres. (Parish Map - Parish of Kembla, County of Camden, 20th September 1961)

Wongawilli was essentially a mining village which developed around the Wongawilli Colliery which was established by G and C Hoskins Limited in 1916. "Hoskins of Lithgow had recently opened the Wongawilli mine at Dapto mainly to get small coal for coke." (Cousins, 1994)

Early residents

Charles and George Hoskins

Although they were not residents, no history of Wongawilli can be complete without mentioning the Hoskins family.

Charles and George Hoskins were pioneers in the iron and steel industry in New South Wales. They invested in Lithgow Iron and Steel in 1908 and increased the operation in the 1920's. "By 1915, a third new open hearth furnace, with 75 tons capacity, had been built. By 1925, these furnaces had been enlarged, with reported capacity of 70 tons for one furnace and 80 tons each for the other two furnaces. " (Hoskins, 1995 p. 53 )

The decision was made to secure and improve the supply of coke to Lithgow. A large coal holding was acquired by G & C Hoskins at Wongawilli, on the foothills west of Dapto in 1916. In 1919, land at Wongawilli was donated by the company to the Parish of St Luke's, Dapto and a Church hall was built. Charles foresight in developing this mine was vindicated when Wongawilli became an essential factor in the development of the Port Kembla Iron and Steel Works. (Hoskins, 1995). For more information on the Hoskins Family see the Port Kembla - history page.

The early residents of Wongawilli were the miners who worked at Wongawilli Colliery. The western end of the road is 'the Hill' where the first residents built squatters huts below the colliery. The oldest house in the village is on lot 20 and it was built prior to 1927. (Dapto & District Heritage Trail - Northern Section)

Hannah Towers lived at Wongawilli from 1926 onwards, she moved there when she was thirteen years old. Her father worked at Wongawilli Colliery from 1926 to 1934 and her husband from 1933 to the 1970s.

"In those days they had to walk up the incline and they sometimes used to hop on the skips (that carried the coal) to get a lift up to the top. They had draft horses in the pit. They used to pull up the empty skips. There wasn't much machinery in those days it was all pick and shovel." (Southern Wollongong News, 1994)

Many miners lived in makeshift homes on a hill near the colliery known as 'Bankbook Hill', and often the houses were made from whatever material was available. They were made from bush timber and they were lined with cornbags which were either whitewashed or papered over for insulation. Only a few of these houses still exist. (Southern Wollongong News, 1994)

Mr Les Duley was one of the first 12 men taken on by the late Sir Cecil Hoskins to drive the incline into the pit. He said "Dapto never looked back after Wongawilli opened on June 6, 1916. It was a country village, with little work available for the residents. There was a great rejoicing the day the pit opened. I remember women calling out in the street, "God Bless Cecil Hoskins". "Mr Duley worked for 26 years at Wongawilli before transferring to A. I and S., where he remained another 24 years working on its coke ovens. (Illawarra Mercury, 1976)

Early industry

In 1906 a coal mine was proposed for Wongawilli, by 1910 it was operational and 40 tons a day was transferred by drays to Dapto station.

Wongawilli Colliery was upgraded by G and C Hoskins Limited in 1916. The company was in dire need for good quality coking coal for the plant at Lithgow. They directed their search to the south coast of New South Wales, which was by then securely leased from Helensburgh to Mount Kembla. The search was concentrated south of Mount Kembla because the coal in this region had strong coking characteristics.

A large area of coal land was found at Wongawilli, at the time it was leased to Mr W.A. Lang of Wollongong. "After testing the coal for coking quality, my father and I met Mr Lang at Wongawilli in 1916 and, after clambering over the hills in the area until we were exhausted, we purchased from him the lease of Wongawilli Colliery from which very little coal had ever been extracted." (Hoskins 1969, p. 81)

The coal at the number 3 seam that was worked at the Wongawilli mine was dirty and to clean it a washing plant was built at the colliery. This was one of the first washeries on the coast and reduced the ash in the coal from 25 per cent to 14 per cent. The product of the washery was capable of making very high grade coke and having established this, the Hoskins took up extra acreage at the back of the leases secured by Mr Lang. (Hoskins, 1969)

Initially a row of 40 ovens was installed and the resulting coke was transported to Lithgow by rail. In 1925 a further 40 ovens were added. To meet the increased demand for coke with the erection of the Port Kembla blast furnace the Wongawilli battery was increased from 80 to 120 ovens in 1927. These ovens were Belgian non-by-product ovens. (Hoskins, 1969, Hoskins, 1995)

Ron Skerritt worked at Wongawilli mine for 39 years commencing in 1946 at the age of 16. "In about 1949 the mines became mechanised and the horses were eased out and we were given locos to wheel with. Cutting machines were brought in to bore the holes and tons of coal was blasted on to the floor. A loader would then be bought in to load the coal into 10 ton wagons. The locos bought in the wagons and shunted the full ones. Another loco, a flat wheeler, would take them to a flat where they were hooked to a haulage rope and pulled outside and emptied into another bin. In about 1960 a machine called a continuous miner was introduced to the mine. It cut the coal from the face into shuttle cars, which held 10 tons and later, 15 tons. Blasting was no longer needed. They dumped the coal straight onto a belt which conveyed the coal straight to the surface." (Dapto Oral History 1994, p. 69)

Wongawilli Colliery was purchased by BHP in 1928. It was consolidated with the Kemira and Nebo collieries in 1993 to form a more viable and competitive mine called Eloura. The coal is now extracted by two methods, solid development and longwall operations. With such a long history of operation this mine has seen a variety of mining methods from handworking to today's mechanised systems. (BHP Steel Collieries Division, 1993)

Early transport

Prior to Hoskins purchase coal mined at Wongawilli was hauled with four teams being employed to transport 11 tons of coal per day to Dapto railway station. In February 1909 about 40 horses and 10 bullocks were hauling 200 tons of coal per week to Dapto station. Two weeks later work at Wongawilli mine had been partially suspended and the draymen stood down. (Reynolds, 2001)

George and Cecil Hoskins significantly improved the Wongawilli Colliery and built a branch railway from the main South Coast Railway near Brownsville to the coal washery and coke works. Coal was lowered down the escarpment by a self acting skip incline, the junction to the main line was opened on 25 October, 1916 and by 1917 coke was being railed from Wongawilli to Lithgow.

Hoskins purchased a small 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotive for use as a construction loco when they began to build the Wongawilli railway line. The loco was overhauled and named "Wonga". This loco was found to be too small after the mine went into operation, a larger one was provided and the "Wonga" was only used for shunting purposes.

The Wongawilli Colliery section is the only section still operating of the old West Dapto Railways. It is supplying coal to the BHP steelwork's coke ovens and receiving coal washery refuse for emplacement at Wongawilli. (Reynolds, 2001)