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City of Wollongong

Fairy and Cabbage Tree Creeks Catchment

The Fairy and Cabbage Tree Creeks Catchment covers an area of approximately 21.7 km². It is roughly bounded by Towradgi Road in the north; Crown Street in the south; the Pacific Ocean in the east, and the Illawarra escarpment to the west.

Map of Fairy and Cabbage Tree Creeks Catchment PDF, 2864.62 KB

The Central Area Floodplain Committee provides advice to Council about issues in the Fairy and Cabbage Tree Creeks Catchment area.

A Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan for this catchment were completed in 2010 following a Flood Study in 2009. These studies were jointly funded by Council and the NSW Government.

When Council’s Conduit Blockage Policy was updated in 2016, the Flood Study was updated to take into account this Policy and recent development in the area.

Council recently completed the update of the Flood Study (2020) which provides the most up-to-date information on flooding for the catchment.

Following the 2020 Flood Study, Council also began the review of the Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan for this catchment. It will identify the flood risk in this area and investigate and recommend a range of flood mitigation measures. We will consult the community about these measures during the public exhibition of the draft report.

You can read the 2009 Flood Study and 2010 Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan in the Documents section of this page.

For information about the Flood Study review, email or call us on (02) 4227 7111.

Current Works and Projects

There are currently no works in this catchment

Debris Control Structures

13 debris control structures have been built in this catchment. Some have been built by Council, and others by Transport for NSW. Other debris control structures are being reviewed in the ongoing Flood Risk Management Study and Plan.

McMahons Street detention basin

We’ve engaged a consultant to design a detention basin to reduce downstream flood levels. Detailed designs and construction will be done at a later date to be advised.

Keiraville Public School floodway

Our studies suggest that a floodway at Keiraville Public School could help to reduce flooding downstream. More investigation is needed to confirm how this would impact the school and the environment, and whether it would be cost effective.

Hopewood Crescent culvert upgrade

We looked into creating a culvert on Hopewood Crescent to reduce downstream flood levels. However, we would need to buy three properties for this to go ahead. The costs are not viable at the moment so this project is on hold.

Dawson Street culvert upgrade

An investigation found that upsizing the culvert at this location results in little overall benefit except for very frequent events. Because of this, the concept of increasing the capacity of the culvert was not supported. However, it was also found that the roadway is currently under significant flood hazard.

Council is investigating options to install flood warning measures at this location under a city-wide approach for managing flood risk on the roads.

Voluntary Purchase

We bought and cleared 25 high flood risk properties in this catchment after the August 1998 flood.

You can help our research and planning for floods in this catchment by sharing your past experiences.

If you have photos or other information about flooding on your property, please contact us.

You can view flood study documents for this catchment on the NSW Flood Data Portal: