A full periphery: Wollongong’s green heart
Max McIver Under the morning shadow of Mt. Kiera, at the escarpment’s foot, Wollongong’s Botanic Gardens segues the region's warm rainforests to its bustling beachfront city. But the community hotspot meshes more than just plants and concrete. It’s easy to imagine...
A century of entertainment: The history of Anita’s Theatre
By Laragh Michael and Bella McCann Over the last century, Anita’s Theatre has seen great change, however its significance within the Illawarra has remained intact. At each stage, one thing has stayed the same. The venue has been a significant cultural hub for the...
Tin huts and new beginnings: memories from the Balgownie Migrant Hostel
A feature by Emma Schloeffel and Serena Farrington Tucked between the glass buildings of UOW’s Innovation Campus and the flats of university student accommodation, a couple of curved corrugated tin huts still cling to the earth. They are Nissen huts - relics of a past...
The balancing act of Hill 60
By Maddison Woods and Evie Allen Wind lashes the sandstone slopes of Hill 60. With it comes the taste of salt and iron from the sea and steelworks below. The Illawarra seems to stretch beyond its limits from the high point. The steelworks glimmer, the surf...
The stains of a secret
Two journalists, Wollongong central station, an unresolved murder, and a cacophony of street secrets where only the well-worn carpets of Piccadilly Centre know the answer. On 29 January 1966, Wilhemena Kruger was brutally left disfigured and bound in the Piccadilly...
The heart of the rowl
By Jessica Freeman & Anna Rixon It’s rough. A city built on the back of steel and surf, salt and smoke. From the mountains to the sea, Wollongong shifts as much as the tide sweeps. But there is one little corner that stands the course of time. A place where...
Steel and superstition: uncovering the blast furnace curse
By Ava Ferguson-Leighton and Sarah Pawson On the edge of Port Kembla, a maze of steel pipes and blast furnaces rises against the skyline. For decades, the Illawarra Steelworks have been the backbone of the suburb, but inside its walls, whispers echo of the men who...
The fortress that time forgot
By Caprice Tesoriero and Paige Jenkins Wollongong’s Fort Drummond has lived many lives, transforming alongside the community. Growing and changing as it was needed. A protector. A secret. A home for so many. So why now is it discarded? Left forgotten and...
Returning Home
By Alisa Huseyin and Emily Campbell The rain came without warning. It fell in hard, ruthless sheets, drumming against the dirt streets of early Wollongong. The downpour in 1832, described by some as a great waterspout, filled the lagoons and overflowed into the sea...
FLIGHT
A feature by Giancarlo Gonzales and Hugh Regan There's a polished stretch of hardwood in Wollongong that locals refer to as the ‘back courts’, and that's better known as ‘The Snakepit’. For many years, it was a place where players gathered. An arena that would become...
Talk, talk, talk – from paper to payphone
A feature by Teagan Pritchard and Aimee Yavuzer This is not a death notice. The phone booth belongs to no one and all of us at the same time. There’s no single, most iconic payphone in the Illawarra, but there’s something hidden between every set of perspex panes that...
World Triathlon Championship Finals sweep Wollongong thanks to local volunteers
800 local volunteers helped make last week’s World Triathlon Championship Finals a huge success. Almost 5000 athletes from over 72 countries competed in the triathlon, which took over Wollongong from Wednesday 15th to Sunday 19th October. Australia's Matthew Hauser...