Stanwell Park
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Stanwell Park is a coastal village and northern suburb of
Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wa ...
, New South Wales, Australia. It is the northernmost point of the
Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollongo ...
coastal strip and lies south of Sydney's
Royal National Park The Royal National Park is a protected national park that is located in Sutherland Shire in the Australian state of New South Wales, just south of Sydney. The national park is about south of the Sydney central business district near the loca ...
. It is situated in a small valley between Bald Hill to the north, Stanwell Tops to the west and Mount Mitchell to the south. It has two lagoons from the village's two creeks, Stanwell and Hargrave Creeks and a beach running between headlands. Stanwell Park and the surrounding suburbs are colloquially referred to by its postcode 2508.


History

Stanwell Park was the name given to the farm established on the grant given to Matthew John Gibbons in 1824. He was given most of the area called ''Little Bulli'' which included present-day Stanwell Park and
Coalcliff Coalcliff is a town on the coast of New South Wales, Australia, between Sydney and Wollongong. History In 1796 William Clark and others trekking north to Port Jackson from the wrecked ship '' Sydney Cove'' noticed coal exposed at the cliffs ...
. The whole of Northern Illawarra went under the Aboriginal name Bulli. Bulli remains the name of an Illawarra suburb further south of Stanwell Park. The area was originally inhabited by the Wodiwodi Aboriginal clan of the
Tharawal The Dharawal people, also spelt Tharawal and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people, identified by the Dharawal language. Traditionally, they lived as hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans with ties of kinship, s ...
people. It was traversed by 3 shipwrecked sailors in an epic journey of survival along hundreds of miles of coastline until rescued at Wattamolla, north of Stanwell Park. Two of their companions were unable to negotiate the Coal Cliffs where the
Sea Cliff Bridge The Sea Cliff Bridge, together with the adjoining Lawrence Hargrave Drive Bridge, are two road bridges that carry the scenic Lawrence Hargrave Drive across the rockface on the Illawarra escarpment, located in the northern Illawarra region of New ...
is today, and their remains were found by explorer
George Bass George Bass (; 30 January 1771 – after 5 February 1803) was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia. Early years Bass was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George ...
, who also reported on the rich coal seam apparent in the cliffs. Mr Gibbons installed a convict, John Paid, to manage the Stanwell Park farm. Paid however used the out-of-the-way valley as a hideout for a gang of bushrangers he formed. He adopted the name of Wolloo Jack and his gang terrorised the
Bargo Bargo is a town in the Macarthur Region, New South Wales, Australia, in the Wollondilly Shire. It is approximately 100 km south west of Sydney. It is situated between the township of Tahmoor (north) and the village of Yanderra (south) ...
to
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
area until he and others of the gang were sent to the gallows in 1829. When Governor Lachlan Macquarie visited Stanwell Park in 1822 he remarked that: "On our arrival at the summit of the mountain, we were gratified with a very magnificent bird's eye view of the ocean, the 5 Islands, and of the greater part of the low country of Illawarra ... After feasting our eyes with this grand prospect, we commenced descending the mountain ... The whole face ... is clothed with the largest and finest forest trees I have ever seen in the colony." The valley continued to attract notable people: Major Sir Thomas Mitchell, one of Australia's best-known
explorers Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
built the first house at Stanwell Park; Supreme Court Judge John Fletcher Hargrave later owned and holidayed in the area, his inheritance coming to
Lawrence Hargrave Lawrence Hargrave, MRAeS, (29 January 18506 July 1915) was a British-born Australian engineer, explorer, astronomer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer. Biography Lawrence Hargrave was born in Greenwich, England, the second son of John Fletc ...
, one of the world's most important aviation pioneers of the 1890s in the lead-up to powered man flight. He performed his most important experiments at Stanwell Park. Lawrence Hargrave moved to Hillcrest House, having inherited it from his brother Ralph Hargrave, in 1893. It is on the road up to the Stanwell Park railway station. The land developer,
Henry Halloran Henry Ferdinand Halloran (9 August 1869 – 22 October 1953) was a major property owner and developer in New South Wales in the early part of the twentieth century. Halloran was born in Sydney, his father was a bank clerk and architect named Edw ...
, bought 240 acres of land at Stanwell Park, some of which was resumed by the government for public recreation purposes. He sub-divided the remaining land into building allotments, which he sold to the public from around 1907 to around 1930. The public school was established in 1917. One of the village's most famous attractions is the curved railway viaduct over Stanwell Creek Gorge. It was built in the 1910s when problems with the old railway route forced the construction of a new track higher up the mountainside. At 65 m above the creek bed, surrounded by profuse rainforest vegetation and containing an estimated five million bricks, it is the largest railway viaduct in Australia. In the 1980s a fatal accident occurred on the railway due to cliff erosion. Now ''Stanwell'', or ''The Park'', is home to about 1400 people, a dormitory suburb for commuters to the nearby cities of Sydney and
Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wa ...
, and a popular tourist destination.


Heritage listings

Stanwell Park has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Illawarra railway, 56.727 km: Stanwell Creek railway viaduct


Population

In the 2016 Census, there were 1,410 people in Stanwell Park. 80.9% of people were born in Australia and 89.3% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 38.5%, Catholic 22.5% and Anglican 15.4%.


Activities

The village has a small area of shops and an art gallery on
Lawrence Hargrave Drive Lawrence Hargrave Drive, part of the Grand Pacific Drive, is a scenic coastal road and popular tourist drive connecting the northernmost suburbs of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, to Wollongong, in the south, and Sydney, in the north ...
. Bushwalking is possible on several tracks, most notably the Wodi Wodi Track that climbs Mount Mitchell from the station, and a rather degraded track to Stanwell Tops Lookout, also from the station. Stanwell Park is famous for
paragliding Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or lies supine in a cocoon-like 'p ...
and
hang gliding Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...
activities from Bald Hill down to its beach, which lies nested between high sea cliffs. Rock climbing can be done at Stanwell Tops which offers a view over the village. A feature is the beach with its two lagoons. The Helensburgh-Stanwell Park Surf Life Saving Club ( SLSC) offers beach safety and beach activities such as the
Nippers Nippers are young surf lifesavers, usually aged between 5 and 14 years old, in clubs across Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Unlike senior surf lifesavers, the majority of them do not patrol the beaches. The focus for Nippers tends t ...
on Sundays in summertime. Stanwell Park Arts Theatre, or S.P.A.T (formally Stanwell Park Amateur Theatre) was founded in the early 1970s by Lauren Mitsak, Pam Beckett and others. Joy Weidersatz was the first director. The annual Christmas pantomime is popular, though S.P.A.T puts on all types of shows, including Shakespeare, Satire, musicals, theatre restaurant-style shows, revues, etc. Stanwell Park is serviced by Stanwell Park railway station on the South Coast railway line. The railway bends around the village and crosses Stanwell Creek on a historic brick viaduct. Bald Hill, at the apex of Lawrence Hargrave Drive, takes in the views of the Northern Illawarra and the
escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...
. Whale watching, when in season, captivates many a Sydney
day-tripper A day trip is a visit to a tourist destination or visitor attraction from a person's home, hotel, or hostel in the morning, returning to the same lodging in the evening. The day trip is a form of recreational travel and leisure to a location tha ...
. The spot is also a notable location for DX radio communication due to its southern and eastern vistas.


Attractions

Symbio Wildlife Park Symbio Wildlife Park is a privately owned medium sized zoo located in Helensburgh, New South Wales, south of Sydney and in close proximity to the city of Wollongong. Beginning in 1975 as a native Australian wildlife park, Symbio later expanded it ...
is located on Lawrence Hargrave Drive, near the intersection with the Old Princes Highway, at Stanwell Tops. There are over 1000 native, exotic and farmyard animals in all. It has appeared in a Delta Goodrem music video and several television documentaries and is scheduled to appear in the upcoming film . The gardens includes a café, souvenir shop, and free swimming pools and gas barbecues. Just east of the Symbio Wildlife Gardens, on Lawrence Hargrave Drive, is a turnoff that leads to Sri Venkateswara Hindu Temple. Australia's first Hindu Temple opened on 30 June 1985. It is located in Temple Street on a site. This site was chosen because it fitted the Hindu requirements of a peaceful spot, close to water, elevated, in the bush and on virgin soil. Indian architect Janakiramana Sthapati designed the temple, his family have been temple architects since the sixth century. At Bald Hill is Intabane Mansion, a prominent feature visible from the valley below with a 'witches hat roof', used as an army lookout during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. It was originally built in 1917 for the sum of 3000 pounds and became a guest house between the wars. Another attraction is Kelly's Falls, which includes a viewing platform. Walking tracks include the Stanwell Tops lookout track which runs from Stanwell Park train station up the hillside to the Peace Garden, where there are historic Aboriginal carvings on the trees, and to the Stanwell Tops Lookout. Another track, the Wodi Wodi, Bullock, or Mount Mitchell Track, leads from the former track down to Stanwell Creek, around the viaduct and up Mount Mitchell, then down to the railway and a carpark on Lawrence Hargrave Drive. On the Wodi Wodi track, an aboriginal drawing of a whale can be seen, as well as several middens. Access to Bald Hill from Stanwell Park is available from a track on Chellow Dene Avenue, leading to the top of the hill.


Notable residents

Throughout its history several notable people either originated or spent much of their life in the village. These people have risen to fame through a variety of avenues. * Kalani Ball – A professional surfer who originated from the village. *
Lawrence Hargrave Lawrence Hargrave, MRAeS, (29 January 18506 July 1915) was a British-born Australian engineer, explorer, astronomer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer. Biography Lawrence Hargrave was born in Greenwich, England, the second son of John Fletc ...
– Aviation pioneer who lived in Stanwell Park and completed much of his most famous research and experiments in the village * Joe Hockey – Former Australian treasurer lived in the village * Peter Jackson – Rugby league player and sportscaster


See also

*
Helensburgh Helensburgh (; gd, Baile Eilidh) is an affluent coastal town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local gove ...
* Bald Hill *
Sea Cliff Bridge The Sea Cliff Bridge, together with the adjoining Lawrence Hargrave Drive Bridge, are two road bridges that carry the scenic Lawrence Hargrave Drive across the rockface on the Illawarra escarpment, located in the northern Illawarra region of New ...


References


Citations


Sources


Michael Adams: "Little Bulli: The Pioneering of Stanwell Park and Northern Illawarra Till the 1860s", Cultural Exchange International Pty. Ltd. (2005)



External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060823110943/http://www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/library/localinfo/stanwellpark/ Wollongong City Library – Stanwell Park Local Area Informationbr>Stanwell Park Community Web Portal
{{Wollongong suburbs Suburbs of Wollongong Surf lifesaving Coastal towns in New South Wales City of Wollongong Tourist attractions in Wollongong