Primbee is a small suburb of

Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') 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 water' or 'sound ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is located on the northern end of the Windang Peninsula separating

Lake Illawarra Lake Illawarra (Australian Aboriginal languages, Aboriginal Tharawal language: various adaptions of ''Elouera'', ''Eloura'', or ''Allowrie''; ''Illa'', ''Wurra'', or ''Warra'' meaning pleasant place near the sea, or, high place near the sea, or, ...

and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. Primbee is close to Windang and Warrawong in the Illawarra. It was originally referred to as “The Lake Suburb” until formally being named as Primbee. It is sometimes referred to as "The Upper Peninsula" or "The Upper Island". The latter refers to a local legend that there was once a second entrance to

located between Primbee and Kemblawarra Industrial Park.

History

The source of the name Primbee is uncertain. Farms in the area were owned in the 1860s by James Stewart, David James and Thomas Griffin. An 1893 map for the Parish of Wollongong shows the bay off Purry Burry Point as Primbee Bay. The area was subdivided and the land was offered for sale in 1919, not as Primbee but as "The Lake Suburb". One resident of the area in the 1920s recalled that "I came to Primbee in 1920... My parents were one of the first to buy property, when the estate was cut up. It was called Lake Suburb Estate at the time. I don't known how it came to be called Primbee. No one here was asked or told. It just came." The local public school (Primbee Public School) was established in 1938. The

principal Principal may refer to: Title or rank * Principal (academia), the chief executive of a university ** Principal (education), the head of a school * Principal (civil service) or principal officer, the senior management level in the UK Civil Ser ...

as of 2013 is Dorothy Cass. It had an enrolment of 80 students covering

Kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

Year 6 Year 6 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including Japan, most of Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It is usually the sixth year of compulsory education and incorporates students aged between ten and eleven. It is genera ...

at the beginning of 2011.

References

Suburbs of Wollongong {{Wollongong-geo-stub