Located 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Sydney, the City of Wollongong covers 684 square kilometres (264 sq mi) and occupies a narrow coastal strip bordered by the Royal National Park to the north, Lake Illawarra to the south, the Tasman Sea to the east and the Illawarra escarpment to the west.

In excess of 53% of all residents in the City of Wollongong nominated a religious affiliation with Christianity at the 2021 census, which was slightly higher than the national average of 43.9 per cent.

Dr Charles Throsby first established a settlement in the area in 1815, bringing down his cattle from the Southern Highlands to a lagoon of fresh water located near South Beach.

The area's first school was established in 1833, and just one year later the Surveyor-General arrived from Sydney to lay out the township of Wollongong on property owned by Charles Throsby-Smith.

[12] The Municipalities Act 1858 (NSW),[13] which gave the councils more authority and which allowed for residents to petition for incorporation of areas and also to elect councillors, met with somewhat greater success.

On 22 February 1859, the Municipality of Wollongong, with an area of 8 square kilometres (3 sq mi) and a population of 1,200, became the first to be proclaimed under the Act in New South Wales, with 114 residents in favour and none against.

The first, on 19 August 1859, was the Central Illawarra Municipality, which extended over 339.5 square kilometres (131.1 sq mi) from Unanderra (west of Wollongong) to Macquarie Rivulet, and had a population of 2,500.

After an unsuccessful attempt by Wollongong to claim the area, the region from Fairy Meadow to Bellambi separately incorporated as North Illawarra on 26 October 1868.

In February 2008, both elected officers and staff of Wollongong City Council were the centre of a major Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) inquiry.

[19] On 4 March 2008, following recommendations from Commissioner Jerrold Cripps QC, the Minister for Local Government requested the Governor of New South Wales to dismiss the council and install a panel of administrators (Gabrielle Kibble, Dr Colin Gellatly and Robert McGregor[20]) for four years[21] citing clear evidence of systemic corruption in council.

[22] In October 2008, the ICAC referred briefs of evidence in relation to all eleven persons found to have acted corruptly to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

After considering the evidence available, the DPP commenced action and was successful in recording convictions for three of the eleven people ICAC found to have acted in a corrupt manner.

Ann Martin, Labor, who had previously held a seat on Wollongong Council, was resoundingly elected, with just under 50% of the primary vote.