Under editor Peter Cullen, the Mercury was jocularly known as The Mockery among Illawarra residents for its poor copy editing, resulting in frequent typographical errors.

The Mercury has had several Walkley Award winners on staff, most recently journalists Mario Christodoulou (2008), Nicole Hasham and Laurel-Lee Roderick (2010), and photographer Sylvia Liber (2014).

[1] One of the significant events of the newspaper includes the amalgamation with the Bulli Times and Port Kembla Pilot in February 1949.

[8] In 1981 the Illawarra Mercury acquired a new offset press that allowed the newspaper to be brought to life in full colour.

[10] In 2012 Fairfax relocated the editorial production, involving subeditors and page layout, of Illawarra Mercury to New Zealand.

[12] In 2004 the Illawarra Mercury won the Walkley Award for Investigative Journalism and the Pacific Area Newspapers Publishers’ Association Marketing prize.

[1] Its editorial cartoonist, Vince O'Farrell, has won international awards for his work - his cartoon immediately after the 11 September 2001 attacks depicting tears rolling down the Statue of Liberty's cheeks is one example.