Smaller villages like Burradoo, Sutton Forest, Colo Vale, Avoca, Yerrinbool, Exeter, Welby and many more that make up the Wingecarribee Shire are spread in between and around these main centres and serve mostly as residential areas.

[3] Like other regions along this plateau such as the Blue Mountains to the north and the Australian Alps to the south, the Southern Highlands is known for its cool temperate climate.

The Southern Highland's council, Wingecarribee Shire, is home to about 44,379 (2006) residents and is growing at a rate of 2.1% per annum.

The museum is located adjacent to Bradman Oval where the Australian Cricket Team play a friendly game annually.

The Fitroy Falls reserve offers lookouts of the waterfall and of panoramic views of the Morton National Park.

Moreover, 500m of the 1500m walk is 25m high among the Blackwoods and many other trees of the temperate rainforest of the Budderoo National Park and Illawarra Escarpment.

The town was established in the 1870s by the Australian Kerosene Oil and Mineral Company as Joadja valley's walls contained a vast reserve of shale.

[8] Joadja at its height had a post office, theatre, general store, bakery, school of arts, refinery, railway line, miner's cottages and many other buildings.

Today, the Joadja Distillery produces Single Malt Whisky in honour of the Scottish mining families who worked the rich coal and shale seams in the late 1800s.

The Hotel boasted a nine-hole golf course, two tennis courts, croquet, lawn bowls, billiards, fishing, hunting, horseback riding, and an onsite mechanic who looked after guest's cars during their stay.

The Highlands in the last decade has become a small yet significantly growing wine and cellar door region in New South Wales.

It is believed that temperate climate, high annual rainfall as well as quality basalt soil makes it a perfect[citation needed] place for viticulture.

There they meet shepherds minding their flocks, potters, carpenters, stonemasons and copper-smiths at work, the wise men searching for the saviour, villagers selling their wares in the marketplace, before finally seeing Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in the stable.

Run by Mittagong Anglican Church (St. Stephen's), the event is held every second year in December, usually the week before Christmas.