[2] Dr Charles Throsby used the coastal Illawarra grasslands as cattle fodder in 1815, opening the area to European settlement.

He focused his herd behind the fresh water lagoon, then situated at the junction of the current day Harbour and Smith Streets where he built a stockman's hut and cattle yards.

[2][3]: 17–18 In 1834 Surveyor General Major Thomas Mitchell surveyed the town with the centrepiece of land devoted to the Church of England.

A focus of community activity and endeavour throughout that growth, the church has substantially contributed to the character of the township that was to become New South Wales' third largest city, and one of the main industrial centres of Australia.

The town was transformed from a focus on the wharves to one on the railway and began to expand away from St Michael's central position.

Despite the hardship of the times – the 1890s had brought years of depression to Australia – and no funds, the church bowed to the pressure and built the rectory in 1893–1894.

[2] By the turn of the century a smelting works and number of coke oven batteries were opened and the town's population rose from 1635 in 1881 to 3545 in 1901 (an average growth rate of 3.9%).

A state military funeral was held at St Michael's for Major MacCabe, who died rescuing trapped miners.

[2] Irvine's successor entered at the end of the term of the great administrator, Bishop Saumarez Smith's 19 years as Archbishop.

The incoming Reverend Lampard was regarded as something of an "extreme" Evangelical by the Anglo-Catholic group of the "Church Association", sufficiently so to motivate them to warn the congregation of St Michael's before his arrival.

He found Reverend Knox, an outspoken Evangelical who had spent 10 years ministering in the High Church world of Adelaide.

A highly intelligent and fine expository speaker, Knox confounded Wright's strategy by exchanging parishes with Reverend Walker of Chatswood in 1924, which led him to a leading role in Diocesan affairs.

Knox initiated the second hall on the Wollongong site and whilst gathering funds found he was losing the struggle against inertia to achieve its completion before he left.

The site was consciously set apart in Mitchell's survey plan and this subdivision and development was a disturbing change to the urban environment of the historical part of Wollongong.

Funded by the lease of the service station, the most obvious change was the blonde brick kindergarten extension to the 1925 hall, originally built as a space to hold regional gatherings.

[10][2] The remarkably intact church building became a Cathedral at the centre of a regional Anglican Diocese in 1982 and continues its prominent role in the life of the surrounding community.

An international hotel opened in 1983 and major conference facilities were completed in 1989, A leisure precinct was developed along the beachfront, the harbour was redeveloped, cycleways introduced and a heritage trail and drive were promoted in 1988.

The church began to firm up on the idea of selling a portion of the site for a commercial venture, and put in train the necessary feasibility studies.

The Anglican Property Trust objected to the order, stating that in their opinion only the 1859 church was of significance and outlining the commercial proposal at risk.

The Heritage Council in December 1988 modified the order boundaries to suit the development and exempted all buildings except the cathedral and former rectory.

[2][6]: 1 The Conservation Management Plan (CMP) was endorsed subject to conditions by the Heritage Council under delegated authority in October 2003.

[2] The cathedral is sited at the high point of a hill and is visible for some distance along the east and west Market Street axis.

The church is a well proportioned stone Gothic building designed by Edmund Blacket to sit on the commanding hilltop site in the middle of Market Street, Wollongong.

The Victorian Gothic Revival stone building has some aspects that were not typical of the standard rural parish designed by Blacket at the time, including bellcote and strong geometrical planning.

[2] It is located centrally along the Market Street axis on a hilltop and set within a rectangular shaped block of 7,550 square metres (81,300 sq ft).

Records indicate that buildings have taken precedence over landscape to support the growing congregation's operational needs as they developed over time.

Bishops William Broughton, Frederic Barker, and Archbishops Saumarez Smith, John Wright and Howard Mowll all demonstrated a special and personal focus in the leadership and strategy for St Michael's, resulting in a church with strong ties to the Evangelical tradition within the Anglican Church.

The perceptible upgrading of St Michael's importance in the post war period has created associations with some of the leading figures within the denomination.

It has a special association with the retiring Sydney Archbishop Harry Goodhew who was rector, Archdeacon and Bishop of Wollongong.

The building is a high quality and rare example of a Gothic parish church with a developed geometrical base in its symmetry and planning layout.