[2][1] European occupation dates from 1815 when Dr. Charles Throsby and his stockman herded cattle from Glenfield via Appin and down the escarpment at Bulli and established grazing grounds near the present Harbour.

Vessels would stand off from the beach and shipments of supplies and produce and timber destined for the Sydney market would be transferred by small flat bottomed boats or floated out.

[1] In 1829, the regiment that had been stationed at Red Point, south of the present day Port Kembla, was relocated to the Boat Harbour at Brighton Beach together with the convicts under their command.

The construction of government buildings, barracks to accommodate the soldiers, a residence for the commandant and a stockade for the convicts adjacent to the harbour marks the establishment of this area as the main commercial, judicial and administrative centre for Wollongong.

[1] Following a visit to the Illawarra in April 1834,Governor Bourke proclaimed the town of Wollongong as surveyed by the Surveyor General of New South Wales Major Thomas Mitchell.

[1] Mooring chains were laid across the bay to Brighton Beach in 1839 to provide safe anchorage for vessels up to 300 tons during the construction of the Basin.

[1] The bases of the sea walls are keyed into the parent rock and the blocks of stone were laid on a thin lime mortar bed and joints.

Non-selected rubble was compacted behind the newly constructed walls and in the case of the Central Pier it was founded in part on laid dimension stone.

Final adjustments to the facing walls were made using a diving bell that had been brought from England to be used in the construction of the semi-circular quay in Sydney Harbour.

[1] The growing need for sea transport capable of handling large volumes of bulk cargo was reflected in developments at Wollongong Harbour, which was the only public shipping place north of Shellharbour.

In 1856 a timber jetty was constructed westward from the quay on the southern side of what is now Belmore Basin to accommodate the rapidly increasing traffic, but this proved only a temporary expedient.

The screw steamer SS Illawarra was too big to berth in the basin and in 1858 a petition for improved and enlarged harbour facilities, essentially to provide for the prospect of a large coal trade, was presented to the Governor Sir William Denison.

In July that year, Denison and Edward Orpen Moriarty, the NSW Department of Public Works Engineer in Chief for Harbours and River Navigation visited Wollongong to inspect the port.

To meet the berthing requirements of larger ships that had a deeper draught, Parliament was asked, in 1866, for £10,000 to allow the Basin to be deepened to 18 feet [at low water].

The surplus fill was used to reclaim the area behind the Quay wall and east of the Central Pier, the start of what was to become the Lighthouse Breakwater and local roadworks.

[1] A timber T jetty designed and constructed by the NSW Department of Public Works was built in 1880 to increase the harbour's cargo handling capacity.

Colonel Scratchley and Commander Howard RN reported that enemy cruisers could steam off the coast out of range of obsolete weapons and demand bunker coal from ports such as Newcastle and Wollongong in return for not bombarding them.

[1] The Signal Hill emplacement was built in 1890 and had a battery of one Vickers Armstrong Mark V 6 inch breech loading hydro-pneumatic disappearing gun that was located in a deep circular pit.

However, the escalating activity at the harbour reduced the public amenity of the area and was a contributing factor in the move of the town focus to Market Square in the 1870s and subsequently to Crown Street in the 1880s when the government railway came to Wollongong.

Earlier in 1885, the NSW Government had sought the advice of the British engineer Sir John Coode, a leading authority on harbour design and construction who had visited Wollongong in 1885.

Hardwood timber was sourced from the NSW South Coast – ironbark from Pebbly Beach and spotted gum from Termeil was carried by sea to Wollongong aboard the wooden steamer ss Our Elsie – and kauri pine, for top-sides and decking, from New Zealand.

[1] This feature comprises a substantial concrete pedestal and an embedded forged iron support column that is isolated in an embayment of the Outer Harbour.

[1] Situated south of the Harbour Street and Cliff Road intersection within the former Government Reserve established in 1833, is the 1858 brick and stone Court House building.

The weatherboard Customs Office, dating from c 1880, was relocated from Brighton Lawn to the former Government Reserve in 1887 and moved again to its present location at the southern edge of the site in 1938 to allow for extensions to the Old Court House.

The route proposed was to run an incline from the mine over Fairy Creek to North Wollongong Beach and then along the coast and the base of the cliff to Belmore Basin.

[1] The old courthouse is one of the earliest designed and built by the newly reorganised Colonial Architect's office after self-government in 1856; its design is repeated in other district court houses; The fortifications were the southernmost of the colony's defences that covered the major centres of Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong and are representative of defence strategy and technology of the late 19th century; The bee-hive coke ovens are the only intact examples of their type remaining in NSW.

[1] The additions alterations to the harbour which formed the Belmore Basin and the development over the years of infrastructure in the precinct such as the coal loading apparatus, rail lines, coke ovens, clearly demonstrates the Harbour precincts role in the development of Wollongong and the Illawarra and its coal industry as well as agricultural and natural resource industries.

[1] The changing role of the Harbour, from an important transportation node for industry to that of the home of the Illawarra fishing fleet is also documented in the fabric of the precinct.

[1] The first Colonial Engineer, Captain George Barney was responsible for the design and construction supervision of the original harbour, central pier and basin wall.

The Wollongong Harbour is of State heritage significance for its research potential in providing an insight into the operation of a Colonial and early 20th Century shipping port and the infrastructure required to support a burgeoning produce and coal industries.