Wollongong

Postcode: 2500

Wollongong is the 3rd largest city in the state of New South Wales, Australia, after Sydney and Newcastle. It is also a Local Government Area administered by the Wollongong City Council. It is located on the eastern coast of Australia, 82 kilometres (52 mi) south of Sydney in an area known as the Illawarra and has a metropolitan population of 274,072 (2004). Wollongong is connected to Sydney through a scenic road and rail route which takes between 90 and 120 minutes and via main roads, taking between 70 and 90 minutes.

The name Wollongong is generally said to mean "sound of the sea" in the local Aboriginal language, although other explanations have been offered, such as "great feast of fish".

Known affectionately as "the Gong", Wollongong is a town with a long history of mining and industry, having coal mines, steelworks and an industrial port. The city is also a regional centre for the South Coast fishing industry. It has a university, the University of Wollongong, which attracts a great number of international students each year. It has two Regional Cathedrals, and numerous churches of many denominations including the well-known land-mark, the Nan Tien Buddhist Temple, the largest in the Southern hemisphere.

The City of Wollongong has a distinct geography. It lies on a narrow coastal plain flanked by the Pacific Ocean to the east and a steep sandstone precipice known as the Illawarra Escarpment to the west, most notably the almost separate mountain, Mount Keira. The coastal plain is widest in the south and narrowest in the north. Despite being on a plain there are many hills within it, most notably and closest to Wollongong these include the hill mass west of the railway of Mount Mangerton and Mount Saint Thomas which gives a distinct character to the town, Church Hill and Smith's Hill in the CBD and just north in the high-rise apartment district west of the harbour, Flagstaff Hill at Flagstaff Point, Cobblers Hill to the southwest of Figtree, Flagstaff Hill and Cringila Hill to the south, part of a ridge of hills known as Woonwongarang extending from Mount Kembla, and Hospital Hill to the west, north of a small valley separating it from Mount Mangerton. These hills do not generally exceed a hundred metres in height. Mount Keira road, the first and still used pass over the escarpment and past the mountain of that name, follows a low ridge from Hospital Hill, on top of which the Wollongong Hospital is situated. The plain is much lower than the escarpment, but contains many low hills and small individual valleys, which gives the city a distinct and interesting mix of altitude. Mangerton and St Thomas both have small areas of bushland reserve, but littering and illegal bikeriding have become a problem.

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