{{Use Australian English|date=August 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox Australian place | type = suburb | name = Bellambi | city = Wollongong | state = nsw | image = Former Port Bellambi - Looking south in Nov. 2020.jpg | caption = Former site of the South Bulli coal jetty on the northern side of Bellambi Point | lga = City of Wollongong | postcode = 2518 | coordinates = {{coord|34|22|S|150|55|E|display=inline,title}} | est = | pop = 4,039 | pop_year = {{CensusAU|2021}} | pop_footnotes = <ref name = Census>{{Census 2021 AUS|id=SAL10264|name=Bellambi (State Suburb)|quick=on|access-date=20 July 2024}}</ref> | area = | stategov = Keira | fedgov = Cunningham | elevation= 10 | elevation_footnotes = <ref name="climate">{{cite web |url = http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_068228_All.shtml |title = Bellambi AWS Climate Statistics (1988-2025) |publisher = Bureau of Meteorology |access-date = January 23, 2026}} </ref> | maxtemp = 21.5 | maxtemp_footnotes = <ref name="climate"/> | mintemp = 14.8 | mintemp_footnotes = <ref name="climate"/> | rainfall = 1146.2 | rainfall_footnotes = <ref name="climate"/> | near-nw = Russell Vale | near-n = Woonona | near-ne = | near-w = | near-e = | near-sw = Corrimal | near-s = East Corrimal | near-se = | dist1 = 77 | location1 = Sydney | dist2 = 8 | location2 = Wollongong }}
'''Bellambi''' ({{IPAc-en|b|ɛ|l|æ|m|b|i}}) is a suburb of Wollongong in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It has a railway station (opened 1889)<ref>{{cite web | publisher = www.nswrail.net | title=South Coast Line | url = http://www.nswrail.net/lines/show.php?name=NSW:south_coast |access-date = 2006-11-29 }}</ref> on the NSW TrainLink South Coast Line.
Bellambi is situated directly north of Corrimal and east of Russell Vale. It has a beach, Bellambi Beach, on the Wollongong to Thirroul Bike Track.
Bellambi lies on the flat northern Illawarra coastal plain, with views of the escarpment to the west, one of note being Broker's Nose, 440 metres high. To the east is Bellambi Beach and a creek inlet in a reserve, and to the south of the inlet is Bellambi Harbour (formerly known as Port Bellambi) and Bellambi Point.
The original jetty was constructed in 1858. On 28 August 1862 a telegraph line was constructed between Wollongong and Bellambi. In 1863 a second jetty was built at the harbour. In 1887 a new jetty was constructed at Bellambi Bay. In 1927 the Bellambi Mines Rescue Station was established. The public school was opened in 1956. In 1965 the rock pool was under construction.<ref>[http://www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/library/localinfo/corrimal/history.html Corrimal History<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060919143211/http://www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/library/localinfo/corrimal/history.html |date=September 19, 2006 }}</ref>
==Bellambi Point== Bellambi Point incorporates Bellambi Lagoon Reserve, a protected area mostly forested in swamp oaks (casuarina), coastal sclerophyll and saltmarsh. A small hill rises to about ten metres and has recently been fenced off due to erosion. This was a site of sand mining for some time. The site contains dune and wetland vegetation communities, a number of rare plant species and is an important habitat with more than 50 bird species using the site including a pair of White Breasted Sea Eagles. There has been an active Bushcare group at the site since 2003.<ref>[http://environmentfund.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/BellambiLagoon.htm Environment Fund - Bellambi Lagoon] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070830051056/http://environmentfund.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/BellambiLagoon.htm |date=August 30, 2007 }}</ref>
==Aboriginal significance== thumb|Bellambi Point shell middens and sand dunes, looking south-west (1932). This image pre-dates the destruction of the dunes due to sand mining and construction. Note the prolific artefact scatter. Bellambi Point remains a site of considerable significance to indigenous Australians. Whilst still being home to one of the largest shell middens in NSW, much of the archaeological evidence of Aboriginal occupation has been lost or damaged due to three highly destructive phases of development since European colonisation, beginning with the construction of tramways and jetties for coal loading during the late 19th century, followed by large-scale sand mining and the construction of a water treatment plant during the 20th century. Despite this, early records give a tantalising glimpse of the area's rich indigenous history.<ref name="environment.nsw.gov.au">{{cite web | url=https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?id=5062846 | title=State Heritage Inventory | date=22 October 2019 }}</ref>
During December 1860, coal mine owner Thomas Hale began the expansion of coal loading facilities at Bellambi Point, including the extension of a branch tramway, coal platform and other works.<ref>Illawarra Mercury, Friday 14 December 1860, page 3</ref> The following March, whilst workers were cutting down the face of a sand hill to extend the tramway – in the general vicinity of the modern-day swimming pool and carpark – four skulls were uncovered, three fragmented and one complete. "Buried with them were two stone hatchets, in good preservation, and also a curious mass of yellow substance, like amber, that burns and emits a fragrant odour."<ref>The Golden Age – Queanbeyan, 23 March 1861, page 3</ref>
By 1862 there were still "a fair number" of aboriginal people living a traditional lifestyle in the vicinity of Bellambi Point, including at a campsite on the northern side of Towrodgi Creek. It was also local knowledge that skeletons had been “found in the sand-hills” and that there was a "black-fellow's cemetery on the sand banks close to Bellambi Lake."<ref>Illawarra Mercury, Friday 19 September 1924, page 1</ref>
Towards the end of January 1890, a hotel guest from Wollongong was walking about Bellambi Point and came across the upper portion of a human skull protruding from a sand dune. Further investigation revealed most of the large limb-bones, together with portions of the shoulder-bones. The remains showed signs of great age and exposure and were "scaly and brittle". The teeth were perfectly preserved, showing no signs of pre-mortem decay, "with the exception of one incisor missing and appeared to have been so for many years."<ref>Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 15 February 1890, page 383</ref> The contemporary account attributed the remains to be of an Aboriginal due to the apparent age and the missing tooth, considered evidence of a known regional custom of knocking out one of the front teeth, "as a mark of fellowship or a caste distinction, which was performed at a certain age, and admitted the subject to certain rights and privileges."<ref>Illawarra Mercury, Thursday 30 January 1890, page 2</ref>
During the construction of the water treatment plant in 1965, a further burial was uncovered, the remains and artefacts removed – they have since been repatriated. In September, 2012, Bellambi Point was declared an official Aboriginal Place by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, awarding it legal status as a culturally significant site. Negotiations for the remediation of the site are on-going.<ref name="environment.nsw.gov.au"/>
== Port Bellambi == thumb|left|Port Bellambi (1895) thumb|Looking south-east towards Port Bellambi c1890. Both jetties are visible, with difficulty. By the last decade of the 19th century, there were two coal jetties at Bellambi, the South Bulli Jetty named after the mine of the same name and the Bellambi Coal Co. Jetty used by the Model Mine at Woonoona. The South Bulli Jetty built in 1887<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108226424|title=South Bulli Colliery.|date=1887-11-15|work=Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931)|access-date=2018-09-23|pages=4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165225420|title=Opening of the South Bulli Coal Company's Mine.|date=1887-11-19|work=Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912)|access-date=2018-09-23|pages=1100}}</ref><ref name="nla.gov.au2">{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13670011|title=OPENING OF THE SOUTH BULLI COAL COMPANY'S MINE.|date=1887-11-14|work=Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954)|access-date=2018-09-23|pages=8}}</ref> was on Bellambi Beach immediately to the north of Bellambi Point. The Bellambi Coal Co. Jetty (also known as the "Woonoona Jetty") built in 1889<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/library/localinfo/corrimal/history.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060919143211/http://www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/library/localinfo/corrimal/history.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2006-09-19|title=Corrimal History|date=2006-09-19|access-date=2018-11-07}}</ref> was located on a small rocky outcrop just to the north of the South Bulli Jetty. The port had also been the site of an earlier coal jetty completed around 1858 but only used for a relatively short time.
The Bellambi Coal Co. Jetty was damaged in a storm in 1898<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14176875|title=DAMAGE TO THE BELLAMBI JETTY.|date=1898-02-15|work=Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954)|access-date=2018-09-23|pages=5}}</ref> and thereafter all coal went across the South Bulli Jetty.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Transporting the Black Diamond - Book 1|last=Eardley|first=Gifford|publisher=Traction Publications|location=Canberra|pages=47}}</ref>thumb|330x330px|South Bulli Jetty at Port Bellambi c. 1909.Coal was sent from the mines by rail to the jetty. There were two rail tracks on the jetty—a more elevated one for full coal wagons and another lower one for empty wagons—and two loading chutes (one for each hold of a 'sixty-miler'.)<ref name="nla.gov.au2"/> The wagons were separated for tipping. One end of the coal wagon was raised by a steam ram, acting on a wagon axle, tipping the coal through a hinged panel in the other end. The coal then passed through a chute, directly into one hold of the ship moored alongside the jetty.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.illawarra-heritage-trail.com.au/the-jetty-at-bellambi-harbour/|title=Industrial history Mining metallurgy illawarra heritage trail - The Jetty at Bellambi Harbour|website=www.illawarra-heritage-trail.com.au|language=en-gb|access-date=2018-08-21}}</ref> In 1909, six colliers were loaded with a total of 4,500 tons in 14 hours.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15099181|title=RECORD COAL LOADING.|date=1909-07-10|work=Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954)|access-date=2018-09-23|pages=13}}</ref>
Bellambi was a particularly dangerous port. Bellambi Point protected the port from the south but its reef extends 600m to seaward<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://beachsafe.org.au/beach/nsw/wollongong/east-corrimal/bellambi-point|title=Bellambi Point - Beach in East Corrimal Wollongong NSW|website=SLS Beachsafe|language=en|access-date=2018-09-23}}</ref> and was a hazard to shipping. The small 'Stone Fleet' steamer ''Resolute'' was merely passing Bellambi, in 1907, when it became stranded on the reef and broke up.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article103178253|title=Steamer Resolute Ashore on Bellambi Reef.|date=1907-07-17|work=Kiama Independent, and Shoalhaven Advertiser (NSW : 1863 - 1947)|access-date=2020-01-14|pages=2}}</ref>
It was not until 1913, that an electrically-powered occulting light—visible up to 12.9 km to sea—was erected on Bellambi Point to aid shipping.<ref name=":212">{{Cite web|url=http://www.wollongongheritageandstories.com/our-environment/bellambi-lighthouse-lamp|title=Bellambi Lighthouse Lamp {{!}} Wollongong Heritage and Stories|last=www.wisdom.com.au|website=www.wollongongheritageandstories.com|language=en|access-date=2018-09-23}}</ref>
thumb|South Bulli Jetty at Bellambi harbour (1909)A number of 'sixty-milers' came to grief there. The 'sixty-milers' wrecked on the reef at Bellambi include, ''Llewellyn'' (1882), ''Adinga'' (1896) and ''Saxonia'' (1898).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flotilla-australia.com/coal.htm|title=FLOTILLA AUSTRALIA|website=www.flotilla-australia.com|access-date=2018-09-22|archive-date=29 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929233509/https://www.flotilla-australia.com/coal.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The last 'sixty-miler' to be wrecked there was the ''s.s. Munmorah,'' which ran aground on the reef in 1949.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.afloat.com.au/afloat-magazine/2008/may-2008/SS_Munmorah#.W6Lxm-V1PIU|title=SS Munmorah - Ballambi Reef's Last Victim by Neil Bramsen|website=www.afloat.com.au|access-date=2018-09-20|archive-date=10 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010011208/http://www.afloat.com.au/afloat-magazine/2008/may-2008/SS_Munmorah#.W6Lxm-V1PIU|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Court of Marine Inquiry into the loss of the ''Munmorah'' was not satisfied that the occulting light was on at the time of the stranding.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article134465860|title=Marine Court Doubts Whether Light Was On|date=1949-07-01|work=Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954)|access-date=2019-03-06|pages=3}}</ref> The reef also claimed a number of ships on interstate runs. In total, twelve ships were wrecked at Bellambi between 1859 and 1949; seven of these ships went aground on the reef.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/heritagebranch/maritime/shipwrecksbellambi.pdf|title=Shipwrecks Bellambi}}</ref> The boiler of the last ship to be wrecked on the reef, the ''SS Munmorah'' in 1949, is still visible at low tide.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.afloat.com.au/afloat-magazine/2008/may-2008/SS_Munmorah#.XQWa_MTVLIU|title=SS Munmorah - Ballambi Reef's Last Victim by Neil Bramsen|website=www.afloat.com.au|access-date=2019-06-16}}</ref>
The South Bulli Jetty operated until 1952. The light to aid shipping was decommissioned on 1 March 1954.<ref name=":212"/> The jetty partially collapsed in 1955 and was demolished in 1970.
== Geography == === Climate === Bellambi experiences a humid subtropical climate bordering on an oceanic climate (Köppen: ''Cfa/Cfb'') with very warm, wetter summers and mild, drier winters.<ref>{{Cite web |url = http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/maps/averages/climate-classification/?maptype=kpn |title = Climate classification maps: Köppen - all classes |publisher = Bureau of Meteorology |access-date = January 23, 2026}}</ref> The wettest recorded day was 18 August 1988 with {{convert|240.0|mm|in|abbr=on}} of rainfall. Extreme temperatures ranged from {{convert|43.7|C}} on 1 January 2006 to {{convert|4.1|C}} on 17 July 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.farmonlineweather.com.au/climate/station.jsp?lt=site&lc=68228 |title = Bellambi AWS Climate (1949-2025) |website = FarmOnline Weather |publisher = Australian Community Media |access-date = January 23, 2026}}</ref>
{{Weather box |location = Bellambi ({{coord|34.37|S|150.93|E}}) ({{convert|10|m|ft|abbr=on}} AMSL) (1988-2025) |metric first = Yes |single line = Yes |Jan record high C = 43.7 |Feb record high C = 39.5 |Mar record high C = 38.4 |Apr record high C = 32.2 |May record high C = 28.0 |Jun record high C = 24.4 |Jul record high C = 26.8 |Aug record high C = 30.2 |Sep record high C = 33.9 |Oct record high C = 37.7 |Nov record high C = 39.8 |Dec record high C = 38.3 |Jan high C = 25.0 |Feb high C = 24.9 |Mar high C = 24.1 |Apr high C = 22.4 |May high C = 19.9 |Jun high C = 17.7 |Jul high C = 17.2 |Aug high C = 18.2 |Sep high C = 20.3 |Oct high C = 21.7 |Nov high C = 22.4 |Dec high C = 24.0 |Jan low C = 19.2 |Feb low C = 19.2 |Mar low C = 18.2 |Apr low C = 15.7 |May low C = 13.1 |Jun low C = 11.1 |Jul low C = 10.2 |Aug low C = 10.7 |Sep low C = 12.5 |Oct low C = 14.1 |Nov low C = 15.8 |Dec low C = 17.5 |Jan record low C = 12.8 |Feb record low C = 13.1 |Mar record low C = 10.9 |Apr record low C = 9.0 |May record low C = 6.0 |Jun record low C = 5.4 |Jul record low C = 4.1 |Aug record low C = 5.3 |Sep record low C = 6.2 |Oct record low C = 6.1 |Nov record low C = 8.9 |Dec record low C = 10.8 |precipitation colour = green |Jan precipitation mm = 86.7 |Feb precipitation mm = 150.5 |Mar precipitation mm = 123.5 |Apr precipitation mm = 103.5 |May precipitation mm = 85.0 |Jun precipitation mm = 111.0 |Jul precipitation mm = 87.1 |Aug precipitation mm = 88.5 |Sep precipitation mm = 62.5 |Oct precipitation mm = 78.1 |Nov precipitation mm = 100.6 |Dec precipitation mm = 75.6 |year precipitation mm = 1146.2 |unit precipitation days = 0.2 mm |Jan precipitation days = 12.7 |Feb precipitation days = 13.6 |Mar precipitation days = 13.8 |Apr precipitation days = 10.3 |May precipitation days = 9.1 |Jun precipitation days = 10.1 |Jul precipitation days = 8.7 |Aug precipitation days = 8.0 |Sep precipitation days = 9.0 |Oct precipitation days = 11.2 |Nov precipitation days = 12.1 |Dec precipitation days = 11.9 |Jan afthumidity = 72 |Feb afthumidity = 74 |Mar afthumidity = 70 |Apr afthumidity = 67 |May afthumidity = 61 |Jun afthumidity = 59 |Jul afthumidity = 56 |Aug afthumidity = 54 |Sep afthumidity = 61 |Oct afthumidity = 64 |Nov afthumidity = 70 |Dec afthumidity = 69 |Jan dew point C = 17.4 |Feb dew point C = 18.2 |Mar dew point C = 16.6 |Apr dew point C = 13.9 |May dew point C = 10.3 |Jun dew point C = 7.8 |Jul dew point C = 6.3 |Aug dew point C = 6.4 |Sep dew point C = 9.5 |Oct dew point C = 11.2 |Nov dew point C = 14.0 |Dec dew point C = 15.6 |source = Bureau of Meteorology (1988-2025)<ref name="climate"/> }}
==Population== According to the {{CensusAU|2021}} of Population, there were 4,039 people in Bellambi. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 8.1% of the population. * 73.1% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was England at 4.0%. * 80.9% of people only spoke English at home. * The most common responses for religion were No Religion 41.2%, Catholic 19.5% and Anglican 12.8%.<ref name = Census/>
== See also == * Coastal coal-carrying trade of New South Wales
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Wollongong suburbs}}
Category:Suburbs of Wollongong Category:1858 establishments in Australia