NSWMining
Coledale
A company coal town laid out between the railway and the surf.
1903North Bulli Colliery opens and township lots are sold
WHAT STARTED IT
The Bulli seam outcrops in the escarpment here, and the Illawarra railway ran right through the colliery’s leasehold. A township was laid out on the narrow flat between the line and the sea, beside the company’s station.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
The North Bulli Colliery opened in 1903 with an incline down to railway sidings, and electric coal-cutters and coke ovens followed within two years. Hospital, schools and churches grew up around it before the colliery closed in 1926.
TURNING POINTS
1889A first mine opens nearby but is abandoned because of underground water.
1902A railway platform with a post and telegraph office opens under the name Coledale.
1903The North Bulli Colliery opens, and village lots are auctioned on 7 November.
1905Coke works are built and electric coal-cutting machines are at work in the mine.
1926The North Bulli Colliery closes.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A small coastal village of about 1,400 people, with a surf beach, the hospital that opened in 1915, and commuters on the South Coast line.