NSWFarming
Dapto
A dairy village that followed the railway south.
1834Inn moves to Mullet Creek
WHAT STARTED IT
The fertile flats along Mullet Creek, west of Lake Illawarra, drew farmers, and in 1834 George Brown moved his Ship Inn from Wollongong to Mullet Creek Farm, giving the district its first village. Dairying followed, and once the railway came, milk and butter went out by train.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
When the railway opened in 1887 the station was built south of the old village, now Brownsville, and the town centre moved to meet it. A smelting works on Lake Illawarra, employing up to 500 people, made Dapto the most valuable station on the Illawarra line by 1903, until the works closed in 1905.
TURNING POINTS
1834George Brown moves the Ship Inn from Wollongong to Mullet Creek Farm, the core of the first village.
1887The railway from Wollongong reaches Dapto on 9 November.
1899The Smelting Company of Australia’s works near Lake Illawarra reach full production.
1905The smelting works close after competition cuts off their ore supply.
1993Electric trains reach Dapto, which serves as the change point for diesel services south until 2001.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A large suburb of Wollongong on the western side of Lake Illawarra. Its heritage-listed 1887 station building still stands; electric trains reached Dapto in 1993, and it was the end of the electric line until electrification reached Kiama in 2001.