NSWRail & telegraph
Thirroul
A coal-coast village that became a railway town.
1887Railway station opens as Robbinsville
WHAT STARTED IT
Permanent settlers took up the hills on this narrow strip between the escarpment and the sea from the late 1860s, keeping off the swampy, flood-prone land by the beach. The Illawarra railway gave the village a station in 1887 and a direct link to Sydney the following year.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Known as North Bulli and then Robbinsville, the town took the name Thirroul in the early 1890s. A large locomotive depot opened in 1917 and made the town a railway centre, and D. H. Lawrence wrote his novel Kangaroo here in 1922.
TURNING POINTS
1887The railway station opens on 21 June under the name Robbinsville.
1888The railway to Sydney is completed, bringing new residents and visitors.
1891The station is renamed Thirroul; the name is officially adopted for the town soon after.
1917The Thirroul locomotive depot opens.
1922D. H. Lawrence stays at Wyewurk and writes Kangaroo.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A seaside suburb of Wollongong, 13 kilometres north of the city. The heritage-listed station and 1921 Railway Institute building recall the depot, which closed in the mid-1960s.