NSWMining
Wongawilli
A thick coal seam under the escarpment fed a Lithgow steelworks.
1916Hoskins buys the Wongawilli mine
WHAT STARTED IT
A tunnel into a thick seam at the foot of the escarpment west of Dapto gave coal that suited coke-making. G. and C. Hoskins bought it in 1916 to supply coke to their Lithgow works and built ovens and a railway line to the South Coast line.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Coke ovens were operating by 1917, and by 1927 there were 105, with a school opened in the church hall near the mine. The colliery passed to BHP and later owners and was merged with nearby mines in 1993.
TURNING POINTS
1916G. and C. Hoskins of Lithgow buy the Wongawilli mine and plan 100 coke ovens.
1917Twenty of the first 40 coke ovens are completed and the incline is ready.
1927Wongawilli Public School opens in the church hall.
1993Wongawilli Colliery is merged with Kemira and Nebo mines as Elouera Colliery.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A semi-rural locality at the foot of the escarpment, now growing fast with new housing in West Dapto. The colliery and the community hall stand on Wongawilli Road.