Stanwell Park

Stanwell Park is a northern suburb of Wollongong, the centre of the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The settlement is home to about 1400 people, a dormitory and satellite suburb for commuters to the nearby cities of Sydney and Wollongong, and a popular tourist destination.

For Wikivoyage purposes, this includes greater Stanwell, which includes Stanwell Tops and Otford.

History
Stanwell Park was established on land granted to Matthew John Gibbons in 1824, encompassing the present-day Stanwell Park and Coalcliff. This area was part of the larger northern Illawarra region, known as Bulli. It was originally inhabited by the Wodiwodi Aboriginal clan of the Dharawal (Tharawal) people, it gained historical significance when three shipwrecked sailors survived a challenging coastal journey, with two perishing near the present-day site of Sea Cliff Bridge. Explorer George Bass noted the rich coal seams in the cliffs.

Gibbons placed a convict named John Paid in charge of the Stanwell Park farm, but Paid used the secluded valley as a hideout for a bushranger gang he led under the alias Wolloo Jack. This gang terrorised the Bargo to Liverpool area until Paid and some of his gang members were executed in 1829.

When Governor Lachlan Macquarie visited Stanwell Park in 1822 he remarked that: "On our arrival at the summit of the mountain, we were gratified with a very magnificent bird's eye view of the ocean, the 5 Islands, and of the greater part of the low country of Illawarra ... After feasting our eyes with this grand prospect, we commenced descending the mountain ... The whole face ... is clothed with the largest and finest forest trees I have ever seen in the colony."

The valley continued to attract notable people: Major Sir Thomas Mitchell, one of Australia's best-known explorers built the first house at Stanwell Park; Supreme Court Judge John Fletcher Hargrave later owned and holidayed in the area, his inheritance coming to Lawrence Hargrave, one of the world's most important aviation pioneers of the 1890s in the lead-up to powered man flight. He performed his most important experiments at Stanwell Park. Lawrence Hargrave moved to Hillcrest House, having inherited it from his brother Ralph Hargrave, in 1893. It is on the road up to the Stanwell Park railway station.

Landscape
Stanwell Park is decently hilly. However, this is not the case in whichever direction you come from. Rather, the terrain is pretty steep, and often cyclists are asked to dismount when going uphill. However, there is a narrow 40 m stretch to the south where the road passes through, it is a lot less steeper, but all the roads to the west can't be seen – due to the hills.

By car
From Princes Motorway (M1), exit onto Lawrence Hargrave Drive and follow it for 10 mins.

By train
is the only station within Stanwell Park. The closest other stations are either in Otford or Coalcliff, all of which are served by the South Coast Line (SCO) between Port Kembla or Kiama (both branches of SCO stop here) and Bondi Junction.

Get around
Most of the area in Stanwell Park is walkable. TfNSW bus route 15 connects Stanwell Tops to Stanwell Park Station and Helensburgh.

Go next

 * Royal National Park
 * Helensburgh (New South Wales)