birding-aus

Re: Hill 60, Port Kembla

To: Birding-Aus <>
Subject: Re: Hill 60, Port Kembla
From: Paul Taylor <>
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 08:32:27 +1000
The Wollongong City Library web site offers the following information
(http://www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/library/localinfo/portkembla/):

Local attractions

Hill 60 - Military Road

A narrow but well formed established walking track, with a series of
post and rail guards can be found at this interesting and spectacular
spot. The lookout offers views up and down the coast. Just below the
lookout are beaches fished commercially by local Aboriginal fishermen
up until the 1940s. The area has numerous Aboriginal shell middens and
artefacts scattered along its shores. (Catterall, 1994; Dallas, 2000)

The military fortifications found here were built at various times,
and are heritage listed. (See Historic Buildings) The armoury was placed
here to protect this important industrial area, which contributed vitally
needed steel during the war years for weapons and other products of the
war effort. Although there are no longer any large guns here, the
concrete bunkers can be clearly seen. These bunkers are connected to a
series of underground tunnels, and in fact, the area is honeycombed with
tunnels. Unfortunately, construction of the tunnels and fortifications
has contributed to the destruction of many Aboriginal artefacts.
(Ali, 1994; City of Wollongong Heritage Study, 1991)

[snip]

Environment

The general area of Port Kembla is formed on inter-bedded quartz-lithic
sandstone, siltstone and claystone of the Illawarra Coal Measures. The
Coal Measures are exposed at the headlands and rock shores, with coarse
marine quartz Holocene sands. Upon settlement, much of the land was
cleared for grazing and the foreshore of Port Kembla Harbour is based
on disturbed land with introduced rock and soil fill.

On the coastal strip, sand dunes support a variety of native and exotic
vegetation, with Banksia and coastal heath predominating. Hill 60 rises
steeply above Fisherman's Beach to a peak of 71 metres above sea level.
The area around Hill 60 is heavily infested with Lantana and Bitou Bush.
There are a number of active clean up and regeneration groups now working
at restoring the area to its original condition. In particular, the
beaches of the area and Hill 60 are of important archaeological
significance, containing many Aboriginal shell middens and artefacts.
(Dallas, 2000)

-- 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
   Paul Taylor                                  Veni, vidi, tici -
                           I came, I saw, I ticked.
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

To unsubscribe from this mailing list, 
send the message:
unsubscribe 
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 
===============================

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • Re: Hill 60, Port Kembla, Paul Taylor <=
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU