Avondale - NSW

Avondale is a locality just west of Lake Illawarra and about 20km south-west of Wollongong.

In the early days Avondale had some fine cedar trees. In 1857 some traces of kerosene were found in the creek and shale was found on the mountain. This led to development of a shale mining operation in 1863.

In 1911 the Avondale coal mine was opened by the Illawarra Steam and Coal Company Limited. This colliery mined the Tongarra and Wongawilli coal seams, it closed in 1920 only to be reopened in 1939. It closed again in 1982 due to a loss of contract to supply coal to the Port Kembla Steelworks.

Huntley Colliery was a new colliery developed by the Joint Coal Board in 1952 to meet the requirements of the new Tallawarra Power Station under construction on the shores of Lake Illawarra. Prior to its closure in 1989 about 2,300 tons of coal was mined a day at Huntley which worked the Wongawilli and Tongarra coal seams.

Today Avondale is a lifestyle rural area nestled in the foothills east of the Illawarra escarpment.