Captain Cook found the Sout Coast so attractive that he nearly landed ther in 1770, instead of waiting until he got to Botany Bay. Heavy surf off the Five Islands at Wollongong dissuaded him. From the Endeavor Cook sighted several people on the shore who ‘appeared to be of a very dark colour’. They would probably have come from one of the five Aboriginal tribes who occupied the South Coast before the arrival of the Europeans. They were the Dha rawal, Wodi-Wodi, Gurandada, Dha rumba and Wandandian people. They left middens and shelter caves throughout the area and we can be certain that they found it a bountiful place.
The wildfire is still abundant despite more than 150 years of intense land use. George Bass bestowed the name ‘Shoals Haven’ on the river now known as the Crook haven in 1797 during his explorative journey south in an open whaleboat. The name was later given to the larger Shoalhaven River further north. White settlement was patchy for a long time, with whalers working out of Jervis Bay and timber cutters taking red cedar from the forests. It was in 1820 when scotsman Alexander Berry that the area began to open up with a small number of settlers taking up widely separated grants.
Even by 1830 the South Coast remained relatively isolate, with Government Surveyor Gove tt reporting difficulties in taking his dray into the area. The railway was build in the late 1800 s, and finally linked the south coast with Sydney by land. Subsequent development exploited the easily accessible coal seams under the escarpment for an iron and steel industry and even now Port Kemble is a major steel producing centre. One the steelworks were the lifeblood of Wollongong, but retrenchments forced the city to look elsewhere for jobs. It did so very successfully, turning both high-tech industries based on the University of Wollongong and to tourism.
Open Space Area Land Birds
What has been the effect of change upon the environmental the Lea Valley Regional Park the changes have effected wildlife immensely because from the NWR I found out that in the 1960 s there was 29 species of birds such as pelicans, woodpeckers and jays. But now Pelicans have not been sighted in the area for about 3 years but this could be because they live in warm regions and near seas or rivers ...
