Chilby Photography

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Jamberoo, Kiama countryside NSW. In the Dharawal language, Jamberoo means track or path, and many of the local roads we ...
15/09/2026

Jamberoo, Kiama countryside NSW.

In the Dharawal language, Jamberoo means track or path, and many of the local roads we use today follow old Aboriginal trails. Jamberoo was the busiest centre in the Kiama area in the 1850s, and in 1838, there was another township called Woodstock just to the west of Jamberoo. This was a timber mill town, and after the mill closed in 1873, the town disappeared off the map.

Here is a great quote about the Illawarra region from the 1800's: From Wollongong to Jamberoo, the road was a mere day track, through a forest of tropical foliage; gum trees 200 feet or more in height, gigantic India rubber trees with broad shining green leaves, lofty cabbage palms, and many other kinds of tree, towered above us, so that their tops made a twilight canopy, impenetrable to the sunlight, save for an infrequent clearing in the forest made by the settler's axe. Huge lianas, some as thick as a man's arm, hung, sown snakelike from the trees. Quote by the mill manager's daughter.

One of the most interesting landmarks in the village of Jamberoo is the pub built in 1857 and also known for its family connection to former Australian Socceroo legend Johnny Warren. Jamberoo is the birthplace of Illawarra Short Horn dairy cattle breed and was home to the first dairy, butter, and cheese co-operative, which opened in 1884.

Most of the dry stone walls in the Kiama area were built by Thomas Newing, who arrived in Australia from Kent in 1856. Kiama is one of the few areas in Australia to use stone wall fences similar to those in Britain and Ireland. Thomas Newing worked 8 hours a day, 6 days a week for 60 years to build the hundreds of walls throughout the district, and they stretch from the coast right up to the sheer upper reaches of the escarpment, to an elevation of about 650 metres above sea level.

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An illawarra Flame Tree (Brachychiton acerifolius) at Woonona NSW taken last year. It won't be long until the Illawarra...
13/09/2026

An illawarra Flame Tree (Brachychiton acerifolius) at Woonona NSW taken last year.

It won't be long until the Illawarra Flame Tree's begin flowering, hopefully we have a good season this year.

I was always told the name Woonona came from one of the early settlers pulling up on a horse called Noona and saying Woo Noona as they stopped in the area. The name Woonona is a Dharawal word meaning a place of young Wallabies. It was selected as the town name by the first post master Henry Fry in 1859.

Does anyone remember a festival called Whoopee in Woonona?

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It is hard to believe that it has been 25 years since the September 11 terrorist attacks, one of the darkest days in mod...
11/09/2026

It is hard to believe that it has been 25 years since the September 11 terrorist attacks, one of the darkest days in modern history. It was the terrible day when the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York were struck by hijacked aircraft and later collapsed, while thousands of innocent people lost their lives. In total, 2,977 people were killed in the attacks.

It is one of those moments in history that will be remembered very clearly by those who were alive at the time. I remember the entire day in detail, from first seeing the footage in the early hours of the morning and initially thinking it was a movie, to the disbelief and surreal feeling that followed as it became clear that what we were watching was actually happening. I left early in the morning and was working at Ramsgate that day near the airport and was worried will attacks happen here.

For me, and I think for many others, September 11 signalled the end of what had been a great and prosperous period through much of the 1990s and into the early 2000s. The atmosphere around the turn of the century was generally upbeat. Australia had just celebrated the successful Sydney Olympic Games, the economy was performing strongly, and there was a real sense of optimism about the future. The events of September 11 abruptly changed that feeling and ushered in a very different period.

In 2017, I spent some time in New York and visited Ground Zero, the September 11 Memorial and the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Standing at the site where the Twin Towers once stood and seeing the names of those who lost their lives was a very moving experience. I also visited One World Trade Center and went to the top, taking in the incredible views across New York City.

Some of the photographs posted below were taken from the Empire State Building, looking towards One World Trade Center, while others were taken from the top of One World Trade Center itself.

*the red or white flowers that you see at the ground zero memorial, honor the birthdays of the victims, on average there are 7 to 8 flowers a day and 6 who had a birthday on the day of the attacks.

Dix's Wharf, Lake Heights, Lake illawarra NSW. Lake Illawarra was known as the jewel of the Illawarra and was compared ...
08/09/2026

Dix's Wharf, Lake Heights, Lake illawarra NSW.

Lake Illawarra was known as the jewel of the Illawarra and was compared to the Sea of Galilee, Israel in the 1870's and Lake Windemere, England in the 1890's. 

The Lake has an abundance of parkland and public jetties, which is very fortunate for us. There are about 17 public jetties on the lake, which is a lot. It's hard to find a well-accessible jetty on many other waterways, especially in Sydney to our north. Lake Illawarra has a beautiful walking and bike track that almost circles the entire lake. 

The average depth of Lake Illawarra is only 2.1 metres, making it a very shallow coastal lake. The deepest point of the lake is 3.7 metres deep, and it is roughly 9.5 kilometres long and 5.5 kilometres wide. It is 35.8 square kilometres and one of the largest coastal lakes south of Lake Macquarie. It is fed with fresh water from Macquarie Rivulet and Mullet Creek, along with a few other smaller creeks and with salt water via the mouth at Windang. 

There are about 100,000 people who live around the lake today, and it stretches across two cities/regions: Wollongong and Shellharbour. 

Over many decades, Lake Illawarra was famous for its prawns. It was once home to the Merinda cruise boat and, In 1975, the ship named after Lake Illawarra; the SS Lake Illawarra collided with a pylon on the Tasman bridge in Hobart taking down 2 pylons and a 127-metre-long section of the bridge. A section of the highway fell on the deck of the ship, which sank her in the Derwent River. 12 people died in the disaster. The SS Lake Illawarra wasn't based in Illawarra. It just carried the name of the lake.

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Happy Fathers Day to all the Father's and Grandfathers! This photo was taken at Berkeley on Lake Illawarra. Did you know...
05/09/2026

Happy Fathers Day to all the Father's and Grandfathers!

This photo was taken at Berkeley on Lake Illawarra.

Did you know the idea of Fathers Day came out of the USA in around 1910 and the first Fathers day in Australia was recorded in Newcastle in 1936, it was celebrated in Wollongong and across the nations in the years to follow and grew in popularity in the late 1950's and 1960's. In earlier years Fathers Day was recognised in church services and family gatherings and the gift giving took off in the 1970's, when retailers adopted and promoted the day. The government designated the first Sunday in September as the official day in 1964. The USA and UK celebrate Father's Day in June but Australia and New Zealand chose September for the warmer weather and there was also a gap in commercial calendar to fill.

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Windang and Lake Illawarra The mouth of the lake seperates Wollongong City and Shellharbour City. In the indigenous lang...
03/09/2026

Windang and Lake Illawarra

The mouth of the lake seperates Wollongong City and Shellharbour City.

In the indigenous language, Windang meant the scene of a fight and Windang had many Indigenous people living in the area at the time of settlement. There were numerous middens and ceremonial sites around Windang, suggesting the area was heavily used as a source of food as well as for ceremonies and as a meeting place for possibly thousands of years.

Bass and Flinders were the first official Europeans to make contact with the Aboriginal people of Windang. Although there were already white men and women living among the tribe, they were thought to have been escaped convicts from Sydney.

Bass and Flinders called the mouth of Lake Illawarra Canoe River and also noted that the indigenous people called the Illawarra region Allowrie also spelled Elouera, which is where the word Illawarra comes from. The exact meaning is not known, but it is believed to have meant 'a pleasant place'.

In the 1920's, Windang became a popular tourist destination, and many camped alongside the river. One of the biggest draw cards was the abundance of Lake Illawarra prawns.

Later on, many will remember the Merinda cruises on Lake Illawarra in the 1980's and the Windang boat sheds that were sadly removed.

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Woonona Ocean Pool with Mt Keira peeking out from behind the pavilion. Right here at Collins Rock was the first attempte...
30/08/2026

Woonona Ocean Pool with Mt Keira peeking out from behind the pavilion.

Right here at Collins Rock was the first attempted landing spot of Captain James Cook (then a lieutenant) on Australian soil in April 1770. The crew were very low on water, and they tried to land here in a small boat to get fresh water from Collins Creek. Heavy surf prevented them from landing, and after 2 hours, they moved on, and they landed at Kurnell, Botany Bay, the next day. 

It is also here where Captain Cook and crew saw the indigenous people up relatively close for the first time. Four Aboriginal men headed briskly to the beach, and two were carrying a canoe on their shoulders. They didn't enter the water as Cook expected and waited for the boat and men to come ashore, but as they approached, the indigenous men headed back into the bush which was dominated by cabbage tree palms and other small trees with little undergrowth. There were other canoes and some small shelters near the beach, which were recorded by Captain Cook.

Captain Cook noted his disappointment as they were excited to meet and talk to the indigenous people for the first time. They were also hoping to get a close-up clear view of them. Imagine being any of these people in this encounter as two far-away worlds collided, changing the course of the continent forever. It must have been a very bizarre out of this world sight for the locals to see a tall ship and very different white people attempting to come ashore. Cook also noted lots of camp fires at night along the coast.

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Sea Cliff Bridge. This bridge was constructed between 2003 and 2005 after many rock falls and landslides caused closures...
28/08/2026

Sea Cliff Bridge.

This bridge was constructed between 2003 and 2005 after many rock falls and landslides caused closures off the coast road. If you look to the old road when travelling across, you will see the large boulders that continue to fall from these very unstable cliffs.

The location of the bridge is steeped in history and was the first place that coal was discovered in Australia, hence the name Coalcliff. The coal was discovered in 1797 by 3 survivors of the Sydney Cove Ship Wreck who walked from Victoria back to Sydney, well before any settlements were established along the route. You can still clearly see the coal seams today.

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This photo was captured at sunset overlooking Boonerah Point jetty and Lake Illawarra, Shellharbour NSW. Boonerah Point ...
26/08/2026

This photo was captured at sunset overlooking Boonerah Point jetty and Lake Illawarra, Shellharbour NSW.

Boonerah Point jetty would have to be my favorite local spot for sunset. It is the 4th longest jetty on the lake at 65 metres long and has a beautiful escarpment backdrop looking straight into the sunset.

Boonerah is said to mean wind in the Dharawal language, which makes sense being on the east side of the lake as the westerly roar across the lake.

In 1770, Captain Cook (Lieutenant Cook) made reference to camp fires along the shore, just before dark in the Shellharbour area. This was most likely referring to Bass Point.

In 1816, 22 free grants were issued to settlers. In 1851, a settler called D'arcy Wentwoth named his large property Peterborough, and the area took on that name until it was named Shellharbour in 1885. Shellharbour was named as such for very obvious reasons; the harbour and foreshore were covered in shells. The harbour was first built in the 1820s and was used to ship out red cedar. It was further developed in the 1860s.

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Coledale Ocean Pool. This ocean pool was built in 1914 and 1915 by local coal miners. It didn't officially open until 19...
22/08/2026

Coledale Ocean Pool.

This ocean pool was built in 1914 and 1915 by local coal miners. It didn't officially open until 1921 when it was launched with a swimming carnival.

The name Coledale was first recorded in 1902, but it was actually spelled wrong. It was called Coaldale prior to 1902 after the large coal deposits found in the area, but when the railway platform sign went up, it said Coledale and the spelling stuck as it did in Austinmer. The original railway platform was 100 metres from its current location.

Some of the first settlers were given land grants in the 1800's, but they didn't settle or develop the area for many years, it was still bushland until the 1880's. A bush track was cut from Bulli to Clifton in 1868 and by 1886 it had improved from a rough route to a dirt road. This track eventually evolved into Lawrence Hargrave Drive.

The first coal mine opened in 1889 and this led to the development of the town, but the Coledale mine didn't last long before closing in 1898 due to underground issues. It reopened in 1903 as the North Bulli Colliery, which went very well for a decade and expanded to have coke ovens, but it closed in 1926. It re-opened again in 1942 and operated until 1974, when it closed for the final time. It was one of the last mines in New South Wales to have pit ponies.

Coledale school opened in 1912, the Coledale surf club opened in 1913, the Coledale hospital in 1915 and the RSL opened in 1948.

Another interesting fact about Coledale is that John Simpson Kirkpatrick better known as Simpson and his Donkey worked at Coledale colliery in 1910, before heading to Gallipoli. He later would become a legend known for rescuing many wounded Australian soldiers under heavy fire, with his donkey named Duffy.

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