Wollongong Coastal Management Program

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Image shows an aerial view of Stuart Park, looking south towards Flagstaff Hill.

Project Overview

We understand that our beaches and our coastal lifestyle are one of our greatest assets and are highly valued by our community.

We have approximately 60km of coastline, from the Royal National Park in the north to Lake Illawarra in the south. The character and functionality of Wollongong’s coastline is a blend of beaches, dunes, cliffs, headlands and rock platforms, and small coastal creeks and estuaries, and plays an integral part in the experience of the city for our residents and visitors to the Wollongong Local Government Area (LGA).

To ensure we can protect, enhance and effectively manage our coast and coastal assets, Council is preparing a Coastal Management Program (CMP), and you're invited to participate at key stages of the project.

Ultimately, the Wollongong CMP will identify coastal management issues and the actions required to address these issues in a strategic and integrated way.

Lake Illawarra is not part of this CMP for the coastal zone of the Wollongong LGA. Council has already developed a CMP for Lake Illawarra in partnership with Shellharbour City Council and the NSW Government.

The CMP project is supported with funding from the NSW Government’s Coastal and Estuary Management Program.

Stages of the Coastal Management Program

The preparation of the Wollongong Coastal Management Program involves five stages.

  • Stage 1: Identify the scope of the CMP
  • Stage 2: Determine risks, vulnerabilities, and opportunities
  • Stage 3: Identify and evaluate options
  • Stage 4: Prepare, exhibit, finalise, certify, and adopt the CMP
  • Stage 5: Implement, monitor, evaluate and report


Further Information

You can learn more about the CMP by viewing the FAQs and project updates in the News Feed, or by contacting the project team.

If you're d/Deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment, you can contact us through the National Relay Service. If you need an interpreter you can contact us through the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450. You'll need to provide our phone number 02 4227 7111 when using these services.

Please read Council's Privacy Policy before submitting your feedback.

Project Overview

We understand that our beaches and our coastal lifestyle are one of our greatest assets and are highly valued by our community.

We have approximately 60km of coastline, from the Royal National Park in the north to Lake Illawarra in the south. The character and functionality of Wollongong’s coastline is a blend of beaches, dunes, cliffs, headlands and rock platforms, and small coastal creeks and estuaries, and plays an integral part in the experience of the city for our residents and visitors to the Wollongong Local Government Area (LGA).

To ensure we can protect, enhance and effectively manage our coast and coastal assets, Council is preparing a Coastal Management Program (CMP), and you're invited to participate at key stages of the project.

Ultimately, the Wollongong CMP will identify coastal management issues and the actions required to address these issues in a strategic and integrated way.

Lake Illawarra is not part of this CMP for the coastal zone of the Wollongong LGA. Council has already developed a CMP for Lake Illawarra in partnership with Shellharbour City Council and the NSW Government.

The CMP project is supported with funding from the NSW Government’s Coastal and Estuary Management Program.

Stages of the Coastal Management Program

The preparation of the Wollongong Coastal Management Program involves five stages.

  • Stage 1: Identify the scope of the CMP
  • Stage 2: Determine risks, vulnerabilities, and opportunities
  • Stage 3: Identify and evaluate options
  • Stage 4: Prepare, exhibit, finalise, certify, and adopt the CMP
  • Stage 5: Implement, monitor, evaluate and report


Further Information

You can learn more about the CMP by viewing the FAQs and project updates in the News Feed, or by contacting the project team.

If you're d/Deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment, you can contact us through the National Relay Service. If you need an interpreter you can contact us through the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450. You'll need to provide our phone number 02 4227 7111 when using these services.

Please read Council's Privacy Policy before submitting your feedback.

Seaside Stories


You are invited to share a story about a location, historical event, business or activity from the Wollongong coastal zone. Please include a date for your story, preferably by year, or by decade, and share any photos or videos you may have that help tell your story. 

Sharing your stories will assist us better understand the changes which have taken place along the coast and identify the types of activities the community view as important.

Seaside Stories closes on 7 July 2022.

Thank you for sharing your story with us.
CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

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    The Blessings of Illawarra Mother Nature

    by Annie Marlow, over 2 years ago

    What do you reckon it means to look after our coastline? I’m pretty convinced that to make sure we have a good place to swim, have lots of fish to catch & birds to watch, to have some shade to walk in & sit under when its hot, good air to breath when we are running or working hard on a bike, the best way to go is to nurture Illawarra Mother Nature. She is among the best in the world for diversity & so eager to grow if you give her a bit of room.

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  • Share Crushing lack of foresight and memory on Facebook Share Crushing lack of foresight and memory on Twitter Share Crushing lack of foresight and memory on Linkedin Email Crushing lack of foresight and memory link

    Crushing lack of foresight and memory

    by Ten thousand tonnes of sense, over 2 years ago
    I recently saw that blown sand from the recently cleared port kembla beach crushed the surf clubs own shed under tonnes of sand. I guess the surf club members didn't want to listen to the councils dune care staff about the importance if the spinifex and dune vegetation. They wanted to listen to the green wash group, beach care illawarra. They have some cherry picked paragraphs from science papers, and borrow drawings from dune vegetation texts to try and give their lack if science credibility the appearance of ligitimacy.


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  • Share The pebbles, stones, rocks and bricks on Thirroul beach on Facebook Share The pebbles, stones, rocks and bricks on Thirroul beach on Twitter Share The pebbles, stones, rocks and bricks on Thirroul beach on Linkedin Email The pebbles, stones, rocks and bricks on Thirroul beach link

    The pebbles, stones, rocks and bricks on Thirroul beach

    by John Groom, over 2 years ago

    The huge seas and associated erosion in the first half of 2022 have exposed worse than usual the presence of stones buried longtime under the sand, Ongoing wave action redistributes these stones all along Thirroul Beach. They can be seen from the pool pumping station all the way north to the rock shelf past Flanagan's Beach. It is not just a natural phenomonen. This morning I removed one and a half housebricks complete with cement.

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  • Share The Blue Mile is great, but we need to divert some of the attention away from it. on Facebook Share The Blue Mile is great, but we need to divert some of the attention away from it. on Twitter Share The Blue Mile is great, but we need to divert some of the attention away from it. on Linkedin Email The Blue Mile is great, but we need to divert some of the attention away from it. link

    The Blue Mile is great, but we need to divert some of the attention away from it.

    by GKew, over 2 years ago

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    History and Heritage

    by saREN, over 2 years ago
    Could we please have all the little creeks and waterways flowing from the Escarpment to the sea named with clear signage. In addition can we have interpretive signage telling the background/stories of where the name of these water-ways originated and other local stories which relate to that site/waterway. If we know the names and heritage of these places we can then do more to look after them. For example, Hicks Creek is not labelled, no naming/place sign, no interpretive signage about who Hicks was. The creek is infested with weeds and industrial waste and yet it could be a wildlife... Continue reading
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    Hopelessness

    by libbywibbly, over 2 years ago

    A current development at Wombarra has polluted the ocean and adjacent rockshelf and yet neither council nor the EPA are able to stop it. Miniscule fines are imposed and the developers continue to destroy the delicate rockshelf microcosmic life and fill the gills of passing fish with their runoff at Coledale and Wombarra. I believe that until council has enough officers and teeth to impose properly enforced restrictions on those who seek only to make $$$ from our magnificent coastline then this conversation is cursory. It has been heartbreaking to watch the effects of this devestation on that which we... Continue reading

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    Walking and Coffee Group

    by Philip Shore Comans, over 2 years ago
    About 10 years ago I joined a group of ladies (all ladies at that time!) who congregated on our very doorstep at 8am for a 7km walk over Sea Cliff Bridge to the Scarborough Hotel and back. Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday this intrepid group would set off. Rain, hail, East Coast Low or shine, off they would go.

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    This group has... Continue reading

  • Share Passive recreation in Puckeys Reserve on Facebook Share Passive recreation in Puckeys Reserve on Twitter Share Passive recreation in Puckeys Reserve on Linkedin Email Passive recreation in Puckeys Reserve link

    Passive recreation in Puckeys Reserve

    by John Prior , over 2 years ago
    For more than twenty years, a group of friends met on Saturday morning at 8.00 am with our dogs on leads to walk through Puckeys reserve. Many other groups also regularly met and we all got to know each other.


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Page last updated: 11 Sep 2024, 01:04 PM