Balgownie, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Balgownie is a small suburb of Wollongong
City, New South Wales
, Australia
.
Balgownie lies to the north-west of the Wollongong CBD
. It stretches from the lower slopes of Mount Keira
along the Illawarra escarpment
to the base of the Broker's Nose
promontory. To the east, Balgownie is bordered by the light industrial and commercial suburb of Fairy Meadow
.
The main street, Balgownie Road, connects the suburb to the nearby Princes Highway
. Balgownie is mostly residential with a small commercial centre known as the Balgownie Village.
Balgownie has a similar history to many towns on the NSW south coast. When first settled in the 19th century, Balgownie was the centre of local logging
, coal mining
and farming industries. With the economic and population growth of the 20th century Balgownie was overtaken by the expanding urban sprawl and transformed from a small country hamlet to a residential suburb.
Balgownie is home to citizens right across the socioeconomic spectrum, from public housing estates in the east to multi-million dollar mansions on the escarpment.
Sites of interest include the Balgownie Public School's museum, The Bally Pub, Balgownie Village Patisserie (formerly Kristian's Bakery), the Urban Grind Cafe and the war memorial. This war memorial will have extensive developments during the next few years. There are also several fine eateries in the suburb including Il Porcellino and Il Nido which serve Australian and Italian cuisine.
Over the last five years, the Australian property market has exploded and as a result many of the open spaces and paddocks that once greened the suburb have been turned into town house or "villa" developments.
The area features the oldest active football (soccer)
club in Australia, Balgownie Rangers, founded in 1883.
Wollongong, New South Wales
Wollongong is a seaside city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 82 kilometres south of Sydney...
City, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Balgownie lies to the north-west of the Wollongong CBD
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
. It stretches from the lower slopes of Mount Keira
Mount Keira
Mount Keira is a 464 metre high mountain lying 4 kilometres northwest of the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Its distinctive shape and proximity to Wollongong make it a major local landmark. It is noted for the views of the city from the popular summit lookout and its history of...
along the Illawarra escarpment
Illawarra escarpment
The Illawarra Escarpment is the fold created cliffs and plateau eroded outcrop mountain range west of the Illawarra coastal plain south of Sydney, Australia, enclosing the region known as the Illawarra which stretches from Stanwell Park in the north to Kiama, Gerringong and the Shoalhaven river in...
to the base of the Broker's Nose
Broker's Nose
Brokers Nose or Mount Corrimal is the name of an outcrop of the Illawarra Escarpment west of Corrimal, New South Wales. Its summit is 440 metres above sea level and there is a television transmission tower atop it...
promontory. To the east, Balgownie is bordered by the light industrial and commercial suburb of Fairy Meadow
Fairy Meadow, New South Wales
Fairy Meadow is a suburb in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Located in the Illawarra, it is a mainly low density residential area, except for a strip on the Princes Highway....
.
The main street, Balgownie Road, connects the suburb to the nearby Princes Highway
Princes Highway
The Princes Highway extends from Sydney to Port Augusta via the coast through the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, a distance of 1941 km or 1898 km via the former alignments of the highway ....
. Balgownie is mostly residential with a small commercial centre known as the Balgownie Village.
Balgownie has a similar history to many towns on the NSW south coast. When first settled in the 19th century, Balgownie was the centre of local logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
, coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
and farming industries. With the economic and population growth of the 20th century Balgownie was overtaken by the expanding urban sprawl and transformed from a small country hamlet to a residential suburb.
Balgownie is home to citizens right across the socioeconomic spectrum, from public housing estates in the east to multi-million dollar mansions on the escarpment.
Sites of interest include the Balgownie Public School's museum, The Bally Pub, Balgownie Village Patisserie (formerly Kristian's Bakery), the Urban Grind Cafe and the war memorial. This war memorial will have extensive developments during the next few years. There are also several fine eateries in the suburb including Il Porcellino and Il Nido which serve Australian and Italian cuisine.
Over the last five years, the Australian property market has exploded and as a result many of the open spaces and paddocks that once greened the suburb have been turned into town house or "villa" developments.
The area features the oldest active football (soccer)
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
club in Australia, Balgownie Rangers, founded in 1883.