Recent from talks
Hill 60, Port Kembla
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Hill 60, Port Kembla
Hill 60 is a heritage-listed Aboriginal site at Military Road, Port Kembla, in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It is also the location of the World War II installation the Illowra Battery. The property is owned by Wollongong City Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 14 December 2001.
Hill 60 Park is dominated by the rocky headland of Boilers Point and the sheltered embayment of Fisherman's Beach. Hill 60 rises steeply above Fisherman's Beach to a peak of 71 m a.s.l. at which point is situated the Illowra Trig Station. The elevated areas of the park are largely cleared and grassed and contain a public recreational Lookout, car park, access road, walking track, a hang-gliding launch pad and a Coast Guard radar operations unit. There are a number of defence installations, including gun batteries, tunnels, engine houses, search and spotlight positions, communications cabling, defence personal housing and amenities, and local defence earthworks, a transformer site, security post and tunnel installations, on the upper elevations of the Hill and along its side slopes. The peak of Hill 60, in the vicinity of the Illowra Trig Station was subject to considerable landscaping including infilling with coal wash which effectively increased the ground level in that area by several feet. While many of the installations were decommissioned after the war and sold off by the Commonwealth, a number are still in place in the study area to this day.
An established walking track is cut into and traverses the upper elevations of the Hill below the Lookout between the Red Point sewerage treatment site access road and a viewing area on the north facing side of the Hill. The walking track is narrow but well formed with a series of post and rail handrails and wood and metal stake steps. Erosion control measures on the side slope of the Hill above and below the track has included re-vegetation and slope stabilisation. A stepped gravel path links the car park with this viewing area along the western slope of the Hill. An informal walking track traverses the west facing side slopes of the Hill between the lower viewing area and the Playing Fields of the Senior College eventually linking to the Boiler Point car park and walking track. There are a small number of wooden and metal stake retaining steps in the steeper upper portion of the track. The lower portions of the track are totally informal and numerous side tracks criss-cross the vegetated lower slopes. Some of these tracks lead directly to the Fisherman's Beach Access Road and some cross the slope above the playing fields.
The dunes above Fisherman's Beach which form the east facing side slope of Hill 60 are very steep and partially de-vegetated as a result of erosion accelerated by recreational use. Natural vegetation includes some established Banksia and coastal heath but the slopes are heavily infested with bitou bush and lantana. Access to the beach is over these slopes is possible only with difficulty. The sand dunes at the toe of slope at the west end of Hill 60 are support a variety of native and exotic vegetation. There are a number of blowouts in this area which contain extensive evidence of prehistoric Aboriginal occupation. The Aboriginal shell midden and artefact scatters have, in the past, been exposed by erosion and de-vegetation and covered over by aeolian sand. It is most likely they were continuous over these lower sand dunes to the end of Boilers Point but have been bisected by the construction of the Fisherman's Beach access road.
Aboriginal sites previously recorded within and adjacent to the study area comprise the following:
As at 30 January 2013, Boilers Point has been extensively impacted upon by activities associated with the military, including the installation of an Electric Beach Searchlight, an engine room and WWII defensive trenches. Numerous 4WD roads and walking tracks criss-cross the Point. Use of these features has to some extent been limited by the installation of access blocks and a formed formal walking track. Aboriginal midden deposits that were exposed in these features are now being covered over by regenerating grass and heath or have been partially covered by the formal walking track. A watercourse which may have contained a natural spring on the north western side of Boilers Point is now largely re-shaped by the formation of a wetland area and "frog hollow". This landscaping has disturbed Aboriginal shell deposits adjacent to this feature. A small sandy beach between MM Beach and Boilers Point contains Aboriginal shell deposits at the interface of the beach and the toe of slope below the watercourse and "frog hollow". Other Aboriginal shell deposits are located at the interface of the upper elevations of the rock walls around Boilers Point and the soil deposits on the Point itself. Some of these have been exposed by the military installations on the Point and some by the creation and use of access tracks to these features.
MM Beach has been truncated along its western dunes by the formation of Gloucester Boulevard. The Boulevard is formed and guttered along most of its length. The formed portion to its intersection with Darcy Road also contains a pavement, bus lay-by, car park and cycle track. A short length at the northern end of the road is tarred but contains no kerbs or gutterings. A number of informal sidetracks and turning circles have been formed along the eastern side of the road over the sand dunes. There are a number of 4WD roads and numerous walking tracks between the boulevard and the beach at the northern end of the beach. The southern end of the beach, from the carpark to the end of the beach, is flanked by steep rocky slopes and rocky bluffs which topographically prohibits access to the beach.
There are, or were, a number of military installations located at the northern end of the beach, including a machine gun post, the main command building, a coarse aggregate concrete service trench and gun emplacements. There has been considerable ground disruption associated with these installations and access to them. The middle and southern portions of MM Beach contain a WWII semi-circular brick gun emplacement, stormwater drains, the remains of a possible early jetty and coarse aggregate and swimming baths on a rock platform. Extensive deposits Aboriginal shell midden are located in the dune formations of MM Beach between the rocky headland of the military land and middle portion of the beach. Here the sand dunes have either been massively disturbed by stormwater drain construction or are truncated by rising rocky bluffs and the construction of Gloucester Boulevard.
Hub AI
Hill 60, Port Kembla AI simulator
(@Hill 60, Port Kembla_simulator)
Hill 60, Port Kembla
Hill 60 is a heritage-listed Aboriginal site at Military Road, Port Kembla, in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It is also the location of the World War II installation the Illowra Battery. The property is owned by Wollongong City Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 14 December 2001.
Hill 60 Park is dominated by the rocky headland of Boilers Point and the sheltered embayment of Fisherman's Beach. Hill 60 rises steeply above Fisherman's Beach to a peak of 71 m a.s.l. at which point is situated the Illowra Trig Station. The elevated areas of the park are largely cleared and grassed and contain a public recreational Lookout, car park, access road, walking track, a hang-gliding launch pad and a Coast Guard radar operations unit. There are a number of defence installations, including gun batteries, tunnels, engine houses, search and spotlight positions, communications cabling, defence personal housing and amenities, and local defence earthworks, a transformer site, security post and tunnel installations, on the upper elevations of the Hill and along its side slopes. The peak of Hill 60, in the vicinity of the Illowra Trig Station was subject to considerable landscaping including infilling with coal wash which effectively increased the ground level in that area by several feet. While many of the installations were decommissioned after the war and sold off by the Commonwealth, a number are still in place in the study area to this day.
An established walking track is cut into and traverses the upper elevations of the Hill below the Lookout between the Red Point sewerage treatment site access road and a viewing area on the north facing side of the Hill. The walking track is narrow but well formed with a series of post and rail handrails and wood and metal stake steps. Erosion control measures on the side slope of the Hill above and below the track has included re-vegetation and slope stabilisation. A stepped gravel path links the car park with this viewing area along the western slope of the Hill. An informal walking track traverses the west facing side slopes of the Hill between the lower viewing area and the Playing Fields of the Senior College eventually linking to the Boiler Point car park and walking track. There are a small number of wooden and metal stake retaining steps in the steeper upper portion of the track. The lower portions of the track are totally informal and numerous side tracks criss-cross the vegetated lower slopes. Some of these tracks lead directly to the Fisherman's Beach Access Road and some cross the slope above the playing fields.
The dunes above Fisherman's Beach which form the east facing side slope of Hill 60 are very steep and partially de-vegetated as a result of erosion accelerated by recreational use. Natural vegetation includes some established Banksia and coastal heath but the slopes are heavily infested with bitou bush and lantana. Access to the beach is over these slopes is possible only with difficulty. The sand dunes at the toe of slope at the west end of Hill 60 are support a variety of native and exotic vegetation. There are a number of blowouts in this area which contain extensive evidence of prehistoric Aboriginal occupation. The Aboriginal shell midden and artefact scatters have, in the past, been exposed by erosion and de-vegetation and covered over by aeolian sand. It is most likely they were continuous over these lower sand dunes to the end of Boilers Point but have been bisected by the construction of the Fisherman's Beach access road.
Aboriginal sites previously recorded within and adjacent to the study area comprise the following:
As at 30 January 2013, Boilers Point has been extensively impacted upon by activities associated with the military, including the installation of an Electric Beach Searchlight, an engine room and WWII defensive trenches. Numerous 4WD roads and walking tracks criss-cross the Point. Use of these features has to some extent been limited by the installation of access blocks and a formed formal walking track. Aboriginal midden deposits that were exposed in these features are now being covered over by regenerating grass and heath or have been partially covered by the formal walking track. A watercourse which may have contained a natural spring on the north western side of Boilers Point is now largely re-shaped by the formation of a wetland area and "frog hollow". This landscaping has disturbed Aboriginal shell deposits adjacent to this feature. A small sandy beach between MM Beach and Boilers Point contains Aboriginal shell deposits at the interface of the beach and the toe of slope below the watercourse and "frog hollow". Other Aboriginal shell deposits are located at the interface of the upper elevations of the rock walls around Boilers Point and the soil deposits on the Point itself. Some of these have been exposed by the military installations on the Point and some by the creation and use of access tracks to these features.
MM Beach has been truncated along its western dunes by the formation of Gloucester Boulevard. The Boulevard is formed and guttered along most of its length. The formed portion to its intersection with Darcy Road also contains a pavement, bus lay-by, car park and cycle track. A short length at the northern end of the road is tarred but contains no kerbs or gutterings. A number of informal sidetracks and turning circles have been formed along the eastern side of the road over the sand dunes. There are a number of 4WD roads and numerous walking tracks between the boulevard and the beach at the northern end of the beach. The southern end of the beach, from the carpark to the end of the beach, is flanked by steep rocky slopes and rocky bluffs which topographically prohibits access to the beach.
There are, or were, a number of military installations located at the northern end of the beach, including a machine gun post, the main command building, a coarse aggregate concrete service trench and gun emplacements. There has been considerable ground disruption associated with these installations and access to them. The middle and southern portions of MM Beach contain a WWII semi-circular brick gun emplacement, stormwater drains, the remains of a possible early jetty and coarse aggregate and swimming baths on a rock platform. Extensive deposits Aboriginal shell midden are located in the dune formations of MM Beach between the rocky headland of the military land and middle portion of the beach. Here the sand dunes have either been massively disturbed by stormwater drain construction or are truncated by rising rocky bluffs and the construction of Gloucester Boulevard.
Recent media