Location
Austinmer is a northern village of Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. It sits in the northern Illawarra region, south of Stanwell Park and immediately north of Thirroul.
The town’s main beach is Austinmer Beach, a patrolled surf beach and a popular tourist beach. A second smaller and unpatrolled beach lies directly to the north of Austinmer Beach.
The main road through the town is Lawrence Hargrave Drive, which connects with the Princes Highway at Bulli Pass. Moore Street connects Austinmer railway station to Lawrence Hargrave Drive, and, along with a short stretch along Lawrence Hargrave Drive, constitutes Austinmer’s commercial presence, as well as a police station, school, churches, and veterinary clinic. (Wikipedia)
History
The town is the birthplace of Sydney de Kantzow – co-founder of the Cathay Pacific Airline.
By the 1860s the area was simply called “North Bulli”. The name was later changed to Austinmere (later dropping the final “e”, and pronouncing “mer” as French for ‘by the sea’; Austin (the original mine owner/manager) by the sea) with the opening of the North Illawarra Coal Company’s mine around 1887. Some have suggested that the area was originally called Sidmouth, named after the Devonshire birthplace of Robert Marsh Westmacott who owned land that now includes Austinmer. It turns out that a future owner, one Biddulph Henning, named it Sidmouth after where he had been staying in 1891 just before his return to Australia and subsequent purchasing of the land in Austinmer. The name “Sidmouth” is unrecorded before Henning purchases the property. (Wikipedia)
Places of Interest
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