Shellharbour (pop. 76,271) is a city in New South Wales, Australia, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Sydney, on the coast between Port Kembla and Kiama. It covers an area of 60 square miles (154 square kilometers).
The Shellharbour area’s economic base was originally dairy farming, along with coal mining and the quarrying of blue metal, which is used in the construction industry. These activities are still undertaken in the area. However, most people in the city now work in Wollongong and the Port Kembla industrial complex. Shellharbour’s tourist attractions include fishing, surfing, and swimming. The surrounding area has picturesque mountain and lake scenery.
The famous explorers George Bass and Matthew Flinders arrived in the area in 1797. Bass Point, a significant rocky promontory at the southern end of the area, is named in Bass’s honor.
The small town of Shellharbour was used to ship the area’s farm produce to Sydney between 1830 and 1890. Shellharbour’s importance as a port declined with the opening of the South Coast Railway in the late 1880’s.
Shellharbour became a municipality in 1859. It has had the longest period of stable local government within the same boundaries of any area in New South Wales.
