Wollongong is the third largest city in NSW and the ninth in Australia overall. It's burgeoning is almost 200,000. The city is situated eighty km's south of Sydney.

The Illawarra region of New South Wales boasts an enviable range of landscape from rainforests, to pristine beaches and magnificent mountain ranges and escarpements. The city actually has no less than seventeen patrolled beaches.

It's likely that Wollongong's name may have stemmed from the aboriginal Wol-lon-yuh which translates to "sound of the sea" or possibly from Woollungah which means a place where a marriage took place between the son of one great king and the daughter of another great king.

There are several other possibilities that might have been the genesis of the name including aboriginal words relating to hard ground near water; many snakes; five islands.

It's even been hypothesised that the name resulted from an expression of wonderment "Nywoolyarngungh" mouthed by the first aborigines to witness the tall ships of the colonisation. Whatever the origination, the area is now fondly referred to as The 'Gong

The first European settlement arose in 1815 and was first referenced in print in 1826 and the area was surveyed and planned in 1833 by the Surveyor-General from Sydney who laid out what is now the modern city.

The early settlement revolved around timber milling but this was overtaken by the huge impact of coal mining which essentially began in 1849, followed 78 years later by the State government sponsored steelworks at Port Kembla.

The area is now quite diverse in facilities and industry with tourism providing a great deal of added impetus. The city's close proximity to Sydney has made it a very attractive holiday destination as well as an investment opportunity for many Sydney-siders.

Holidaying in the Illawarra is great but living here would be even better so if you'd like to ascertain what the local real estate market is like you can check out Wollongong houses for sale at PropertyNow