Explore the Illawarra, its people, history and environment through the Wollongong City Libraries’ Local Studies collection.

This collection is located on Level 1 of Wollongong Library. It includes a wide variety of materials, including a growing number of online resources. Read below for more details.

Their resources include:

• Illawarra Images
• Illawarra Stories oral history project
• Books, reports, magazines and newsletters
• Newspapers
• Manuscripts
• Maps
• Electoral rolls and registers
• Census records
• Business and trade directories

The family history room is where you’ll find family history resources, including microfilm scanners.

Family history research material held by the library includes:

• Births, deaths and marriage records
• Cemetery records
• Convict records
• Immigration and shipping records
• Land and property records
• Professional records
• Orphan school records
• Military records
• Census records and musters
• Electoral rolls
• Directories
• Naturalisation records
• Colonial Secretary Papers
• Miscellaneous indexes.

Most of the items above can only be used while you’re in the library.

As well as items from the library collection, the family history room has resources that belong to the Illawarra Family History Group (IFHG). Some of these materials can only be used by IFHG members, or by library visitors when an IFHG member is present.