Cringila, New South Wales

Cringila Wollongong, New South Wales
Aerial photo from east
Coordinates	34°28′16″S 150°52′19″E / 34.47111°S 150.87194°E / -34.47111; 150.87194Coordinates: 34°28′16″S 150°52′19″E / 34.47111°S 150.87194°E / -34.47111; 150.87194
Population	2,114 (2011 census)
• Density	813/km2 (2,110/sq mi)
Established	1928
Postcode(s)	2502
Area	2.6 km2 (1.0 sq mi)
Location	6 km (4 mi) from Wollongong
LGA(s)	Wollongong City Council
State electorate(s)	Wollongong
Federal Division(s)	Throsby
Suburbs around Cringila: Unanderra Spring Hill Berkeley Cringila Port Kembla Berkeley Lake Heights Warrawong

Cringila is a densely populated southern suburb in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. The suburb is bounded by Berkeley, Unanderra, Lake Heights and Warrawong.

The suburb is planned on a north-south residential/commercial strip and the east west streets that adjoin it, making a rectangular pattern.

Cringila Community Park is a 78 ha site purchased by Wollongong City Council after residents defeated a proposal by BHP to use the land as a dump for industrial waste. Its main purpose is to regenerate the local area's natural wildlife. Surrounding Cringila's primary school is a protected rain forest.

A fraction of Cringila is the Port Kembla steelworks, which is a major local employer. This led to an influx of ethnic groups, primarily Macedonian, Portuguese, Turks and Lebanese. This in turn transformed the demographics of Cringila significantly and at the 2001 census more people lived in households where Macedonian was spoken (31.8%) than in households where only English was spoken (24.6%), making it the only suburb in Australia where this was true. However, in 2011 only 20.7% of the population lived in households where Macedonian was spoken and 32.8% lived in households where only English was spoken.

The word Cringila is an Aboriginal name - the town was formerly called Steeltown. In 1928 the first blast furnace opened up at the Port Kembla steelworks.

In 1935 the first public school opened, it was known as Steel Town School. In 1957 Cringila Public School opened.