Illawarra, New South Wales

Illawarra New South Wales
Sunset over Lake Illawarra.
Illawarra
Coordinates	34°30′S 150°54′E / 34.5°S 150.9°E / -34.5; 150.9Coordinates: 34°30′S 150°54′E / 34.5°S 150.9°E / -34.5; 150.9
Population	344,454
LGA(s)	Kiama, Shellharbour, Wingecarribee, Wollongong
State electorate(s)	Wollongong, Kiera, Shellharbour, Heathcote, Kiama
Federal Division(s)	Cunningham, Whitlam, Gilmore
Localities around Illawarra: Macarthur Southern Sydney Tasman Sea Southern Highlands Illawarra Tasman Sea Southern Tablelands South Coast Tasman Sea

Illawarra is a region in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is a coastal region situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the Shoalhaven or South Coast region. It encompasses the cities of Wollongong, Shellharbour, the town of Kiama and the shire of Wingecarribee.

The Illawarra region is characterised by three distinct districts: the north-central district, which is a contiguous urban sprawl centred on Lake Illawarra; the western district defined by the Illawarra escarpment, which leads up to the south-west fringe of Greater Metropolitan Sydney including the Macarthur and Southern Highlands regions; and the southern district, which is historically semi-rural (area undefined), yet now defined by increasing urbanisation.

The region consists of a coastal plain, narrow in the north and wider in the south, bounded by the Tasman Sea on the east and the mountainous, almost impassable Illawarra escarpment (forming the eastern edge of the Southern Highlands plateau) to the west. In the middle of the region is Lake Illawarra, a shallow lake formed when sediment built up at the entrance to a bay. The district extends from the southern hills of the Royal National Park in the north to the Shoalhaven River in the south, and contains the city of Wollongong, the third-largest urban area in New South Wales. North of Wollongong the plain narrows to a small strip of land between the coast and the escarpment. At Coalcliff and Stanwell Park small valleys are formed allowing further settlement. To the south it widens, and becomes increasingly hillier before reaching Stockyard Mountain, a long divide between the main plain and the Jamberoo Valley, which stretches until it reaches Kiama. South of Kiama is Saddleback Mountain and south of that the Shoalhaven plains and the outcrop of Coolangatta Mountain.

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