Bulli, New South Wales

Bulli is a northern suburb of Wollongong situated on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. Bulli is possibly derived from an Aboriginal word signifying "double or two mountains", but other derivations have been suggested.Originally inhabited by Wodi Wodi Aborigines, European wood cutters worked in the area from about 1815. The area was once abundant in Red Cedars, these are now still seen but thinly. The first permanent European settler was Cornelius O'Brien, who established a farm in 1823 and whose name was given in the pass at O'Briens Road south at Figtree.Bulli soil is also the primary source of soil and foundation of Sydney Cricket Ground.CoalThe Bulli Coal Company opened a mine in 1862 on the escarpment and built cottages to house miners and their families. Coal was transported by rail from the mine to Bulli Jetty at Sandon Point where it was loaded onto ships.The miners were paid in accordance with production, they were not paid a set wage. The first trade union in the Illawarra region was formed by miners at Bulli in 1879. Management retaliated by firing and evicting union miners and hiring non-union labour.On 23 March 1887 a gas explosion in the mine killed 81 men and boys, leaving 50 women widows and 150 children without fathers. There was one survivor, a 17-year-old boy who became known as "Boy Cope". A memorial obelisk listing the names of those who perished is situated in Park Road, Bulli, adjacent to the railway line. The mine reopened later in the year. The Bulli Mine Disaster was one of the worst in the region's history, see Mount Kembla.