Parish: Wollongong
County: Camden
Keiraville is a short distance north west of the Wollongong city centre, at the foot of the Illawarra escarpment. It is home to Wollongong Botanic Garden and the University of Wollongong.
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Local communities of Aboriginal people were the original inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of Illawarra Land. Their dialect is a variant of the Dharawal language.
Before European settlement, the Aboriginal people of the region lived in small family groups with complicated social structures and close associations with specific areas.
Suburb boundaries do not reflect the cultural boundaries of the local Aboriginal community.
Traditional Custodians today are descendants of the original inhabitants and have ongoing spiritual and cultural ties to the Land and waterways where their ancestors lived.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1891 | Keiraville Public School opened (Illawarra Index) |
| 1899 | Keiraville School of Arts officially opened (Illawarra Index) |
| 1899 | Keiraville Mechanic's Institute established on corner of Bell and Rose Streets (Local cuttings file) |
| 1906 | Episcopalian Church opened (Illawarra Index) |
| 1906 | St John's Anglican Church in Parsons Street was opened and dedicated in August as a branch Church of St Michael's, Wollongong (Local cuttings file) |
| 1928 | Mr and Mrs Hoskins purchased 75 acres of dairy farming land on which Gleniffer Brae was later built (Local cuttings file) |
| 1938-1939 | Gleniffer Brae built for Arthur Sidney Hoskins (Local cuttings file) |
| 1954 | Hoskins Family donated 10.5 acres of land for the creation of a Botanical Garden (Local cuttings file) |
| 1954 | Hoskins sold Gleniffer Brae and a portion of land to the Anglican private girls school, SCEGGS (Local cuttings file) |
| 1955 | Sydney Church of England Grammar School for Girls at Glennifer Brae opened (Illawarra Index) |
| 1960 | New Keiraville Congregational Church held first service (Illawara Index) |
| 1962 | Botanic Garden planned on 25 acre site (Illawarra Index) |
| 1962 | Barnardo Home for boys and girls opened in Hillview Avenue (Illawarra Index) |
| 1963 | Final landscape plan for Botanic Garden adopted by Council (Local cuttings file) |
| 1964 | First tree planted in the Botanic Garden by curator, Bill Mearns (Local cuttings file) |
| 1966 | Keiraville Public School 75th Anniversary celebrations (Illawarra Index) |
| 1969 | Sir Roden and Lady Cutler planted a rare Dawn Redwood tree in the Botanic Garden (Illawarra Index) |
| 1970 | Council resolved that the Wollongong War Memorial Park be named 'Hoskins Park - Wollongong Botanic Garden' (Local cuttings file) |
| 1970 | Wollongong Botanic Garden was officially opened by Mrs A Hoskins and Lord Mayor Alderman E Ford (Local cuttings file) |
| 1975 | Dr Barnardo's Boy's Home closes due to lack of demand (Illawarra Index) |
| 1976 | Wollongong City Council to extend the Botanic Garden by buying 6.9 hectares of land from SCEGGS (Illawarra Index) |
| 1977 | Gleniffer Brae property acquired by Wollongong City Council, subject to a covenant restricting its use to education (Local cuttings file) |
| 1978 | Wollongong City Council plan to acquire the SCEGGS Glennifer Brae property (Illawarra Index) |
| 1978 | Wollongong City Council took possession of the SCEGGS Glennifer Brae property after a four month dispute over its ownership (Illwarra Index) |
| 1979 | Conservatorium of Music, Council for Performing Arts and Pan Pacific Music Camps all have access to Gleniffer Brae (Illawarra Index) |
| 1982 | Tree planting ceremony in the 'Youth Forest', Richardson Park, Grey Street during the Australian Year of the Tree and World Environment Day (Local cuttings file) |
| 1988 | The equatorial sundial built after a design by Henry Moore was placed into the Rose Garden by Friends of the Botanic Garden (Local cuttings file) |
| 1990 | Centenary of Keiraville Post Office(Illawarra Branches) |
| 1997 | Residents battle to save Illawarra Escarpment from developers by forming SCLC-sanctioned picket line at Keiraville (Illawarra Index) |
| 2006 | St John's Anglican Church celebrates 100 years (Wollongong Advertiser) |
| 2010 | Community meeting organised through the National Trust to discuss the future of Gleniffer Brae (Wollongong Advertiser) |
Top image: Keiraville, 1961. See image details on our catalogue