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City of Wollongong

Disability Access Guide

We're committed to providing equal access to information, services and facilities for people with disability.

Council is part of the NSW Companion Card program. Show your Companion Card at our swimming pools, leisure centres, cultural events or festivals to get a free second ticket for your companion.

Below is a brief guide to our services.

If you need help or more information, please email or call us on (02) 4227 7111.

Recreation and leisure

These swimming pools have features to support people with mobility difficulties:

  • Wollongong Continental Pool – ramp and hoist access
  • Port Kembla Pool - ramp access
  • Beaton Park Indoor Pool - hoist access
  • Corrimal Pool - hoist access
  • Dapto Pool - access platform.

All of these pools have accessible parking spaces, toilets and easy access change rooms.

See our Pools page for location details and hours.

We're working to improve accessibility at our patrolled beaches to make them easier for everyone to enjoy, including people with disability.

Our Beach and Foreshore Access Strategy PDF, 13627.27 KB explains what Council does to support people of all abilities using our coastal areas.

Several of our patrolled beaches have features designed to support people with disability, including beach matting and free beach wheelchair hire.

Visit our Accessible Beaches page to learn more or request a beach wheelchair.

Beaton Park Leisure Centre provides access to all fitness areas, hoist access to the pool, accessible parking, shower, toilet and easy access change room facilities, and accessible parking.

Lakeside Leisure Centre provides access to all fitness areas, an accessible toilet and lift access to the first floor.

For information on both centres, visit the Wollongong City Leisure Centres website.

Luke’s Place in Corrimal and the All Abilities Playground at Wollongong Botanic Garden are specially designed for children of all abilities.

Many of our other playgrounds also have accessible features for children with a disability.

Stuart Park has a Liberty Swing that can be accessed using a MLAK Key.  You can purchase a MLAK Key from The Hardware Man Unanderra. The key also opens the accessible toilet at this site.

Wollongong Botanic Garden features a network of accessible pathways. The best entry to access this walk is the Murphys Avenue entrance.

Accessible parking and toilets are available. You can also pre-book to use the Botanic Garden's free mobility scooters during your visit.

Our Tourist Parks at Bulli, Corrimal and Windang have communal accessible bathroom facilities for park guests staying in caravans and camping. This includes toilets, showers and basins.

All parks also have accessible cabins built to Australian Standards for wheelchair access.

Bulli Tourist Park has a café and convenience store on-site and Corrimal Tourist Park has a café, kiosk and takeaway on-site. Both cafes provide wheelchair access and accessible toilet facilities.

Please visit the Wollongong City Tourist Parks website for more information about our Parks' accessible features.

Art and culture

Wollongong Art Gallery has an accessible entrance ramp, toilet and lift access to upper levels.

Free guided tours of selected exhibitions can be arranged for people with disability by appointment.

The Gallery can also arrange art programs tailored to meet the needs of people with disability.

For more information, you can visit:

Each of the theatres within the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre (IPAC) offer seating and positions for patrons with limited mobility, and are equipped with sound enhancement facilities.

Selected performances are audio described and relayed via headsets. Before these performances, patrons can participate in a tactile tour of the set and costumes.

Large-print, plain text copies of the cast sheets for Merrigong Theatre Season shows are available with notice.

Selected performances are captioned.

For more information visit the Merrigong Theatre Company website or call the box office on (02) 4224 5999.

Wollongong Town Hall has accessible toilets, lifts to the hall and the stage area, a hearing loop and easy access change rooms available for performers.

Libraries and community facilities

Our district level Library and Community Centres at Corrimal, Dapto, and Thirroul, and libraries at Warrawong and Wollongong are all accessible for people with disability. They offer a range of assistive services and technologies including:

  • Audiobooks and eAudiobooks
  • E-collections of music, books and magazines that you can download from home
  • Large print books
  • Text Magnifying Machine which increases the size of text onto a large screen (Wollongong branch only)
  • Scanner - Reading Machine which scans printed material that can then be saved and downloaded to BrailleNote or VoiceNote (Wollongong branch only).

For more information visit the libraries’ website or call (02) 4227 7414.

A Home Library Service is available for residents who are temporarily or permanently housebound due to frailty, illness, injury or disability.

For more information call (02) 4227 7414.

Council has a range of halls or rooms for hire. Each one has different accessible features.

See our Community Centres and Halls page or call (02) 4227 7111 for more information.

Information and services

The Walking, Cycling and Mobility Reference Group gives advice to Council about issues that affect pedestrians, bike riders and people with disability getting around our city.

We have a dedicated Community Development Worker - Aged and Disability who provides information and advice about disability access issues. To get in touch with this person, email or call (02) 4227 7111.

We've prepared a detailed guide to help anyone organising an event make it more accessible and inclusive for people with disability.

See our Guide to Accessible and Inclusive Events for details.

Wollongong City Council  supports all residents having equal access to our Council meetings.

Our Council Chamber is accessible for people with disability. We have a range of assistive services and technologies available, including:

  • lift access
  • accessible toilets
  • spaces for people with wheelchairs in the public gallery
  • infrared hearing system and portable receivers on request for people with hearing impairment.
  • accessible parking spaces in our Administration Building car park (entry is from Stewart Street).

If you have a request or question about attending our Council meetings, please call us on (02) 4227 7111 or see our Contact Us page for more ways to get in touch.

Online access to meetings

We live-stream Council meetings online so you can access them without physically attending. This provides greater community access to Council decisions and debates.

As well as watching meetings live, our webcasting site has video and audio from previous meetings available on demand.

To watch a meeting live, or access the archive, visit our webcasting site.

Community Transport: Wollongong – Shellharbour (CTWS) is a service that helps people who have trouble accessing private and public transport.

CTWS also provides travel training, to teach people how to use public transport.

Visit the CTWS website or call1300 987 422 for more information.

We have staff who speak several community languages and can help when you're dealing with Council.

For more information see our Language Services page or call (02) 4227 7111.

We have Easy English guides for some Council services. These are also called Easy Read guides.

Our current Easy Read guides are:

We are working on making more Easy Read guides. New guides will be added to this page when they are ready.

We have an online map of accessible parking spaces that are managed by Council. You must have a valid Mobility Parking Scheme (MPS) card to use these spaces.

Use the link below to see the map, or visit our Accessible Parking page for more information.

Map of Accessible Parking Spaces

Please note, we regularly update this information, but we can't guarantee that it is accurate at all times. You should always check and follow signage when parking.

Waste and Recycling

Council offers two types of compassionate bin services for people who can't physically move their bins, and for kidney dialysis patients.

For details and application forms, visit the Wollongong Waste website or call us on (02) 4227 7111.

Other useful information

The National Public Toilet Map website shows locations and details of public toilets, including accessible features for people with disability.

People who are deaf or have a hearing and / or speech impairment can use the National Relay Service to contact people using the phone network. Contact details for this service are shown below:

1800 555 630 (TTY)
1800 555 660 (voice)
1800 555 690 (fax)

The Disability Gateway is an Australian Government website that has information and services to help people with disability, their family, friends and carers, to find the support they need in Australia.

Vision Illawarra's website has a Navability map that shows footpaths, shared pathways and trails accessible by wheelchair in the Wollongong City Centre. It also includes an effort ratings guide.

Go to the Navability map.

If you suspect abuse is happening to someone, or if you’re an older person or a person with disability experiencing abuse, you can report it to the NSW Ageing and Disability Abuse Helpline on 1800 628 221.

To use this service with the help of an interpreter, call 131 450 and tell the operator the language you need.

Visit the NSW Ageing & Disability Commission website for more information.