Helensburgh NSW 2508
Coalcliff Jetty Mine
Last updated 7 July 2026
Historical article — The Coalcliff Jetty Mine operated from 1878 until production ceased in 1991. Mine entrances were sealed in 1992. This page preserves Ian Piggott’s research; it is not a guide to current mining operations. For active coal mining at Helensburgh, see Metropolitan Colliery.
I don’t know how many times as a child I rode in the family car along the “Coast Road” (Lawrence Hargrave Drive), but it was always an exhilarating feeling. The Clifton end, with its sheer drop to the ocean below, was a beautiful and clean sight. On a summer day with blue skies it was truly spectacular; on a winter day with grey clouds, rain, and gusty winds, it was an isolated, lonely feeling.
Never did I suspect a mine could be carved into these cliffs — especially where it seemed most dangerous and impossible. It wasn’t until later in life that I discovered the Coalcliff Colliery began as a mine driven straight into the bare cliffs, using a jetty for loading. The engineering of those early days fascinated me.
The name Coalcliff
The name Coalcliff is said to date from 1797, when survivors of the shipwreck Sydney Cove set out to reach Sydney from Gippsland. Here, five survivors found a coal seam in the cliff face. Two stayed while three continued to Wattamolla and were eventually rescued. William Clark was one of the three survivors.
After their rescue, Governor Hunter sent George Bass to investigate. Bass found the bloodied remains of the two who had stayed (presumed murdered), and several coal seams in the cliff face that may extend throughout the range.
Early land grants and the Hargrave estate
In 1824 Matthew John Gibbons received a promise of a grant of 1,020 acres from Governor Macquarie — land from the top of Bald Hill to Stony Creek, fully granted in 1833. Gibbons is said to have renamed Little Bulli to Stanwell Park after a place in Middlesex.
The land was then purchased by Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell in the late 1830s. Mitchell, explorer and Surveyor General of New South Wales, bought the property anticipating a highway through these lands. The highway was surveyed but little used. Mitchell lacked the means to develop his Illawarra holdings and the estate passed to his son Campbell Mitchell.
Research suggests Lewis Gordon was granted lands known as the Coal Cliffs (Coalcliff–Clifton) in 1840, though exact dates are still being traced [Portion numbers 18 & 21, Southend Parish of Scotland].
Former judge and parliamentarian John Fletcher Hargrave purchased the entire 1,325-acre estate in 1872 for two pounds per acre from Campbell Mitchell. In the years that followed he sold parts at ten pounds per acre to coal speculators. Just before this, he had asked his son Lawrence Hargrave for an opinion on developing a mine and jetty. In 1870 Lawrence designed a floating breakwater for the Coal Cliffs and presented it to his father. Lawrence’s passion was exploration, not coal — he moved on in 1872 and beyond. John Hargrave continued with sons Ralph and Gilbert, who developed the estate. John built his country house at Coalcliff in 1874 and never mined the cliffs himself, but made the Coal Cliffs an attractive investment.
In 1876 the Coal Cliff Land and Coal Mining Company purchased 315 acres from him (Clifton to Stony Creek). John Hargrave retained 17–20 acres around his home.
Opening the Jetty Mine (1878)
Sir Alexander Stuart — later Premier of NSW from 1883 to 1885 — was in 1876 the principal proprietor of the Coal Cliff Land and Coal Mining Company. Merchant and financier Thomas Walker helped fund the mine. Together they founded the Jetty Mine at Coalcliff in 1877, officially opening on 11 January 1878. [Evidence suggests John Robertson may have been instrumental in forming the company with Stuart.]
From 1878 to 1880, Thomas Hale served as mine manager. Hale, former owner of the Bellambi Colliery, brought experience from jetty construction at Bellambi and Bulli. His team erected a jetty roughly 150 metres into the sea from the Coal Cliffs. In April 1877 an adit was driven into the coal seam to prove the deposit. A timber slide lowered wood to the rock shelf below the adit, while a rough pathway was hacked down the cliff face from the southern side using ladders.
On opening day, the first steam collier Eagle left the jetty for Sydney — an instant success. Stuart had two small steam colliers built in Glasgow, Hilda and Herga, designed for treacherous conditions. Hilda was lost on a reef near Port Hacking in 1893; Herga continued working through the life of the jetty mine.
Storms, expansion, and mine managers
In June 1878, just six months after opening, huge seas destroyed several outer spans of the jetty. The entire structure was rebuilt three feet higher. The jetty bore the full force of the ocean regularly — in June 1881 it was severely damaged again, closing the mine for four months. Another storm caused considerable damage in 1904.
Hale continued developing the site with a large working platform, boiler plant, workshop, stores, stables, and offices (visible in historic photographs). A second adit was established for ventilation, and a furnace-type ventilation shaft was built level with the former Lawrence Hargrave Drive.
In 1880, Charles Harper replaced Hale as manager. Harper would later be instrumental in founding the Camp Creek mine and the township soon named Helensburgh. In 1883, Charles Stuart (nephew of Alexander Stuart) replaced Harper. A miners’ strike in 1882 was settled when Alexander Stuart conceded three pence per ton above other mines — Harper is remembered for his fairness in those negotiations.
Changing fortunes and ownership
From 1883 to 1885 Alexander Stuart was Premier of New South Wales. Coal demand fell and underselling was rife. Despite early success, Stuart died in 1886 financially ruined by the Jetty Mine, which he had kept running at a loss. After his death the property passed to his wife Christiana, who died in August 1889. The company was then incorporated; partners Sir John Robertson and Charles Cowper took control of the Coalcliff and Land Company Ltd in 1890.
The opening of the Illawarra Railway Line on 3 October 1888 brought stiff competition — other mines could rail coal to Wollongong or Sydney.
In 1892 Ebenezer Vickery acquired the colliery estate and two ships, and decided to develop a shaft. In March 1893 he banded with other local mine owners to form the Southern Coal Owners’ Agency. Legal ownership passed to E Vickery & Sons Ltd in 1902 and Coalcliff Colliers Ltd in 1909 — all controlled by the Vickery family until 1936.
Later years and closure
The last collier departed the Coalcliff Jetty Mine in 1912. A double-inlet, 77-inch-diameter Sirocco centrifugal fan, driven by two vertically mounted 17-inch × 9-inch-stroke single-cylinder steam engines, was installed at the jetty site. The Jetty Mine site continued to provide ventilation until production ceased in 1991 — a life of 114 years.
The multiple Jetty Mine entrances were sealed in concrete in 1992.
Sources & further reading
- Illawarra Coal — Coalcliff history
- Wollongong City Libraries — local studies
- Wikipedia — Clifton, New South Wales
- Flotilla Australia — coal shipping records
- Wind Beneath His Wings: Lawrence Hargrave at Stanwell Park — Michael Adams
- Lawrence Hargrave of Stanwell Park — W.G. McDonald