From tents to mansions: see homes through history

As part of the National Trust Heritage Festival, a new photographic exhibition showcases everything from tents to mansions, write librarians Jenny McConchie and Jo Oliver

Wollongong City Library is hosting a photographic exhibition, Illawarra Houses & Homes, on level 1 of the library and online.

The exhibition shows the variety of housing in the area over time, from Depression-era shacks, through to modern mansions.

The Great Depression left many unemployed and homeless. Makeshift camps of tents and humpies made of scrap iron and timber sprang up around Lake Illawarra and the beachfront near Port Kembla.

In 1935, the Stevens government replaced the camp at Flinders Street, Port Kembla with Spoonerville. Named after Eric Spooner, the NSW Housing Minister in charge of the project, Spoonerville was a settlement of over 70 cottages.

Houses had dirt floors and contained three bedrooms, a kitchen and bathroom off the kitchen. The only tap was in the bathroom and a fuel stove provided warmth. Winters in Spoonerville were chilly; houses only had 1m-high weatherboard walls, with canvas used to form the rest of the wall. There were no windows. Residents lined walls with old sacks to keep out the cold. If you were Mr Spooner, would you be proud to have this settlement named after you?

Do you have questions about your house? The library will hold a ‘Your Place’ presentation at Wollongong Library on Tuesday, April 18 from 10-11.30am. Local Studies specialists will show how to find historic information about local suburbs and houses using library resources. Go to the What’s On link on the library website to book.

If you have images of your house and would like to share with Wollongong City Libraries, email localhistory@wollongong.nsw.gov.au