Belmore Basin, Wollongong Fishing Port. NSW. Australia.
S 34° 25.260 E 150° 54.400
56H E 307628 N 6189175
Sheltering beside the two lighthouses in Wollongong, the historic convict-built Belmore Basin is currently used as the port for the locally based commercial fishing fleet.
Waymark Code: WMT4YK
Location: New South Wales, Australia
Date Posted: 09/26/2016
Views: 6
To the east of the city lies Flagstaff Point, a rocky headland with eroded low cliffs topped by a grassy hill. The northern side of the point was excavated by convict labour to form Belmore Basin.
History of Belmore Basin: (
visit link)
The substantially completed Basin was officially flooded and opened on Tuesday 6th October 1868 and is cited as one of the greatest events in the history of Wollongong.
The Basin is currently used as the port for the locally based commercial fishing fleet and safe mooring for recreational boats. Facilities around the Basin include the Fishermen's Cooperative receival facility and retail sales, slipway and workshops, restaurant and cafes and headquarters of the local Australian Volunteer Coastal Patrol.
The Harbour is now used by fishermen, with trawlers unloading at the Fishermen’s Co-op. Here fish are weighed, iced, tagged and placed in the cool room, before awaiting road transport to markets or the local processing factory owned by Better Choice Fisheries. The boats go out to sea for about 16 hours each day to their designated fishing ground. A proportion of the catch is sold locally, however, the majority is sold at the Sydney Fish Markets. The tuna fleet also operates out of the harbour for up to 6 months of the year, as they follow the seasonal migration. The tuna is not handled by the Co-op as the main product is sashimi, and is subject to specific food handling requirement for raw food products.