The coal company, Australian Iron & Steel, donated land in Kembla Heights to the local Council to be used as a recreation area circa 1953 (1.3.1954 South Coast Times).   

"A Joint Coal Board grant to City Council of £600 will be used to construct a bowling green in Kembla Heights Recreation Area. The site for the green has been selected..." (Illawarra Daily Mercury 2.7.1953)

The first club house was oriented adjacent to Church lane, east-west, right next door to the Kembla Heights Methodist Church. The club purchased a building from Spoonerville Housing Settlement at Pork Kembla from Council for 65 pounds which was later refunded (27.9.1954 South Coast Times).

The current club house, oriented north-south, was built in 1956. 

Photograph by R. Munn courtesy of Helen Upton on Kembla Jottings.

The community hall at Kembla Heights was opened on the 19th of November 1955 and cost about 10,000 pounds. It was opened to community fan fare with streamers and pipe players by Mr Fowles M.L.A.

"COMUNITY HALL FOR KEMBLA HTS.

The Joint Coal Board has been approached toy the Southern Zone Committee for the grant of £4,250 towards the construction of a Community Hall at Kembla Heights.

The estimated cost of the project is £8,500, of which Council will contribute £34250 and , the local community £1000"

South Coast Times 6.12.1954

Image courtesy of the Mt Kembla Mining Heritage Inc collection. 

Mt Kembla Colliery owned by Australian Iron and Steel closed down operations in Kembla Heights on the 18th of September 1970. It closed having yielded 14 million tons of coal in 90 years. 

Image published by the Illawarra Mercury 28th July 1968 to mark the end of Contract Mining. 

Mt Kembla Public School new school building was officially opened by Ian C. Young the Director of Education, South Coast Area, on Saturday the 5th of October 1973. The new double story school building was built on the site of the original Violet Hill weather board building along with a quadrangle/basket ball area that later became the COLA. Cost of the new school building was $98,479, built by Building Construction and Maintenance Branch of the Public Works Department.

Mt Kembla and Kembla Heights were zoned as a village by Wollongong City Council. 

Image from the collections of Wollongong City Council Library Illawarra Images. 

Mt Kembla Heritage Centre was a community keeping place from January 2008, until it closed in June 2018 after operating for over a decade. It was born out of the 2002 Mt Kembla Mining Heritage Festival where community members began to collect stories, images and artefacts about local history. For more information visit their web site.