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Olympic BMX champ Saya awarded OAM

After winning gold in women’s BMX at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Saya Sakakibara has now been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the general division for her service to sport.

Stanwell Park’s Supt Greg Houston awarded top firefighting medal

A Stanwell Park resident has received one of the highest honours in firefighting, the Australian Fire Service Medal (AFSM). Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) Superintendent Gregory Houston is one of 732 people celebrated in the Australia Day honours list for 2025, which marks the 50th anniversary of our system to thank remarkable citizens for their contributions.

Genevieve Swart

OAM for Illawarra Hawks’ head of medical services, Phil Driscoll

Wollongong local Phillip Driscoll has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division for service to sport through medical roles. “I feel deeply honoured, shocked, stunned, all those words you can think of, I’m all of those...

Tyneesha Williams

Couple awarded for service to the Vietnamese community

Wollongong locals Hong-Phong Le and Teresa Tran have been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the general division for service to the Vietnamese community of Australia.

Tyneesha Williams

Nan Tien Temple to host joyful Lunar New Year Celebration

In the Year of the Wood Snake (2025), from January 28 to February 2, Nan Tien Temple warmly invites you and your family to join us in celebrating the Lunar New Year. This special occasion brings the community together in a spirit of unity, reverence, and joy.

The Illawarra Flame

Revived Coledale club collects top NSW volunteer gong

Broke and closed just a couple of years ago Coledale RSL Club is going gangbusters. Powered and led by volunteers, the small and friendly seaside club now is not only the toast of northern Illawarra locals and visitors from afar as never before in...

Calling boaters and jet skiers: Take ORRCA’s survey to help whales and dolphins

The Illawarra coastline is home to an incredible array of marine life, including whales, dolphins and seals. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the protection of these marine mammals by the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans...

Shellharbour Mayor steps up to support iconic escarpment walking track

A bold plan, dating back more than 50 years, to create an epic world-class walking track along the Illawarra escarpment has a new champion in Shellharbour Mayor, Chris Homer. The proposal, first raised in the early 1970s by the South Coast...

Street activation: A call for shade trees, traffic buffers and urban seating

Outside of the gobsmackingly beautiful coastline we live on, the other great thing about where we live is the community. During the last Illawarra Festival of Architecture & Design (IFAD), I met so many engaged people interested in our local...

Thirroul Village Committee’s January update

Close on 40 residents attended the final meeting of 2024, held on November 24. It was an action-packed meeting during which an update was provided about ongoing issues by the local member for Heathcote, Maryanne Stuart. Bulli Hospital staff car park...

After decades waiting, new hope for a cafe/visitors centre at Wollongong Botanic Garden

A campaign running more than four decades that would see a permanent cafe built in Wollongong’s Botanic Garden appears to be edging closer to reality. This story dates back to the 1970s and the Illawarra Flame thanks members of the Friends of...

Youth vote will be crucial in the upcoming election: Maddy Yerbury

As speculation continues about exactly when Australia will go to the polls in the 2025 federal election, young voters are uniting to demand their concerns are heard as the political parties and would be politicians pitch for our votes. One such...

Sub-branch receives grant to restore war memorial in Thirroul

By Will Lee, president of Austinmer Thirroul RSL Sub-Branch Since 2021, $18,000 has been spent on a Conservation Report and subsequent restoration work to the Thirroul World War 1 Memorial in Woodward Memorial Park. The preservation work completed...

The Illawarra Flame

Lord Mayor’s Column: Now is the time to be fire ready

By Wollongong Lord Mayor Councillor Tania Brown It’s hard seeing the images and footage of the horrendous fires sweeping across California right now and to comprehend the huge scale of the event they’re experiencing. As a community, our hearts...

The Illawarra Flame

UOW fire expert says destructive LA fires reinforce we now face a Global Fire Crisis and Australia could be next

While recent rains in the Illawarra may have reduced any immediate bushfire risk this summer, experts from the University of Wollongong (UOW) say the devastating wildfires in California demonstrate there is no cause for complacency, especially as...

Former Kiama mayor reenergises vision for iconic escarpment walk to rival anything in the world

“Our vision is to create a spectacular, iconic walking track which would rival any other in Australia.” It’s now more than 50 years since former Kiama mayor and prominent community volunteer Neville Fredericks first heard of the vision for...

Fire Safety and Property: What every Illawarra buyer should know

By local planning and design expert Andy Sharp Each summer, the picturesque suburbs of the Illawarra, including my own postcode 2515, face the heightened reality of bushfire risk, a challenge shared by many communities along the escarpment. This...

The Illawarra Flame

WIN News legends reunite and share memories of a special time in local television history

Four decades ago, they were Wollongong and the Illawarra’s top A-listers. Over the summer break, former WIN-TV (Channel 4) news anchors, Michael McRae and Susie Elelman reunited at a television reunion with former colleagues. In the late 70s and...

NIRAG/NF3 Report: Goal to create a ‘green corridor’

Last year in August our community group, the Northern Illawarra Residents Action Group (NIRAG) celebrated 40 years since forming in 1984 as a reaction to proposals to construct 40m high Coal Bins at Sandon Point, Bulli. Since 1988 the group became...

Thank you Illawarra for supporting the Torres Strait’s Ride Revolution

In November the Illawarra Flame shared the story of a remarkable Port Kembla mum who had started a ‘Ride Revolution’ on the Torres Strait Islands where her husband is working. A keen cyclist herself, mother-of-two Sarah Tedder began a fundraiser to...

January’s Neighbourhood Forum 1 Report

New Helensburgh Community Centre and Library With little information available from Council except that Council wants to build the new centre only on the two vacant blocks, and sell the blocks the current library is on, the hall will have a maximum...

Thirroul Village Committee looks back on 2024

Formal results of the survey will be published in the next couple of weeks and will be available on the Solidvoid and Urban Talk websites. This is just the start of a long process. It is anticipated that a workshop will be held in the first quarter...

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