History

First Nations Kiama

A brief history of the First Nations communities of the Illawarra, including local place name meanings, resources and maps

There's no time like the present to find your past. Our history centre, located on the ground floor of Kiama Library, offers rare and unique local history and specialist family history resources, and assistance to help you with your research projects.

Family history

Need help getting started? Here are some useful tips, research methods and resources.

Photographs, stories, oral histories, and more

Explore our rich local history collection of photographs, local history stories, oral histories and other resources.

Kiama & Illawarra convict heritage

Over 160,000 convicts were transported to Australia between 1787 and 1868. Of those, around 1000 lived in and worked within the district of Kiama District at some point in their lives. The Kiama Library history centre has extensive records of our convict past - here are some of their stories ...

WWI local history

Find out about the local soldiers who enlisted, recruitment marches and training camps, and more.

Walking tours, monuments and heritage plaques

Step back in time and take a walk around our town. Learn about the history of some of the beautiful old buildings, through words, photos and oral histories.