The suburb is planned on a north-south residential/commercial strip and the east west streets that adjoin it, making a rectangular pattern.
Cringila Community Park is a 78 ha site purchased by Wollongong City Council after residents defeated a proposal by BHP to use the land as a dump for industrial waste. Its main purpose is to regenerate the local area's natural wildlife. Surrounding Cringila's primary school is a protected rain forest.
A fraction of Cringila is the Port Kembla steelworks, which is a major local employer. This led to an influx of ethnic groups, primarily Macedonian, Portuguese, Turks and Lebanese. This in turn transformed the demographics of Cringila significantly and at the 2001 census more people lived in households where Macedonian was spoken (31.8%) than in households where only English was spoken (24.6%), making it the only suburb in Australia where this was true.[2] However, at the 2021 census only 16.2% of the population lived in households where Macedonian was spoken and 40.8% lived in households where only English was spoken.[1]
History
The word Cringila is an Aboriginal name - the town was formerly called Steeltown. In 1928 the first blast furnace opened up at the Port Kembla steelworks.[3]
In 1935, the first public school opened, it was known as Steel Town School.[3] In 1957, Cringila Primary School opened.[3]
Cringila also has a local football (soccer) team which participates in the local Illawarra Premier League. They are supported strongly by the Macedonian community of Cringila and Wollongong. They play their local games at their home ground at John Crehan Park, Merrett Avenue, Cringila. In 2008 Cringila had finished 4th in the local Illawarra Premier League and also won the Corrimal League cup which also led to greater success in winning the Bert Bampton Cup. Cringila Lions have a strong rivalry with Wollongong United also backed heavily by the Macedonian community.
At the 2021 census, Cringila had a total population of 2,156 with 1,148 (53.2%) born in Australia and a median age of 38. Their country of birth was as follows:[1]
Country of birth
Number
Percentage of total inhabitants
Australia
1,148
53.2%
Macedonia
272
12.6%
Lebanon
139
6.4%
Syria
61
2.8%
Turkey
39
1.8%
Portugal
28
1.3%
40.8% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic 18.1% and Macedonian 16.2%. The most common responses for religion were Islam 29.1%, No Religion 20.1%, Eastern Orthodox 14.8%, Catholic 13.2% and Not stated 7.1%.[1]
