EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Wollongong City Council commissioned Lawson and Treloar (now Cardno Lawson
Treloar) to undertake a Floodplain Risk Management Plan for Allans Creek. The Allans Creek catchment and floodplain is a highly urbanised area within the Wollongong City Council local government area. The catchment of 42 km2 lies to the south west of the Wollongong CBD and rises up to the Illawarra escarpment.

The main natural tributaries that drain the catchment are:

• Allans Creek
• American Creek
• Brandy and Water Creek (and tributary)
• Branch Creek (and tributary)
• Byarong Creek
• Charcoal Creek (and tributaries)
• Ghost Creek
• Jenkins Creek
• Nudjia Creek
• Running Brook.

Development of Port Kembla Harbour in the mid 1900s has resulted in the lowland and former estuarine areas of the Allans Creek catchment being more modified than
in any other catchment of the Illawarra region (Forbes Rigby, 2002).

In the majority of other areas the creeks are in a natural condition but their integrity is
compromised by the impacts of catchment development.

Major transport routes through the catchment include the F6 Freeway, the Princes Highway and the Illawarra Railway Line. These major links cross the various tributary creeks with bridges and/or culverts, which are major controls to flooding.