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Wollongong's tourism industry has opened the Southern Gateway Centre, a much-awaited shopfront to Wollongong in a futuristic new building located at Bulli Tops, offering sweeping views of the city and South Coast.

The complex was built at a cost of $11 million and funded by three levels of government and private investment.

It contains a visitor information centre run by Tourism Wollongong, a stylish Indian restaurant, Altitude 1148 and the Jumbulla Aboriginal Discovery Centre, set up by the local Dharawal people to showcase the regionâs rich Aboriginal heritage.

One of only six tourist gateways in New South Wales, the Southern Gateway Centre is positioned just off the F6 Southern Freeway above Wollongong and just 45 minutes from Sydney. It is designed to encourage travellers on the busy coastal run to take time out in the Wollongong and South Coast Region.

State-of-the-art digital interactive touch screens enable visitors to create their own itineraries and research a wide range of activities, attractions, cultural experiences and accommodation options.

Tourism Wollongong staff are on hand to provide personal advice, and information on experiences and activities available in Wollongong and beyond including NSW newest driving route, Grand Pacific Drive, which snakes along the coast just below the Centre.

Advanced technology is also used by the Jumbulla Aboriginal Centre to encourage increased awareness for the worldâs oldest surviving culture, with four theatrettes offering digital glass and water screen technology linked to audio-visual narrations based on four main themes - Welcome to our Country, The Land, The Family and Togetherness.

Children are looked after with an on-screen Hairy Man story while a bush track walk will offer trekkers a first-hand look at Aboriginal hunting, bush tucker and bush medicine skills along an escarpment track used over thousands of years by the Dharawal people, whose lands stretch from Botany Bay south to Shoalhaven and inland to Picton.

Tourism Wollongong General Manager Greg Binskin said that the opening of the Centre marked a new era for the tourism industry in Wollongong stating "Wollongong has seen visitor numbers double in the past decade, and the centre will not only enhance that growth but also become an attraction in its own right while providing jobs for approximately 45 staff from the region."

Binskin said the centreâs viewing platform offers stunning panoramic views from the Five Islands all the way to Lake Illawarra taking in the escarpment, beaches and Wollongongâs lighthouses and providing a sneak preview of things to do and see along the south coast.

For more information go to www.jumbulla.com.au

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