A group of academics from Queensland are studying the "rich musical history" of Wollongong, comparing it to international scenes of Detroit and Liverpool.
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Griffith University research fellow Raphael Nowak is in Wollongong this week to research the local music scene and talk to some of the participants.
He's part of a team that also includes Professor Sarah Baker and research fellow Zelmarie Cantillon.
While he's based in Queensland, he has been out to see a few bands in Wollongong.
"I do have a friend in Wollongong, who I met 10 years ago," Dr Nowak says.
"He's not a local, he got a job at the university in 2008. So I started coming to Wollongong back in 2010 and I'm pretty sure I went to the Oxford once or twice."
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And he reckons it's worth letting people know how significant the Oxford Tavern was to the city.
"It's good if people know that there was this place that was actually very iconic and inclusive," he says.
"A place that had so many bands playing. And they were paying the bands as well - that's actually very significant, especially in this cultural economy."
Wollongong's scene was deemed worthy of study, in part because of the steelworks.
"We're looking at places that have, number one, a very rich musical history - and that is the case of Wollongong - and, two, which have a known de-industrialising trajectory over the last 20 or 30 years.
"What we are talking about here is the steelworks and it is not what it used to be in the '80s."
The idea is that a focus on a music scene could help to break up a dominant narrative of a city undergoing a downturn, could give the people something to feel positive about their city.
And when it comes to Wollongong, Dr Nowak has found plenty of people choose to stay rather than head up the road to Sydney.
"There are many people who choose to stay in Wollongong and clearly that's saying something," he said.
"People want to stay here and creative people want to stay here."