In late October 1968, a series of bushfires hit the Illawarra. It has gone down in history as Black Monday - October 28.

But that tag is misleading, as it makes appear as as though the threat lasted a single day.

There were fires in Albion Park and Scarborough in September. In October, before Black Monday, fire crews battled blazes at Stanwell Park and Stanwell Tops, Waterfall and Appin.

The Illawarra wasn't alone; in an eerie echo of the current crisis, in late 1968 there were also large fires burning on the South Coast and the Blue Mountains.

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The fires in the Illawarra would continue burning in inaccessible terrain west of the city for more than a week.

In early November, unfavourable winds would push the fire over Mt Ousley Road and towards Wollongong. Exhausted fire crews managed to contain the fire and save the city.

What became Black Monday started over the weekend with a fire heading towards Kembla Heights on Saturday.

The village was protected but the fire made its way towards Dapto and Farmborough Heights.

Saturday also saw fires at Buttenshaw Drive at Coledale, with the local Bushfire Brigade and residents battling the flames.

"It was an eerie sensation climbing the mountainside with the fire blazing," said firefighter Bill Rorison. "The whole hillside was alight."

The following day was Black Monday, where those fires kept burning and a fresh one started up sweeping through Bellambi, Russell Vale, Woonona and Bulli.

"At midnight," the Illawarra Mercury wrote, "the whole coastal range from Unanderra to Coledale was still ablaze after a day of absolute disaster and chaos."

Gahans Avenue at Woonona was the location of one of many battles that day as fires tore through bushland near homes.

Violent winds fanned the flames as high as 30 metres in the air and home owners in the-then sparsely populated street figured their homes were done for.

"By 1.30pm many residents had taken the complete contents of their homes into the street," the Mercury reported.

"They sat huddled on the footpath surrounded by armchairs, television sets, radios, bedding, tables and kitchenware. Many wept openly."

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With water running low, fire crews resorted to using sacks and branches to beat back the flames and save the homes before moving to the next fireground.

Twenty-five homes were lost that Monday, many of them along Bulli Pass, which was ablaze from top to bottom.

"Ten homes were wiped out on Bulli Pass where flames cut a swathe down the mountain," the Mercury reported.

Photos would show the cruel randomness of the flames, with some houses razed while their neighbour's was left standing.

At Bulli Hospital surgeons continued with an operation while hundreds of volunteers fought back a fire just outside.

Woonona-Bulli RSL would be one of many institutions opening their doors to the homeless and emergency services.

The club would also send food and several kegs of beer to the Woonona fireground.

In Coledale Heights 68-year-old Elizabeth Price suffered third-degree burns to her arms in a failed effort to save her house.

"I know my attempts to try and stop the fire were feeble and useless," she said.

"But I couldn't just stand there and do nothing. We did what we could but every time we put out one fire sparks started up another one."

Three aged care facilities - at Mt Keira, Thirroul and Figtree - were evacuated and hundreds of children in areas affected by fire were kept at school rather than sent home.

Barry and Nancy Weekes and their four children aged between one and eight - and a fifth due in November - lost almost everything when their Lachlan Street, Thirroul, rental property burned on Monday afternoon.

"I managed to get only one or two things before I could see the flames," Barry said from their temporary accommodation at the Fairy Meadow migrant hostel.

"I ran like mad and when I looked back there was only a great sheet of flame. That's my home, I thought, and I felt like crying."

WIN Television, which was broadcasting regular fire updates in several languages for the migrant community, lost its film library when embers from the Farmborough Heights fire set nearby grass alight.

"TV personalities Ron Ross, Terry Moore and Allan Hoy headed the studio firefighters," the Mercury reported.

"Studio girls and office employees formed a bucket brigade to stop the burning grass from spreading to homes on the western side of Iris Avenue, Coniston."

By the end of the week, the threat had abated, except in the hard-to-reach bushland over the escarpment.

That would threaten the city in the first days of November when a two-kilometre firefront jumped Mt Ousley Road where weary firefighters had to again step up.

No-one would die in the Illawarra fires but 36 homes would be lost, from Coledale down to Figtree.

Fundraising appeals would be launched, with the Wollongong Mayor's appeal raising $34,000 in the two days since it was launched the day after Black Monday.

Sadly, some would look to take advantage of others' misfortune. Brothers Kenneth and Cecil Puckeridge would be caught looting homes in Bulli and Thirroul.

Kenneth went to jail for a year, while his brother got a suspended sentence.

Also, some employers threatened to sack volunteer firefighters or not pay their wages if they didn't return to work.

The employers' stance quickly changed when it was impressed upon them how unpopular a decision that would be.

And in an echo of today's bushfire emergency, issues such as payment of volunteers and sourcing water bombers from Canada were raised in the wake of the 1968 fires.