Bowral and Mittagong are two of the three main towns in Wingecarribee Shire, which council describes as the Southern Highlands: about 2,700 km² of mostly rural land, much of it at or above 640 m, around 110 km south-west of Sydney, 70 km from Wollongong and 160 km from Canberra. Mittagong, with 6,090 people at the 2021 Census, is the gateway to the Highlands for anyone coming from Sydney. Bowral, with 10,764, is about 5 km further on and is the shire's main business and entertainment precinct, known for boutiques, antique shops, restaurants and cafés. Moss Vale is the third main town, and Berrima, Robertson and Bundanoon are villages with their own main streets. Mittagong's Highlands Marketplace complex, opened in 2007, takes in the site of the Fitzroy Iron Works, where smelting began in 1848.
Figures from economy.id put the shire's population at 53,840 and its gross regional product at $4.06 billion, with 25,610 local jobs and 6,641 registered businesses in 2025. Construction and health care are level as the largest employers, each with about 15.3% of local jobs, but construction's share is far above the 9.7% for NSW. Accommodation and food services (8.4% against 6.4% statewide), manufacturing (8.1%) and agriculture (3.7%, about double the state figure) also stand out. By business count, construction leads with 1,211, professional, scientific and technical services follow with 1,006, and 570 agricultural businesses make up 8.6% of the total.
Visitors shape the calendar. Tulip Time fills Corbett Gardens in Bowral each spring, the Bradman Museum and International Cricket Hall of Fame sit beside Bradman Oval, the Ngununnggula Regional Gallery is in Bowral, and wineries have operated around Mittagong since the 1980s. The Hume Highway has bypassed Mittagong since 1992 and the Southern Highlands Line stops at both towns, so people arrive by car or train, many just for the day. For a visitor who doesn't know the area, opening hours that are current, a map link and a menu or price list count for more than a long welcome.
Underneath the visitor trade is a settled local economy. At the 2021 Census, 70.2% of employed residents worked inside the shire and only 4% travelled to the City of Sydney for work. Bowral and District Hospital, founded in 1889, is the only hospital South Western Sydney Local Health District runs outside metropolitan Sydney, a private Ramsay hospital also operates in Bowral, and council lists a TAFE campus at Moss Vale and a University of Wollongong campus. Health care added 877 jobs between 2019/20 and 2024/25, more than any other industry, and construction added 766.
We're an Adelaide team and run Highlands projects by phone and email; we haven't yet built a site for a business in the shire. Trades will find detail on heritage areas, the drinking water catchment and bush fire mapping on our pages for Southern Highlands tradies and Highlands builders. Businesses that also work in Macarthur or the Illawarra can see our Campbelltown and Wollongong pages.