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   Ball's Bulli Steam Cordial Works, Woonona about 1928
IN his twilight years a stalwart of local business sat in his invalid chair on a verandah, set back from the main road, watching the world go by cheerfully waving to friends as they passed. His name was Thomas Ball an Englishman who made quite a name for himself making cordials and running the Woonona pub. The year was 1925 and in his early 70s he had retired to his daughter’s grand home, The Villa, located on the present site of Magnolia Green housing estate where Bulli meets Woonona. He had witnessed the district grow from sleepy villages, when horses ruled the roads, into a bustling industrial and tourist centre, and sat, an old man, peering at the occasional motor vehicle as it passed. The Villa, with its beautiful and expansive gardens, sat behind the present Magnolia tree, opposite Bulli Police Station, and was where this enterprising businessman finally breathed his last. 
Thomas Ball was born in Lawley Hannah was in her early 20s, the 1880s were about to dawn, and Thomas gained work in the Illawarra’s coal mines, later going into business for himself in road contracts. The innovative Englishman later tried his hand as a general carrier in the early 1880s, tucking enough money away to buy a parcel of land beside a creek at Woonona he considered an ideal spot to brew cordials. Ball’s cordials, with their famous bull’s head logos, would become celebrated throughout the state after he began the “Bulli Steam Cordial Factory” on the present western side of the  Ball's Woonona Royal Hotel in the 1920s
By the late 1880s Thomas had seven children under the age of 10 to feed and his cordial business was paying well. Just three years after he participated in the 1887 Bulli Colliery disaster, which claimed 81 lives, tragedy struck a little closer to home. An explosion in his cordial factory tragically killed his one-year-old twins, Walter and Violet in 1893. Thomas became a foundation member of the Woonona Bowling Club the following year and in 1895 he tackled a new business venture. The Queens Hotel at The enterprising couple, now with 16 children, decided to take a well earned break in the late 1890s and toured On his return he embarked on his biggest business venture buying an old timber coaching inn at Woonona known as the Bulli Royal Hotel. In 1901, at the age of 46, he purchased the inn and sports paddock from the Ziem’s estate at a He had grand plans for the site and in 1903 he built a new brick two storey 11 bedroom pub on the site and upgraded the sports paddock. Ball’s Paddock would become famous in the sporting community hosting international soccer matches and major events until reclaimed for housing in the 1980s. The new Royal Hotel also became a landmark in the district for the following 80 years before it was demolished and replaced with a McDonald’s restaurant. Thomas Ball leased the premises, while manufacturing cordials at Woonona, finally hosting the popular miners’ pub himself in 1908. Besides thirsty coalminers, tourism played a major role in the success of the Royal Hotel and Thomas was an active member of the South Coast Tourist Union. He was part of a deputation securing Sunday trains to the Illawarra to improve tourism to the Hannah again took the role as manager at the cordial factory while Thomas hosted the pub before she fell ill in 1913. Thomas gave-up selling the hard drinks and returned to the soft drinks the same year. Hannah died in 1914 aged 60 and was buried in In his final years he lived with his daughter Lillian Lansdowne at The Villa before his death on He was laid to rest, at one of the largest funerals witnessed in the district, beside his wife. He left 12 children, 35 grandchildren and six great grandchildren to mourn his loss.
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