The Illawarra Coal Miners' Mutual Protective Association was registered under the New South Wales Trade Union Act in December 1885. It was succeeded by the Illawarra Colliery Employees' Association formed in 1901.

The Illawarra Colliery Employees' Association succeeded the Illawarra Coal Miners' Mutual Protective Association in 1901 and had lodges in Bellambi, Mount Pleasant, Mount Kembla, South Bulli, Woonoona, Corrimal, South Clifton, and Coledale. The Balmain Sinkers' Association (1901) was also identified as its Balmain Branch.

The Amalgamated Miners' Association of Australasia was formed through a merger of the Amalgamated Miners' Association of Victoria and several other miners' associations including New South Wales unions. The Hunter River District Coalminers' Mutual Protective Association (1860), the Illawarra Miners' Mutual Protective Association (1885), and Lithgow unions became branches of the union. The Barrier Miners' Association (formed in Broken Hill in 1884) became the Barrier Branch of the union in 1886. The union was succeeded by the Australasian Coal and Shale Employees' Federation in 1916.

In 1916 the Australasian Coal Miners' Association changed its name to the Australasian Coal & Shale Employees' Federation. It operated until 1990 when it amalgamated with the Federated Mining Mechanics' Association of Australasia to form the United Mineworkers' Federation of Australia. Further amalgamations resulted in the Construction Forestry Mining & Energy Union in 1993.