'Deep, rumbling' earthquake shook Goulburn, with tremors in Wollongong

The 3.9 magnitude struck 10 kilometres underground at Taralga, around 30 kilometres north of Goulburn, at 6.41am on Thursday, May 23.

By midday, 497 people across NSW had reported they felt the earthquake, Geoscience Australia's quake survey reports.

Tremors were felt in Wollongong, which is around 100 kilometres west (as the crow flies) from Taralga. Reports were also received of tremors in Kangaroo Valley, Jervis Bay, and as far west as Young and south towards Canberra.

Anne Oliver, who lives at Run-O-Waters just south of Goulburn, told the Canberra Times she was awake when she heard the earthquake.

"It was a low, deep rumbling sound, very noisy," she said.

"It lasted for one or two seconds, and there was a shudder towards the front of the house."

There's been more than 250 earthquakes within a 100 kilometre radius of this area during the past 20 years, most have been small with around 20 of them a magnitude of three or higher, Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Hadi Ghasemi said.

Generally damage starts to occur with earthquakes of at least four magnitude, however it depends on where the quake hits - the more built up the environment the more chance of damage.

So far this year, the Seismology Research Centre has reported at least 10 earthquakes greater than 2.5 in magnitude.

The most prominent was a 3.6 magnitude earthquake in the Blue Mountains region on March 8.