Residents of a tiny town near Sydney have described being “lifted” and shaken during a surprise earthquake on a sleepy Sunday afternoon.

The earthquake struck the Appin region, about 75 kilometres south-west of Sydney, about 2.05pm.

Geoscience Australia says the seismic movement occurred at a depth of about three kilometres.

The jolt was felt in the nearby town of Douglas Park, with reports also coming from neighbouring Ambarvale, Rosemeadow and as far away as Wollongong.

Residents told the Nine Network of an enormous jolt that set dogs barking and made houses shake.

“It was a very loud bang and it literally lifted me up,” one local woman said.

Another woman said the unusual occurrence was frightening.

“The house shook. .. I literally got scared because the windows rattled and everything.”

A resident joked she thought it was “doomsday”.

Geoscience Australia said there had been 48 small earthquakes in the region in the past decade, with the biggest in 2017.

Senior seismologist with Geoscience Australia Hadi Ghasemi told the ABC it was a shallow event that was unlikely to have caused damage to structures.

“We generally consider it a small earthquake,” Mr Ghasemi said.

“For people close to the epicentre, it would have felt like a short, sharp movement followed by a few more … which pass very quickly.”

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Mr Ghasemi said at least 48 similar quakes had occurred within a 100-kilometre radius during the past 10 years – “all small and shallow”.

Wollondilly mayor Matt Gould said it was the strongest earthquake in Appin’s recent history.

“It’s not often but occasionally we do feel them,” Mr Gould told News Corp.

“We had one in Appin last year but this one would be the strongest in recent history.

“We’d probably get one every other year.”