Day 219 Port Augusta (Whyalla), SA

It turned out to be quite an interesting day.  We had two tours booked at Whyalla and left Cowell right on the dot of 7am to arrive in Whyalla for our first tour, the Whyalla Steelworks Site Tour.  You have to book these tours well in advance as they sell out very quickly.  Our tour guide, Bob, was very informed and loved his town very much.  Whyalla has a history of boom and bust.  The steelworks commenced in 1965 and after building 66 ships the steelworks closed in 1975.  They re-opened in 2000 under the OneSteel name but in 2012 the name became Arrium and that company went into receivership in 2016.  The steelworks is now owned by Liberty Primary Steel.

Before we arrived at the Steelworks we were taken to a lookout that gave us incredible views over Whyalla and the harbour area.  There is a brand new jetty with quite a unique design.  No straight lines on this jetty!

The town is surprisingly large but then again Whyalla has a population of 22,000 so it is not exactly a small town.  Our guide told us that rather than having four separate high schools they have all recently been amalgamated into a brand new high tech "super" school.  An indication perhaps that Whyalla is progressing forward.

As we leave our lookout point and make our way to the steelworks we drive past the harbour and some lovely parklands.  It is not long until we arrive at the steelworks.  The first thing that you notice is the red dust from the iron ore.  It is a familiar sight after travelling through the Pilbara region of Western Australia.  That red dust clings to everything and it would drive me mad trying to live with it.  The tour of the steelworks was interesting, more so for Philip than me.  Our guide throws around words like Slag Disposal, Coke Oven Push,  Coke Hot Car, BOS Furnace, Combo Caster, Blast Furnace, Rolling Mill, Treadwell Iron Pour.  These things mean little to me but Philip new exactly what he was talking about.  The Whyalla Steelworks are spread out over 1000 hectares (10 square kilometres).  It is a massive site.  There is expansion planned because during Covid19 the whole of Australia became painfully aware of just how little manufacturing we now do in Australia and there is now a big government push to bring back the manufacturing to our own shores.  The steelworks produce things like rail sleepers, H Beam, I Beam and Angle to name a few.  All steel is pre-ordered and made to purchaser specifications.

The tour went for and hour and a half and we arrived back in time for our next tour, HMAS Whyalla, with a half hour to spare.  We wandered through the lovely gardens at the visitor centre where HMAS Whyalla sits proudly and made our way to the Whyalla Model Railway housed inside the Whyalla Maritime Museum.  What fun!  It is a fantastic model railway - one of the best I have ever seen.  There are two sides to it.  One depicts the Steelworks and its operation and the other side shows Whyalla and the surrounding districts.  I loved watching the model Ghan Train.

We wasted a half hour watching those trains go round and round 😂 so we had to hot foot it back to HMAS Whyalla for our tour.  HMAS Whyalla was the first ship built at the Whyalla Steelworks in 1941 and was sold to the Victorian Public Works after the war.  She was bought from VPW for the princely sum of $5000 in 1987 and is now a landlocked museum ship. HMAS Whyalla was a minesweeper, hence the flat bottom of the ship, and it would not have been a comfortable journey for the 120 personnel who sailed upon her.  She would be continually rolling from side to side.  I loved the tour, even though we only got to explore two of the decks as there as maintenance being carried out on the top decks.  I cannot believe the the cook could prepare meals for 120 people from this tiny little kitchen.

The type of mine that HMAS Whyalla would seed to destroy

The tour went for around a half hour but our tour guide was very knowledgeable and we learnt a lot about the history of HMAS Whyalla.  How fantastic that this ship now sits proudly in the spot where she commenced her illustrious life.

It is only a 70km journey from Whyalla to Port Augusta where we are staying for two nights.  From my seat inside the caravan I am looking out onto the magnificent Flinders Ranges.  I will try and get out of bed early tomorrow to see if I can get a photo for you.  We have a couple of things to look at here in Port Augusta but I will leave that for another post.