I recently spent some time near the small seaport town of Whyalla in South Australia. Located some 384km from Adelaide the town boasts a rich heritage in steel production and ship building and is South Australia's third most populated city in South Australia behind Adelaide and Mount Gambier with almost 22,000 people. The town is literally built on steel production with massive steel mills and supporting infrastructure in an around the town and a large port accommodating for steel transport ships. It's called the Steel City, an apt name.
Recently the company that ran the steel plant went out of business plunging the town into financial chaos and an uncertain future. Well, it wasn't exactly uncertain, it was simply bleak. House prices dropped over night, businesses went bankrupt and closed and the population started relocating elsewhere to find jobs.
Enter British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta and his purchase of Arrium saving the day, and thousands of jobs, in and around Whyalla. Mr Gupta has saved 25 steel mills, car plants and engineering workshops around the United Kingdom and has fortunately turned his focus to Whyalla and Arrium. It means many jobs have been saved and I have even read that he expects the population of the city to boom to close to 100,000!...I'm not sure that will happen however if anyone can make it happen Mr Gupta can. One step at a time Sanjeev.
As you can see from the images the town sits right on the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula and offers some spectacular coastal waters for recreation and fishing as well as an excellent steel mill and supporting infrastructure. The image above shows the steel mill and a train unloading ore and the image below right is of the dock where the steel transport ships load the steel bound mainly for China. About 1.2 million tonnes of steel is produced in the mill and is distributed by rail, road and of course, sea. The image to the right shows the view over the swimming beach directly in front of the sexy blonde girl. The small yacht club is further to the left, visible in the first (main) picture above.
The town itself boasts a large and well-equiped hospital and specialist centre, nursing home, schools, sporting clubs and shopping district. The main street, pictured below, is typical of a sleepy Aussie town however there are large retail areas located away from the main street housing some of Australia's most successful businesses. The image below was taken on Boxing Day right after Christmas so there's not much traffic. During the week it's a bustling retail hub catering for every need residents and visitors may have. The people who live here lead simple lives, or at least slower ones, than those in large cities but they tend to be happy, welcoming and easy-going by nature. They enjoy their water sports: Sailing, fishing, skiing and swimming and are grateful for the fact the Arrium steel mill has been saved from ruination.
Australia is dotted with towns like this, bastions of industry and home of the working class man and woman. Through bad management, rising costs, lower demand or other economic forces they die a slow, or sometimes fast, death. I'm pleased to say that Whyalla has been saved from that fate and should thrive through the rise of the Arrium steel mill led by Mr Gupta.
If you happen to be travelling in this area, possibly on your way from Adelaide to Perth make sure you plan a stop in Whyalla. A couple of days should be enough. There is excellent accommodation options in motels, hotels and a couple of caravan and cabin parks. There is also a lot to do including boating, swimming, learning about historical ship building past and of course the steel mill. I believe tours are available of certain plants which would be interesting and there's several great look outs so take your camera.
Small towns like this tell a story, of our past , and hint at our future. If we drive right by them at 110kph the town loses the opportunity to tell its story and you lose the chance to understand the country you live in just a little bit more. The next time you are passing by, Whyalla, or any other small town, take the time to stop and understand it or buy something to help the locals make ends meet. If we don't support them they will disappear and that would be a tragedy.
