Whyalla was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916.
Whyallawas founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta is one of the three towns to make up the Iron Triangle. As at June 2018, Whyalla had an urban population of 21,742, having declined at an average annual rate of -0.75% year-on-year over the preceding five years. It is a seaport located on the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula and is known as the "Steel City" due to its integrated steelworks and shipbuilding heritage. The port of Whyalla has been exporting iron ore since 1903.
History
Whyalla is part of the Barngarla Aboriginal country.A mariner named William Morgan Burgoyne purportedly recommended the site for the establishment of a port on False Bay to Harry Morgan of BHP. Burgoyne had spent several weeks there on a trip out from Port Augusta hunting kangaroo with his brother and another man called Alf Rowarth. At that time there was no settlement between Middleback Station and the Point Lowly lighthouse and kangaroos were plentiful there.
Burgoyne recalled that the tug Florrie ferried a crew there a week later and pegged out the settlement first known as Hummocky. It was officially founded as Hummock's Hill in 1901 by the BHP Whyalla Tramway bringing iron ore from Iron Knob in the Middleback Range to sea. Its first shipment was transported across Spencer Gulf to Port Pirie where it was used in lead smelters as a flux. A jetty was built to transfer the ore and the first shipment was sent in 1903. The early settlement consisted of small cottages and tents clustered around the base of the hill. The Post Office opened in 1901 as Hummock's Hill.In 1905 the town's first school opened. It was originally called Hummock Hill School, and was subsequently renamed as Whyalla Primary School and Whyalla Higher Primary School. The school's current name is Whyalla Town Primary School.
The arid environment and lack of natural fresh water resources made it necessary to import water in barges from Port Pirie.
The Post Office was renamed Whyalla on 1 November 1919, and on 16 April 1920 the town was officially proclaimed with its new name. The ore conveyor on the jetty was improved, and the shipping of ore to the newly built Newcastle, New South Wales steelworks commenced. The town grew slowly prior to the development of steelmaking and shipbuilding facilities in the late 1930s.
The BHP Indenture Act was proclaimed in 1937 and provided the impetus for the construction of a blast furnace and harbour. In 1939 the blast furnace and harbour began to be constructed and a commitment for a water supply pipeline from the Murray River was made. A shipyard was built to provide ships for the Royal Australian Navy during World War II. The population began to rise rapidly and many new facilities, including a hospital and abattoirs, were built.
In 1941 the first ship from the new shipyard, HMAS Whyalla, was launched and the blast furnace became operational. By 1943 the population was more than 5,000. On 31 March 1943, the Morgan - Whyalla pipeline became operational. In 1945 the city came under combined company and public administration and the shipyard began producing commercial ships. In 1948, displaced persons began arriving from Europe increasing the cultural diversity of Whyalla.
In 1958 BHP decided to build an integrated steelworks at Whyalla and it was completed in 1965. In the following year, salt harvesting began and coke ovens were built. The population grew extremely rapidly, and the South Australian Housing Trust was building 500 houses each year to cope with the demand. Plans for a city of 100,000 were produced by the Department of Lands. A second water supply pipeline from Morgan was built to cope with the demand.
In 1970 the city adopted full local government status. Fierce competition from Japanese ship builders resulted in the closing of the shipyards in 1978, which were at the time the largest in Australia. From a peak population of 38,130 in 1976 the population dropped rapidly. A decline in the BHP iron and steel industry since 1981 also impacted employment.The BHP long products division was divested in 2000 to form OneSteel which is the sole producer of rail and steel sleepers in Australia. On 2 July 2012, OneSteel changed its name to Arrium.From 2004 northern South Australia enjoyed a mineral exploration boom and Whyalla found itself well placed to benefit from new ventures, being situated on the edge of the Gawler Craton. The city experienced an economic upturn with the population slowly increasing and the unemployment rate falling to a more typical level.
Heritage s
Whyalla has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
Broadbent Terrace: Whyalla High School
13 Forsyth Street: Hotel Bay View, Whyalla
5 Forsyth Street: Spencer Hotel, Whyalla
Gay Street: World War Two Gun Emplacements, Hummock Hill
3 Whitehead Street: Whyalla Court House
Weather
Things to do
The industrial and cultural history of Whyalla is accessible to tourists via several museums and public tours.
Visitors can view the ex-HMAS Whyalla from the Lincoln Highway and take a guided tour of it via the Whyalla Maritime Museum. The ship is a retired World War II-era corvette and was the first ship built in the city of Whyalla during the war. It was relocated to the highway in 1987. The Whyalla Maritime Museum features various displays commemorating the town's ship building and mining history, including miniature replicas of various ships and a model railway diorama. Further displays introduce visitors to the region's natural and indigenous cultural histories.
Tours of the Whyalla Steelworks allow visitors to view the production of long products at the working plant. Tours departing from the Whyalla Visitors Centre.
The town's development and social history is presented at the volunteer-run Mount Laura Homestead National Trust Museum, which is located near the Westlands shopping centre.
Ecotourism
In the late 1990s the annual migration of the Australian Giant Cuttlefish Sepia apama to shallow, inshore rocky reef areas in Spencer Gulf north of Whyalla became recognized by divers and marine scientists. Divers and snorkellers can see the aggregation of animals from May through August each year, in water one to six metres deep. The most popular places to view the aggregation are Black Point, Stony Point and Point Lowly. Car parking and boardwalks or stairs to the waters edge are present at each location, making access easy.
Dolphins frequent the Whyalla marina, but concerns have been raised that their confidence around humans may increase their vulnerability.The Whyalla Conservation Park provides an example of the natural semi-arid environment accessible via walking trails. A gentle climb to the top of Wild Dog Hill provides a view of the surrounding landscape and information on native vegetation via a series of interpretive signs.
Fishing
Boat launching facilities exist at Whyalla and Point Lowly North marinas. The Whyalla Marina also has a jetty which is illuminated at night for the convenience of fishers.
Whyalla was home to an annual Snapper Fishing Competition. The largest of its kind and renowned for attracting tourists and fisherman from all over Australia, if not the world. However, due to major over fishing, a blanket ban was put in place to protect the species, and is presently still in effect. Subsequently, the annual fishing competition was closed.
