21 August 2013 - Discovery Holiday Parks Whyalla Foreshore, Whyalla, South Australia

As I start this, rain has begun to fall. It was forecasted but, forever the optimist, I had hoped the sunshine of the morning might have lasted a little longer.

We were up promptly this morning and at the Visitor Centre with half a dozen others for the OneSteel Whyalla Steelworks Tour. Our guide was Rod, a very pleasant chap of maybe fifty sporting a very bogan beard and moustache, which made me itch for my scissors. His spiel was interesting, entertaining although thankfully, not comical, well enunciated but sifted through the fuzz of facial hair. Where was his wife, I wondered? Why had she not attacked his face, even in his sleep? We were to learn in time that she is in Adelaide; all was explained.

We have been on several industry tours all around the country and this would be as good as any, although the ones at Gladstone were free which gives them the edge. We came away better informed about iron ore mining, steel making, Whyalla’s history and of course what One Steel (now rebranded as Arrium to recognise the diversity of its industry) is doing to clean up the environment. Of course we can all remember the role Whyalla had in the initial application of the carbon tax; it was to be wiped off the map on the 1^st July last year. Well of course that was Liberal Party’s spin to dramatise the evils of a further tax on mining and heavy industry, however listening to Rod today, the residents of Whyalla are quite upbeat about their future. This is partly because Arrium has commenced mining iron ore near Coober Pedy, a shot in the arm for their operations down here as well.

We stepped off the mini-bus with our heads bursting with the information imparted and answers to our many questions, as well as a sheaf of facts for homework. This latter gift was only for those who desired to know more, and you should know that I always want to know more. I shall however not transcribe this all here, but leave you to do your own research or to take the tour yourself. We also came away adamant that we would have to be paid absolutely mega-bucks to work on this very large and ugly industrial site.

Blacky Point

From the Visitor Centre on the northern entrance of the city, we drove on a further eight kilometres then turned off toward Point Lowly. We were after cuttlefish, Whyalla’s secret treasure. These amazing creatures, of which there had been no mention in the museum’s exhibition about the Spencer Gulf’s marine life, migrate to this part of the Gulf annually to breed and die. The Australian Giant Cuttlefish, often referred to as the “chameleons of the sea”, are one of the largest species of cuttlefish found in the world, reaching up to 60 cm in length and weighing up to five kilograms. During May and August they arrive in their thousands to mate and reproduce, in the process creating an amazing spectacle of cunning games, predation, underwater light shows and colourful kaleidoscope displays. They are intelligent marine creatures able to change their colour, shape and texture as they move along the seabed to imitate rocks, sand or seaweed. They are not fish, but cephalopods and their feet, or tentacles, actually connect to their head rather than their body. They have blue blood, three hearts, eight arms and two feeding tentacles. And despite the colourful displays, they are actually colour blind.

Their numbers were decimated by commercial fishing in the past; their bone a delicacy for caged birds, their ink keenly sought and if the abundance of recipes available on Google is to be believed, wonderful to eat. To protect these amazing creatures, they are protected from commercial fishing during their breeding season, May to August.

We drove to Blacky Point along the very rough Cuttlefish Drive (or track), descended the cliff face, walked out over the amazing shards of rock and peered into the shallow water, without success. At Point Lowly, we stood on the elevated rocks above the boat launching ramp, and again saw none. We decided that diving was the only way to catch sight of them or perhaps they had already moved away from the Gulf, their calendars out of kilter with our own.

So instead we wandered out to the lighthouse, completed in 1883 long before marine traffic to and from Whyalla began. In fact the only settlement in existence down in the bay in those days was the primitive settlement of Hummock Hill. The original fifteen metres tall tower was extended by eight metres in 1909. Since 1995 the lighthouse has been owned by the City of Whyalla and the cottages standing nearby are available for holiday accommodation through the Whyalla Uniting Church.  

A couple of kilometres back from the Point we were fascinated to find yet another Whyalla industry. Port Bonython processes hydrocarbons recovered from the Cooper/Eromanga Basins, a little south of the northern state border. The mixture of crude oil and natural gas liquids is pumped through a 659 kilometre long pipeline from Moomba to Port Bonython. The mixture is then prepared for the fractionation process, which separates the liquids into crude oil, naptha and LPG. Crude oil and naptha are stored in the flat-topped storage tanks and LPG in dome shaped tanks here on site.

Point Lowly lighthouse

Privately managed by Santos Limited, Port Bonython loads about fifty ships a year, with about 70% of its LPG production being exported. It serves both domestic and international shipping. The ballast water released by visiting ships is treated within the plant.

Port Bonython provides storage and loading facilities for road and ocean tankers. The jetty, which was completed in 1984, is 2.4 kilometres long with a 265 metre long terminal and serves crude oil tankers up to 110,000 tonnes and LPG tankers up to 45,000 tonnes. The plant provides employment for about eighty people.

It was interesting to learn that in August 1992, the fuel tank of the tanker, Era, was ruptured by the bow of the tug Turmoil during berthing operations here at the Port in 25 knot winds. Nearly 300 tonnes of bunker fuel were released into the Spencer Gulf damaging mangroves and small creeks south west of Port Pirie directly across the Gulf. There was also significant loss of birdlife along the coast. This was the largest coastal oil spill in Australia’s maritime history.

Disappointed we had not seen any cuttlefish, we decided to drive on over to Fitzgerald Bay, six kilometres from the road out to Lowly Point. As we came over the top of the rise, we had beautiful views right up the Gulf toward Port Augusta and across to the ranges stretching north of Port Pirie. Below us we could see evidence of fish farms, far less than those seen at Port Lincoln, but nonetheless signs of on-going industry. Here Southern Star Aquaculture specialise in yellow tail kingfish which are sold on to markets all around the world. 

The road soon turned to gravel and we saw little point in continuing so turned and headed home, calling in to the supermarket to pick up a rotisserie chicken for dinner; always delicious and always enough to stretch for three meals. Thank goodness for the freezer!