Our Latest Travels - Whyalla

On the surface, you just think of Whyalla as being the town with a steel mill.  However, like most places, once you scratch the surface there is so much more.

On our first day we went for a drive……..there is a lighthouse nearby.  You have to visit a lighthouse.

When driving towards the lighthouse, you pass these huge gas cylinders.  This is Port Bonython and is a deepwater port, gas fractionation plant and diesel storage facility.

When doing a little reading, I learned that just in late September this year the South Australian government has announced they will be “providing up to $70 million in funding to support the establishment of the Port Bonython Hydrogen Hub”.  It sounds like this could be a very large facility in the few years.

As we continued on our way, we were transported to the past, rather than the future.  This is Point Lowly Lighthouse.

Here is its history.

A sign stated that we were now on part of the Freycinet Trail.  It turns out that nine months after Matthew Flinders charted the southern coast of Australia, Frenchman Louis-Claude de Sauces de Freycinet on board the schooner Casuarina also explored this area, also naming various locations.  However, being a British colony, names given by Matthew Flinders were the ones adopted.

There are two lighthouse keepers’ cottages on the site and when we were there quite a lot of building work was being carried out, including extensions to the rear of the cottages.  We guessed that they may be preparing to use as holiday lets?

In the afternoon we went for a walk along the beach in front of the caravan.  It is really shallow, with the tide going out a long way.  There are lots of shells, but nothing very exciting.

At the northern end of the beach you reach the Whyalla Circular Jetty.  This was only opened in 2020.  

The previous jetty, built in 1975, was demolished due to safety issues and this is the replacement.  

There were quite a few people wandering around the jetty and a few fishing.  The jetty has won design awards for accessibility. 

Meet “Craig the Giant Cuttlefish” (and Mick).  Why would you have a sculpture of a cuttlefish?  Well, Australia’s Giant Cuttlefish come the waters just out of Whyalla each year to spawn.  You can read about it here.  David Attenborough did a feature on them once.

Rather interesting facts about them. 

There is a small marina beside the jetty and it is home to a few resident dolphins.  You can just see them in  the photo.

And the crazy thing is that just past the marina is the jetty for the Whyalla Steel Mill.  Look how clear that water is.  It just goes to show how things have improved over the years to prevent pollution from industry infiltrating the environment.

From here we went and had a wander around the Ada Ryan Gardens, named after the wife of the original Mayor of Whyalla.  I loved this massive Morton Bay Fig.

That little lot filled in our day nicely.