The Extraordinary Tourist
Memories. The Museum of My Life.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Road Trip Day 18: 9th June 2007
For many people a visit to their parents home, years after having left for an independent life, brings back many childhood memories, artifacts and a history of growing up. Coming from, what is usually described as a 'broken home', the history of my early years and previous lives can be found not so much in my parents homes but in my sisters home.
The way my family split to eventually go their separate ways has gradually turned Rose's home (where I'm staying whilst in Perth) into a living family archive - though I'm sure it doesn't feel that way to her.
There is so much of my families history either still in use or stored in Rose's house that for me it's like coming back to a personal museum of our life. For example, Roses kitchen table and chairs are older than me. I think they were the very first table and chairs my parents bought when they arrived in Australia from the U.K. The chairs have been recovered once in nearly 50 years and are looking like they could use new covers again.
There are examples like this all throughout, from the coffee table in the lounge (probably as old as the kitchen table) to the cutlery in the kitchen draws (knives, forks and spoons as old as the table and still in use).
The earliest family photo albums are here. Almost as soon as I arrived I had to look through these because I knew they had pictures of Rose and I at the beach in Whyalla before we moved. I wanted to see if the beach was how I remembered it.
 It's funny how, when you look at old photos you generally don't notice the detail in the backgrounds however, when you're looking specifically at the background it's surprising what you see. Here is a photo of Rose and I at the beach in 1974. If you can peel your eyes off my stunning sun hat, take a look in the background. Notice the steam train? Until now, I never knew we had a photo with the steam train in it - which is why I was never quite sure about if it had been on the Whyalla foreshore or some other beach. This photo proves my memory to be correct. There is my steam train.
Rose's house has so many artifacts that connect us with Whyalla but it isn't just that period of our lives you can see. Her shelves feature one or two examples of my art from my High School days. She also has most of my furniture, LP records, books, computers and more that I left behind when I departed, bound for a new life in South Australia.
In the backyard is a four car garage that use to be my studio. This is where all my paintings pre the year 2000 are stored. More of my stuff that I couldn't take with me is here too.
I'm generally not one to live in the past but it's nice to be surrounded by memories and to retrace your family history. Remembering where you grew up and how you became who you are.Labels: history, memories, museum, road trip 2007, Whyalla
One Steel Tour and Leaving Whyalla.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Road Trip Day 13: 4th June 2007
 Whyalla is, and always has been, a mining and steel making town. No visit would be complete without a tour of the steel works that was built and run by BHP until 2000 when it was sold off, by public float, to OneSteel.
Rose and I have a personal interest in the steel works in that our Dad used to be employed there by BHP pre 1978. I never really knew what he did or what part of the plant he worked in though I remember him one time, when I was kid, saying he worked in the coke ovens. That's about all I know about what he did and I'm not entirely sure if that's correct.
I'm not even going to try and describe the tour of the steelworks in great detail. There's a lot to see in the two hour bus ride around the plant. Our guide, Trish, explained a great deal about the production of steel and pointed out as many of the more spectacular processes as she could based on which areas were actually operating.
 We did get a very good, close up look at the coke oven in operation. Coke (not the soft drink) is made from coal and is burnt in a blast furnace in order to produce enough heat to separate the iron content from the mined, raw materials (iron ore). The coke oven is a huge oven that bakes the coal at extremely high temperatures in order to turn it into coke.
OneSteel produces 'long form' steel products such as structural beams and railway lines. In fact it is the only company producing railway lines in Australia. Whilst OneSteel is the biggest steel producer in Australia, Trish said that in comparison to China (the biggest producer of steel in the world) they produce a quantity of steel in one day that OneSteel would produce in a year.
The OneSteel tour is quite long and I must admit the bus seats were starting to feel a little hard towards the end but it's not everyday you get to see equipment and machinery on this scale in action. Whyalla exists because of the mines and steel works and is central to the South Australian story. If you're looking into the history of mining around this region then a tour of One Steel's plant should definitly be on your list.
Leaving Whyalla.
After the One Steel Tour Rose and I headed out of Whyalla bound for Perth. When Rose drove over from Perth she followed the shorter route at this end along the Eyre Highway (which by passes Whyalla and takes you directly to Port Augusta. One the way back she wanted to take the coastal route down the Lincoln highway (to Port Lincoln) and up the Flinders highway before getting back to the Eyre highway.
The whole reason for this longer route was because it might be a nicer drive with coastal views.
Tonight we've made it as far as the fishing town of Elliston (part way up the Flinders Highway). Rose did the lions share of the driving so I had plenty of time to evaluate the scenery. If I was doing this again, I wouldn't take this detour just for the views.
Granted a few spots do have nice coastal views but to this point, most of the road has been far enough inland to not get a view of the coast. Not enough of it looks sufficiently different to the usual route to go quite so far out of the way.
If I came this way again it would be because I wanted to spend more time in the various towns along the way. Like the drive from Laura to Port Augusta there are many small towns with a lot of interesting history to be explored. Another time perhaps. Tomorrow we will be heading over the WA border. If we make good time my next post will be from Balladonia.Labels: BHP, coke, Elliston, OneSteel, places, road trip 2007, steel, travel, Whyalla
Whyalla Foreshore Steam Train Found!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Road Trip Day 12: 3rd June 2007
 Whist visiting the Mt Laura Homestead Museum, Rose and I spotted this Steam Locomotive - the only one in the museum - and thought just maybe it was the one I remember playing on at the foreshore as a child.
On closer inspection of the information board we were amazed to learn that it is in fact the very same steam engine! I was even more surprised to learn that this locomotive is more than 100 years old (I bet it didn't get a certificate from the Queen).
Bought new by BHP in 1891 it was used to cart ore along the tramway between Iron Knob and Whyalla. It has a fairly busy history but the key dates for me are that it was placed on the Whyalla foreshore in 1962 where it remained until 1983 when it was moved to the museum. Back then it was all painted black rather than green as you see in the photo. In fact it was the green paint that made me think it couldn't be the same train at first.
Not being able to find any trace of where this train stood on the foreshore during my current visit to Whyalla made me half wonder if I was just imagining a train there based on some other memory. Having found my child hood 'play equipment' (Rose and I used to climb all over this train) it's kind of good to know it now has a good home. It didn't rust away and get sold for scrap.
Whether we like it or not connecting and catching up with fond memories of the past has something of a comforting feeling. It's kind of like catching up with friends you haven't seen in a long time and learning that they're doing okay.Labels: history, museum, railway, road trip 2007, train, Whyalla
Whyalla. Where life began.
Road Trip Day 10: 1st June 2007 (Evening)
Life for me began in Whyalla. Rose wasn't born here (she was born in Elizabeth in Adelaide) however, since my family moved here when she was so young, she pretty much considers Whyalla to be her first home too.
I don't remember the first house we lived in here though I've seen photos of me playing in the yard there. Life for me begins on Noble Street, our second home in Whyalla where I lived until the age of eight years old. Then in 1978, when BHP closed the ship yards, our family moved to Perth, Western Australia.
 Rose and I went for a drive around our old neighbourhood. Noble Street. The house we lived in is still there, though now it has two driveways and two carports and a garage - none of which were there in our day (well it only had the one driveway at least).
All the trees along our street are full grown and provide shade that wasn't there when we used to walk to school. I'm surprised that the reserves at each end of our block are still there. These were never properly cared for parks. Just bush land with a few well worn short cut trails. Only big enough to fit maybe two houses on these were a part of our playground when we got our first bicycles.
 At the end of Noble street is the 'One Stop Shopping Centre'. Which is what is was called in our day though we referred to it as 'the brown shops' because the roof was painted brown and matched the bricks. This hasn't changed much. There is still a mini supermarket at one end and a deli at the other. No doubt owned by someone different but still the same.
A block or so over is our old primary school, Scott Street. It's no longer called Scott Street and in fact it was recently closed down. In our day the buildings were all shades of brown with rough, gravel like finish on the exterior walls. These days the buildings have been painted bright shades of yellow and blue. It's clear the school has been shut down. The gardens look over grown, the play grounds are looking worn and I noticed one or two window boarded up along with the first signs of graffiti. We didn't take any photos because it was kind of sad.
I've already mentioned the Westland Shopping Centre in a previous post. I used to think this was quite a distance from Noble street but on a previous trip back here I discovered you could actually walk there in under twenty minutes. Everything seems further away when you're eight or younger.
 I have memories of the beach and Ada Ryan Gardens. Two places we used to visit for a day out as they are right next to each other. Sadly the beach, even though it is still there, looks nothing like I remember it. All but one of the huge metal shelters have been removed and the foreshore looks nothing like what I recall. There used to be an old steam locomotive that we played on which is now nowhere to be seen. I can't even remember exactly where it was. In fact I always thought the Ada Ryan Gardens (which is a popular park here still) was completely separate from the beach front but now they seem to kind of merge.
The biggest change to the beach is a boat marina and fishing jetty. Neither of which was there in 1978. No doubt these helped to shape the way this area looks today.
Other vague memories I have of Whyalla include watching the Christmas Pageant in the main street. I can't tell which road is the main street? I remember the pageant progressed through the 'city' part of Whyalla (because of the two storey buildings) though I'm not sure exactly which part of the 'city part' that was?
Rose and I have driven around Whyalla a bit and I've seen various buildings that I got a glimpse of pre 1978 and kind of recall. Whyalla seemed a much bigger place back when I was a kid. These days it seems much smaller and very, very different.Labels: places, road trip 2007, travel, Whyalla
Whyalla. Hummock Hill and Flinders Lookouts.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Road Trip Day 10: 1st June 2007 (Afternoon)
 Hummock Hill was here on the beach front in 1978, yet I don't remember it at all. In fact Whyalla used to be called 'Hummock Hill' before they changed the name to Whyalla for reasons no one really seems to be sure why?
I'm fairly certain the Hummock Hill lookout was built after 1978 as most of the dates on the commemorative plaques are dated long after my family left for Perth. This particular lookout provides some great views of the Iron Ore loading facility and the One Steel Steel works. It seems to have been built to celebrate the towns industrial history.
 Second to that is the section of the look out dedicated to the soldiers that manned an anti aircraft gun on the site during world war 2. A similar gun to that which was used now stands as a monument to that time. It was thought that the Japanese could've attacked the BHP port which supplied Australias defence forces with steel during this period.
Of all the sights on our road trip to Perth, the only one I had on my list was the Flinders and Freycinet Lookout. The photo in the brochure showed two very contemporary looking sculptures of Mathew Flinders (who surveyed and named Spencer Gulf in 1802) and Louis Claude de Freycinet (who also charted the same coast line in 1803) that caught my eye and got me interested in wanting to see them up close.
 Whilst the lookout offers fantastic views I found the two sculptures more interesting and thought them to be a fitting dedication to both the English and French expeditions to chart the coastline of South Australia.
As an artistic statement the two figures help to bring history into the minds of a modern audience by their non-classical design. They are intriguing to look at and you can't help but be interested in reading the information boards to find out more about the two historic men they represent. In my opinion this monument hits every mark in both purpose and design. The only let down is that I didn't see (or couldn't find) the name of the artist that created the figures.
 Whilst I wouldn't like to see all monuments take this lead with 'puppet like' figures it does represent a new way of thinking about public sculptures dedicated to real people. For this particular lookout the figures work a treat. I'm glad I had this on my MUST SEE list.Labels: Hummock Hill, lookout, Louis Claude de Freycinet, Mathew Flinders, places, road trip 2007, travel, Whyalla
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