The story of this place
In 1928, the Hoskins family established the Australian Iron & Steel (AI&S) works at Port Kembla, moving their operations from Lithgow to the coast for easier access to coal and shipping. The decision transformed the Illawarra from a string of mining villages into an industrial powerhouse. By the 1960s, under BHP ownership, the Port Kembla steelworks employed over 20,000 people and produced the steel that went into the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Opera House shells, and countless other landmark structures. The works were so vast they had their own railway system, fire brigade, and medical centre. A landmark 198-metre chimney — the tallest in the Southern Hemisphere when built — dominated the skyline until its controlled demolition in 2014, an event watched by thousands of residents. Today, as BlueScope Steel, the works continue to produce steel on a smaller scale, while the surrounding industrial landscape is gradually being redeveloped for container ports and renewable energy infrastructure.