{"id":929599,"date":"2026-10-15T23:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T23:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/929599\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T23:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T23:24:18","slug":"whyalla-steelworkers-down-tools-for-last-time-amid-first-wave-of-redundancies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/929599\/","title":{"rendered":"Whyalla steelworkers down tools for last time amid first wave of redundancies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whyalla has many faces, and one of them is Barry Drage’s.<\/p>\n

The 58-year-old steelworker has been employed at the local plant for about two decades in “one fashion or another” \u2014 as an industrial cleaner, a labourer, a fitter and a lime kiln attendant.<\/p>\n

Most recently, he has been a furnace man.<\/p>\n

Whyalla steelworkers ‘stubbornly determined’ to keep plant going<\/a><\/p>\n

The closure of the blast furnace at the Whyalla steelworks has not come as a surprise to locals \u2014 who say it brings a mix of relief and uncertainty to the regional city’s economy and residents.<\/p>\n

But that fire goes out \u2014 in a figurative sense \u2014 on Friday.<\/p>\n

Mr Drage is part of the first wave of workers who have accepted redundancies, following last month’s announcement that hundreds of positions at the long-troubled site, on South Australia’s upper Eyre Peninsula, would be lost<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Hopefully I can get a job here and stay in my home,” the former One Nation candidate said of his immediate future.<\/p>\n

“If not, I’m moving to Adelaide on a semi-temporary basis, staying at a friend’s place, and [will] work there.<\/p>\n

“I’ve got a mortgage \u2014 I’m not really keen on Adelaide \u2026 but if I’ve got to go, so be it.”<\/p>\n

Whyalla is no stranger to storm and stress. Twice in little more than a decade, its steelworks have been plunged into administration, most recently in February 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Whyalla’s workforce has been whittled away by several hundred. (ABC News: Lincoln Rothall)<\/p>\n

In September this year, the state government revealed that the steelworks’ blast furnace, which had been shut down for months, would not be restarted \u2014 an outcome that placed more than 600 jobs in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

More than 250 workers are finishing up this week<\/a>, including Mr Drage, who initially considered redeployment before deciding against it.<\/p>\n

“By the time the new blast furnace was going to be operational, I was going to be near retirement age anyway,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t think [such a job] was going to suit my body too well, so I thought, ‘Well, a good chance to get out’.”<\/p>\n

The body-blow to Whyalla, however, is more difficult to calculate.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Barry Drage on his final day of work at the Whyalla steelworks on Friday. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

“I’ve known a few [workers] who are facing the reality of having to leave, even go up to Roxby Downs for work or even over to WA,” Mr Drage said.<\/p>\n

“If they keep their base here as a FIFO worker, then the town’s still got a decent economy.<\/p>\n

“But if people just disperse out into Australia, getting other jobs and that, and not having a home here \u2014 well, it’s going to hurt the town’s economy for sure.”‘Country that supports each other’<\/p>\n

For workers, however, it’s not the future of the city that currently matters most \u2014 their own lives and livelihoods are the most pressing priorities.<\/p>\n

At an employment event called Employer Connect, which was hosted by a Whyalla hotel, locals gathered on Thursday to explore possible options.<\/p>\n

“Today was very helpful \u2014 I think it’s going to help a lot of people decide where their futures might head now,” said Jill Allcock, who is an operator at the steelworks’ power and services plant.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jill Allcock very much wants to stay in Whyalla. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Ms Allcock still does not know whether she will keep her job at the steelworks \u2014 but her strong preference is to remain in Whyalla, where she has a house and family.<\/p>\n

“I’m actually still looking for something in the steelmaking works, but if it comes to it, then I will look elsewhere,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I still need to pay bills and mortgage, and [have] family to help and support.”<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Duance’s job as a mechanical engineer at the steelworks’ pellet plant will end in a fortnight’s time.<\/p>\n

“For the businesses who are here and the people who are here, they’ll struggle \u2014 they really will struggle,” he said.<\/p>\n

“One engineering company I know of used to get a lot of work but ever since this happened, their work has just stopped.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The steelworks was forced into administration in February 2025. (ABC News: Lincoln Rothall)<\/p>\n

Mr Duance knows what it feels like to have been made redundant \u2014 he has been through it, he said, on two previous occasions.<\/p>\n

He had a message for those experiencing it for the first time.<\/p>\n

“There is work out there,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Be prepared to do something other than what you’ve done before, because you’d be surprised what skills cross over into other areas.”<\/p>\n

One option for some is mining \u2014 and among those at the Employer Connect event on Thursday was Peter White, who runs NSW-based Specialised Crusher Services.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Peter White is the managing director of NSW-based Specialised Crusher Services. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

He said his company, which already has contracts at BHP’s Carrapateena and Prominent Hill projects, was looking to further branch into SA.<\/p>\n

“The beauty of heavy industries is many of the skill sets are transferable,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The safety culture and the principal processes around how work’s conducted are readily transferable to the mining industry.”<\/p>\n

Mr White said the company was looking to secure 20 to 30 workers, including for permanent part-time and casual roles in engineering and trade services, but also labour and machinery operations.<\/p>\n

“This event is actually illustrating the possibilities that are out there, and I honestly believe that for many there will be a really positive outcome that will come from it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There’s an element of ‘proud Australian’ that kicks in \u2026 because we are a country that supports each other.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whyalla has many faces, and one of them is Barry Drage’s. The 58-year-old steelworker has been employed at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":929600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,21503,180,1861,81738,81737],"class_list":["post-929599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-future","tag-jobs","tag-people","tag-steelworks","tag-whyalla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}