A lost icon !

When the 198 metre smokestack at the old copper smelter plant at Port Kembla  crashed to earth this week it brought to an end an iconic feature of the New South Wales coastline.  This was the tallest stack in the southern hemisphere and since 1965 it had been used as a navigation marker by coastal shipping and recreational boaters.   It's destruction by implosion was necessary - because the ravages of time was making it increasingly dangerous.

Copper smelting started in Port Kembla in 1908 and at that time the smelter site was in open farmland. It was a labour intensive industry and workers soon established homes nearby, establishing a village which quickly became a suburb of Wollongong.   In 1928 steel making commenced nearby and when the second world war erupted both steel and copper became a vital defence industry - and both plants expanded.

Copper smelting is famous for the noxious gases it produces and resident complaints caused the company to erect a huge smokestack in 1965 to dissipate fumes at a safe height.   Unfortunately, this failed to solve the problem and over the following years the plant changed hands several times, new production methods were tried - but Port Kembla suffered acid rain that ruined cars and homes and noxious smells from the plant that were impossible to eradicate.  The plant finally closed for the last time in July, 2008.

Port Kembla was once a thriving suburb but it fell on hard times.   It became one of Wollongong's least salubrious suburbs, the shopping centre became littered with closed shops and it emerged as the Illawarra's red light district.   It was ripe for renewal.

This explosive felling of the stack opens a new era.   Work is under way to clear the remains of the copper smelter and other derelict industry, the shopping centre has been revitalised and Port Kermbla is becoming a desireable suburb for young families - with the promise of new industries forming a fresh industrial hub.

Many will remember that iconic stack with nostalgia.  It was visible from all over Wollongong and on the day of it's destruction thousands waited - camera in hand - to record it coming crashing back to earth.
An era ended -  and a new one began !