It would be a tough existence living here. You would have to go to Whyalla to shop for food. There are no eating facilities in the town. Not much water. It’s hot with most of the vegetation is chenopod shrubland. I didn’t see any children playing. Iron Knob is a ghost town with closed up shops, empty houses and vacant lots. It would make a good film set for a film in the present that is haunted by the past. It’s a left behind place and a ghost town .

The Iron Monarch and Iron Duke mines were reopened in 2014 by Arrium Ltd, a mining company which was previously part of BHP (as OneSteel) and it is now owned and operated by SIMEC Mining.

The workers live in Whyalla and they daily commute to do their shift work at the mine. I saw them coming and going as we wandered around the town. Only a few people now live in the town. There was a guy who sat in his car with the door most of the day in the heat. There was the odd tourist driving around or staying overnight at the free caravan site like myself. I was able to swag on the only bit of grass at the site. Maleko slept in the car.

I was wandering around in the past. I only stayed one night as there wasn’t that much to see or photograph after walking around for a day/ There was a lot less to see/explore than I was expecting or hoping for. And the blue skies made any photo dead. Clouds help to gives a photo depth and emotion.

Iron Knob is all about the mine now but there was no way I could get close to the open pit mine. It was fenced off with lots of surveillance cameras and security.The only access would be through a mine tour but I wasn’t even sure whether the tours were still operating.

The chenopod shrubland between Iron Knob and Whyalla is owned by the Department of Defence — an army training area known as the Cultana Training Area . It is south of the Eyre Highway from Port Augusta to Iron Knob, either side of the Lincoln Highway from the Eyre Highway to Whyalla, and both sides of the Iron Knob road from Whyalla to Iron knob.

Whyalla’s future hopes rest on the Whyalla Hydrogen power station and telectrolyser with the hydrogen feeding the power station. It has obtained the required federal environmental approvals and it is meant to be up and running by 2026. According to the SA Government, the  Upper Spencer Gulf is currently in transition to becoming a globally-recognised powerhouse in renewable energy generation. This includes the Port Bonython Hydrogen Hub at Stony Point.

Who will be the customers for the excess hydrogen not taken up by the power station? The financially troubled Whyalla steel works?

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