Port Kembla Steelworks Tour

When the kids asked us how iron ore turns into steel we thought rather than explain the process we would show them, and that’s how we found ourselves exploring the Port Kembla Steelworks tour on a Friday morning, and adding to our places to visit in Wollongong with kids.

Generating over $29 billion in annual revenue, the Australian steel industry is incredibly important, but what do you know about it? Port Kembla currently produces 2.6 million tonnes of raw steel each year. Incredible. We had to take the kids to see what this looks like.

Port Kembla Steelworks

Table of Contents

Spread over 760 hectares (that’s around 1878 acres!), the Port Kembla Steelworks was established in 1928 by the Hoskins family when they moved their Lithgow steel plant to the new site to take advantage of the deep port and proximity to Sydney.

Today, Port Kembla Steelworks directly employs around 3,000 individuals in the Illawarra and supports about 10,000 jobs. It has become the home of COLORBOND® steel, which was developed at the company’s own in-house – and Australia’s largest – manufacturing research facility.

Running on Friday and Saturday mornings, the public steelworks tours at Port Kembla is the only way you can see steel being made in person in Australia.

On the Steelworks tour, you will visit the colossal Basic Oxygen Steelmaking (BOS) plant and the continuous slab caster where you will get the best vantage point of steel production. It’s hot like hell, and an overwhelming experience.

You will then visit the Hot Strip Mill, where steel slabs are reheated and rolled into coils in a noisy, action-packed process.

Travelling in a small minibus, you will also have the chance to view the inner workings of the steelworks from monster machinery, giant buildings, locomotives and huge stockpiles of raw materials.

When do the Port Kembla Steelworks tours run?

The Port Kembla Steelworks tours run on most Fridays and Saturdays at 9.30 am. Additional tours are occasionally scheduled during the school holidays.

What to wear

The tour takes you into the heart of the Port Kembla Steelworks so there’s no way to skirt around the WH&S requirements.

Full-length pants with no rips or splits are a must, along with calf-length socks and fully enclosed, non-slip shoes (sneakers are okay).

During the site safety briefing, you will be provided PPE safety gear including a full-length shirt, eye protection, hard hat, mask and earwear.

No photography is permitted once you exit the Visitor Centre and you really don’t need a jacket (it’s super warm inside the steelworks) so I advise leaving your bags and outerwear in the car.

Accessibility

The tour takes you through a working steelworks. It was not built with tours or accessibility in mind. Participants are guided through the different levels to observe steel production. This includes climbing around 300-400 stairs and walking approximately 2-2.5kms.

Those with a pacemaker will be restricted to sections of the steelworks due to the impact particular areas can have the functioning of your device. Make sure you declare this prior to entry.

To support all participants, headphones and a personal listening device is provided during the tour. This will ensure you can always hear the tour guide, even during the sections of the tour where the noise levels from the machinery is quite loud. We were very impressed by this addition.

We currently do not have accessibility concerns so we’re able to access the tour in full. Please reach out to the Inside Industry directly to discuss any accessibility requirements that you need.