Whyalla

Whyalla waɪˈælə is a city in South Australia. It was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta is one of the three towns to make up the Iron Triangle. As of June 2018, Whyalla had an urban population of 21,742, having declined at an average annual rate of -0.75% year-over-year over the preceding five years. It is a seaport located on the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula and is known as the "Steel City" due to its integrated steelworks and shipbuilding heritage. The port of Whyalla has been exporting iron ore since 1903. The city consists of an urban area bounded to the north by the railway to the mining town of Iron Knob, to the east by Spencer Gulf, and to the south by the Lincoln Highway. The urban area consists of the following suburbs laid from east to west extending from a natural hill known as Hummock Hill: Whyalla, Whyalla Playford, Whyalla Norrie, Whyalla Stuart, and Whyalla Jenkins. A port facility, a rail yard serving the railway line to Iron Knob, and an industrial complex are located to the immediate north of Hummock Hill. Whyalla Barson and the Whyalla Conservation Park are located about north of the city. It is an iron-rich exporting town that supplies China. The origin of the name Whyalla is disputed. In 1916 it was referred to as the "native" name, having been ascribed during a survey conducted a few years beforehand. During the 1940s, Norman Tindale, the ethnologist at the South Australian Museum believed that the name could have been derived from aboriginal words "Wajala", meaning "west" in a language common to Port Pirie, or "Waiala", meaning "I don't know" in a language more common to Port Augusta. In 1945, BHP advised that the name had been taken from nearby Mount Whyalla, which lies northwest of Whyalla, roughly midway between the town and Iron Knob. Other meanings ascribed to the word Whyalla include "dingo", "by the water", and "a place of water".