Whyalla - Eyre Peninsula

HMAS Whyalla

Parked in the gardens next to the Visitors centre, HMAS Whyalla is an imposing sight.

It is the front of the Whyalla's Maritime Museum. We went on a tour of the ship.

Extract from http://www.navalofficer.com.au
Launched in 1941, with a ten-year planned life. Her proud builders would have thought it inconceivable that more than 60 years later their first ship would still be serving, albeit in a very different role. It would have been just as incredible to suggest that her final resting place would be a mere two kilometres down the road. In Whyalla.
HMAS Whyalla (1941-46), later became the Rip (1947-84) before reverting to Whyalla. The ship was hauled from the sea in February 1987 up the same slipway, now disused, that gave her birth and transported through the BHP plant, across a sea of saltbush and sand to rest on concrete foundations near the city’s northern highway entrance.
Since 1987 the Whyalla has been the focal point of the Whyalla Tourist Centre and Whyalla Maritime Museum. RADM David Holthouse, the Support Commander at that time, represented the RAN at the opening that followed an outlay of $1.3m. Although the ship was purchased for just $5,000, another $560,000 was required to remove her from the sea and set her up for display.