View of the Whyalla shipyards showing two cranes poised over a ship under construction, with materials in the left foreground.

Broken Hill Proprietary Ltd decided to build a shipbuilding yard at its Whyalla works in the late 1930s as war in Europe loomed. Progress was rapid. Starting from scratch they built wharfs, building and fitting-out berths and all the other requisites for shipbuilding. Their first order was received in June 1940 and the keel laid the next month while the yard was still being built. This was the corvette Whyalla built for the Royal Australian Navy.

In the late 1950s Whyalla Shipbuilding adopted all-welded construction: this produced ever bigger ships. The slipways were extended to accommodate the larger ships, and crane capacity was increased to enable prefabrication techniques to be utilised. In the early 1960s the company entered into a Technical Co-operation Agreement with Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Company (I.H.I) of Tokyo which gave it access to the resources and technical resources of that company.

The ship being built here is likely to be Bulkships Ltd's. Mittagong, launched in 1962. The Mittagong was taken over by BHP Shipping in the 1970s and renamed the Iron Mittagong. The vessel remained on the same run that it was built for: iron ore to Newcastle and Port Kembla, returning with coal for Whyalla. This was known colloquially to seamen as the 'Black & Tan run'.

Shipbuilding in Australia [editorial Errol H. Coote] [Canberra: Australian Shipbuilders Association[, 1968
The Whyalla Shipbuilding & Engineering Works, Whyalla, South Australia: builders of Australia's largest ships [Whyalla?: The Works?, 1968?]

Scheiffers, Sue. A ribbon of steel Whyalla, Whyalla Jubilee 150 Committee, 1985.