The Steel Worker

"From thousands of homes and many countries, men of all kinds but all one kind of man - the steelworker..." When this film was made in the 1950s, there were 8500 workers at the Port Kembla steelworks in New South Wales, including 2700 migrants - all making a significant contribution to one of Australia's most important industries. Steel is the stuff of nation building and this film draws on that rhetoric. Along with spectacular footage of the production process that highlights both the beauty of the furnace and sheer scale of the operation, the program provides a brief overview of the lives of the workers: from leisure activities to semi-rural retreats, migrant hostels and the culture of up-and-coming Wollongong.