Overlooking the eastern end of Whyalla, Hummock Hill offers exceptional 360 degree views. It was developed by BHP as a gift to the city to commemorate the company's centenary year, and opened during the 1986 SA Jubilee Royal Visit.
Council has since sealed the access road and re-vegetated much of the landscape.
The latest development unveiled in March 2002 involved the placement of new heritage interpretive signage.
Hummock Hill was the site of first settlement at the turn of the century, and during World War II it saw service as a gun battery with four guns and command and signals posts - in fact development of the lookout utilised the old gun emplacements which can still be seen today.
Early stages of the fortifications were built by BHP workmen, but the majority of the work was carried out by gunners of the 26th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery under the supervision of the 65th Deputy Commander Royal Engineers who arrived in Whyalla on February 14, 1942. When the battery reached full strength there were approximately 120 men under the command of Captain R L Moorfoot.
Hummock Hill affords an unequalled view of Whyalla and the vast OneSteel operations; Whyalla Foreshore and Marina; across Spencer Gulf to the Southern Flinders Ranges and including the nearby Santos plant at Port Bonython and the Point Lowly Lighthouse; and westward over the city towards the iron ore rich Middleback Ranges.
A one-way sealed road takes vehicles to the parking area adjacent to the lookout. Facilities include a restored wartime gun, sheltered viewing and picnic area.
In 1802 Matthew Flinders was the first European to navigate and chart this unknown coast of SA, solving the centuries old mystery as to whether Australia was one continent or two. A few miles offshore he wrote, "...our prospect of a channel or strait, cutting off some considerable portion of Terra Australis, was lost..."
Ten months later, in January 1803, Louis-Claude de Freycinet(1779 - 1842) navigated and charted the isolated coast for the Baudin expedition. He and his crew spent a night at sea, off what was to become Whyalla, and were impressed by the local scenery.
In September 2001, as part of the Encounter 2002 project to recognise French exploration, the two explorers were commemorated at the lookout by contemporary sculptures, whilst the area was renamed the "Flinders & Freycinet Lookout". Signage refers to both the European and Aboriginal history of the region.
The lookout offers magnificent views of the upper Spencer Gulf, Southern Flinders Ranges and Middleback Range in the West.
Located at the intersection of Farrell and Elliott Streets, until 2002 the Flinders Lookout was a memorial to Matthew Flinders (1774-1814), Commander of HM Sloop Investigator, who surveyed and named Spencer Gulf. The memorial was unveiled on Pioneers Day in 1950 - erected under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society of Australia, SA branch, with the generous contribution of Mr Essington Lewis (a famous BHP and Whyalla name.)
