Closing Day At BHP's Newcastle Steelworks

Two-thousand steelworkers collect their final paycheques and walk out of Newcastle’s BHP steelworks for the last time. Men break down and cry. Many have laboured here all their working lives.

This clip is taken from the film Steel City (2000), a Film Australia National Interest Program produced with the assistance of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

In Steel City, the employees of the BHP steelworks in Newcastle are bracing themselves for Australia's largest industrial shutdown. With one month to go, they’re struggling to come to terms with an uncertain future.

Peter is angry – he's lost his marriage as well as his job. Jack is on an emotional rollercoaster as he faces the challenge of setting up his own business. And workshop manager Aubrey, once a militant unionist, is worried about what will happen to the men he calls 'his boys'.

Meanwhile, the company's spin doctor is selling the closure as a 'feel-good' story. This is the end of an era. Life in Steel City will never be the same.

The full title is available to purchase via sales@nfsa.gov.au.