Muster point & Memorial

From 1915 to 1999 Newcastle was home to Australia’s major steelmaking operations. At its peak the steelworks and associated steel manufacturing subsidiaries employed well over 15,000 direct and indirect workers. During the 84 years of operations a large number of employees died from work-related injuries. 

In the decade after the steelworks closed, Newcastle Industrial Heritage Association Inc. decided to construct a memorial to lives lost in the steel industry, on land in the vicinity of the steelworks site.

A public fund-raising project was established in June 2011 with a target of $60,000 to construct a large artistic memorial.

An Australia-wide call to sculptors for the design, development and installation of a memorial to steelworkers who lost their lives in the steelmaking industry in Newcastle from 1915 to 1999 resulted in almost 30 submissions by September 2011, which were narrowed down to four in March 2012.

Hunter valley artist blacksmith William Maguire was commissioned to deliver and install his ‘eight pillars’ sculpture in time for centenary of steelmaking commemorations to be held in June 2015.

The sculpture was launched and dedicated at a ceremony held adjacent to the ‘Muster Point’ sculpture on 30th September 2015.