‘‘It’s time to dream big Wollongong – Disney Land at Port Kembla,’’ Leigh Stewart – a well-known auctioneer and charity fundraiser – announced to his Facebook friends soon after some media began heralding BlueScope’s imminent demise.

Reports emerged on Wednesday that the company planned to cease steel manufacturing in the Illawarra by 2017.

However, both the company and the Australian Workers’ Union were quick to deny them, clarifying the company was engaging in large-scale cost cutting to reduce the cost of steelmaking.

Nevertheless, Mr Stewart took the chance to revive a long-held pipe dream that an American children’s theme park should be built on any redundant industrial land.

‘‘For years we have been working behind closed doors looking at the potential for Port Kembla as a world-class tourist destination,’’ he wrote.

‘‘We are the perfect location. Most other Disney Lands [sic] are located an hour out of main cities in industrial areas. Reality is we are in a different world than we were 60 years ago when the might of Port Kembla Steelworks was known worldwide.

‘‘We need to take risks, we need to dream big, we must be willing to be laughed at and ridiculed by many – but all great decisions require vision and risk.’’

And, if the ‘‘happiest place on earth’’ somehow decided Port Kembla steelworks was not the best spot for a Disney park, Mr Stewart also suggested ‘‘Industry Land ... with things like the blast furnace ride’’.

Not everyone was a fan of this far-fetched idea, with one Facebook commentator saying it would take ‘‘billions’’ to clean up the site, doubting the steel company would be willing to sell its prime portside land.

‘‘Nice idea if you don’t work at the steelworks,’’ he said.

‘‘I don’t know if you are serious or been smoking crack and trying to be funny.’’

But  some Wollongong identities joined the thread to applaud the prospect of welcoming Mickey Mouse and co to their region.

‘‘Well done Leigh,’’ former Wollongong City Council general manager Rod Oxley remarked.

‘‘It is about time that our community leaders became leaders. The opportunity awaits. It needs balls.’’

Businessman Geoff McQueen liked the idea, saying the proposal was ‘‘good for a headline’’ but questioned whether Australia had the domestic market or international connectivity to support Disneyland.

Wollongong’s tourism boss, Mark Sleigh, also chipped in, saying an operating steelworks and theme park were not ‘‘mutually exclusive’’.

‘‘Large parcels of land within five kilometres of a regional city, 73 kilometres of a capital city and on a railway line are unheard of in Sydney,’’ he said.

‘‘Effective planning and controls for those lands now is the only way we will protect them to create jobs moving forward. Tourism is absolutely an opportunity, but I am sure many other sectors could benefit from those land holdings to create jobs as well.’’

Similarly, Wollongong councillor Ann Martin told Mr Stewart ‘‘tourism is only part of the solution’’ and said the loss of the steelworks would ‘‘devastate Wollongong all over again’’.

‘‘The statement that Disney alone will save Port Kembla is nonsense,’’ she said.