It’s the smell of the steelworks on her father Sid that Alison Hayward remembers.
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Together with his brother Cecil, Sid Hoskins ran the original steelworks at Port Kembla from the 1920s – then on the southern side of Five Islands Road and called Australian Iron and Steel – after their father Charles moved the business from Lithgow.
The steelworks was acquired by BHP in 1935.
The Hoskins family has a strong history in the Illawarra beyond the steelworks.
Gleniffer Brae was the family home and Sid was also instrumental in setting up the Mt Keira Scout Camp.
His daughter Alison, 90, remembers it was easy to know when dad was coming home from the steelworks.
“You could smell him half a mile away, because of all those sulphuric smells,” Alison said.
“We used to say to dad that, when he was driving home, ‘for God’s sake open all the car windows well before you get home so you can blow out all those terrible smells’.”
Alison is one of more that 45 descendants of Sid and Madge Hoskins, who are in town over the weekend for a family reunion.
They took a tour of the steelworks on Friday – including getting a look at the original site where Sid worked.
On Saturday, they will pay a visit to Gleniffer Brae, where Alison grew up and which now houses the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music.
“It was a gorgeous place to grow up in, there was about 60 acres of super grass around it,” Alison said.
“I was one of five kids and we all had ponies and we all used to ride a hell of a lot. We’d go up Mt Keira, we’d go as far as the foothills of Mt Kembla.”
READ MORE: What goes on inside the steelworks?
Sunday sees the extended family taking a look at the Mt Keira Scout Camp.
“We love the area and, dad for a long time was very closely associated with the Boy Scouts and for whom he got a marvellous acreage up behind Mt Keira for what is now a famous boy scout camp,” she said.
“It’s a lovely place, I’ve been there many times.”
Some of the younger generation had the chance on Friday to walk through the steelworks for the first time.
One of them is Sid and Madge’s great-grandchild Daisy Hayward, who came up from Melbourne for the weekend reunion.
She said it was quite “humbling” to be able to see places around the region that her ancestor was instrumental in setting up.
“It is quite surreal, it’s quite an eye-opener,” Daisy said.
“I’ve enjoyed the education component as well but also understanding the Hoskins family history and their contribution to the whole area.”
Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
