Whyalla is a city and seaport located on the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It was founded as Hummock Hill in 1901 by the Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) as the end of a tramway bringing iron ore from the Middleback Ranges to be used in the lead smelters at Port Pirie as flux. A jetty was built to transfer the ore. The settlement consisted of small cottages and tents clustered around the base of the hill. The arid environment and lack of natural fresh water resources made it necessary to import water in barges from Port Pirie.