Remembering the Smelter By Daniel Joyce
This is a bonus cache for the Adventure Lab Kurri Kurri Murals. The cache is not at the posted coordinates. To get the coordinates you have to do the Adventure Lab.
This mural is the towns 61st mural and it commemorates the life and work at the aluminium smelter that closed permanently in 2014. Bill Metcalfe unveiled the mural and he was a former smelter employer. The smelter operated from 1969 and was developed by Alcan. The smelter went through 3 ownerships during its time of operation. The smelter was part of the local culture of the area and its closure resulted in many jobs lost both directly and indirectly. It posed environment concerns and monitoring occured over its lifetime. I remember my lecturer at University saying there would be none or very few Lichens in the area due to the smelter.
I do miss seeing the big chimney rising above the vegetation. I used to use it as a destination marker.