Port Pirie has been the target for a constant barrage of criticism from a popular online presence
A popular online mouthpiece has been relentlessly trolling an SA city, crowning it one of the worst places to live in Australia for 2022. Now its residents have had enough.
Upper Spencer Gulf
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A regional SA city has defended its “dubious” label as one of the worst places in Australia to live.
Port Pirie is the target of a long-running segment on popular Facebook page ‘S**t Towns of Australia’, landing in their public-voted top ten for 2022.
The creator of the S**t Towns of Australia page, Geoff Rissole, said he had received numerous complaints and even death threats as a result of their criticism of the city.
“We’ve received a lot of negative feedback from the residents of Port Pirie,” Mr Rissole said.
“Secretly I think Pirie loves being in the rankings - it’s not like anyone else is going to talk about them.
“If Pirie wants us to run a tourism campaign we’d be keen - (Mayor) Leon (Stephens) knows how to get in touch with us.”
Rissole went head-to-head with Port Pirie Mayor Leon Stephens last year on radio station Magic 105.9, with Mr Stephens inviting them to come spend some time getting a proper idea of what the town is like.
“One of the things that I just wanted to get across is that we are working really hard as a community to make sure we get a good name out there for ourselves,” Mr Stephens said.
“I’m very proud of our town and the hard work that we’ve done so I don’t appreciate the label.
“We’d like to find a more professional and effective way of getting people to come to Port Pirie.”
Port Pirie is famous for having one of the world’s largest smelters, which employs roughly 11 per cent of the city.
The Upper Spencer Gulf city is also reputedly responsible for the invention of the pie floater, which the South Australian National Trust recognised as a South Australian Heritage Icon in 2003.
Mandy Dunstall, 61, owns popular local-favourite chicken shop Happy Birds and said the page’s authors were missing the bigger picture.
“Maybe they need to spend some quality time here and get to know everyone,” Ms Dunstall said.
“I’ve lived here for 61 years and ran my store for 18, you get to really know the regulars and they become like family.
“We might not have big water parks or anything here but when you’re in need the town helps.
“When the chips are down, Port Pirie people really look after each other.”
Kyall Durdin, a fitter and turner that moved to Port Pirie from Whyalla six years ago agreed it was a great place to live.
“There’s always something going on most weekends, it’s a super family orientated place,” Mr Durdin said.
“I moved here from Whyalla, which wasn’t a bad spot but I reckon Pirie is just a little friendlier.”
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