Non-Galvanised Retaining Wall Posts??? Will They Rust Through

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Gday guys, im soon to be moving into my new house and will soon have many a landscaping to do. Alot of which involves retaining walls as we are on a slight slope.My question is in regards to how long it will take for non-galvanised steel uprights to rust through. My reason for asking is that i work for a structural steel fabrication company and we are constantly throwing out large quantities of steel sections, mainly channel and I-beam. Alot of which is rather heavy (upto 8mm on the web and 16mm on the flanges).I plan on having gabion (i think thats what there called) style retaining walls, the ones with the wire cages that are filled with rocks. I live inland well away from the sea and we get the typical melbourne weather, freezing and wet in winter and scorching hot in the summer. I want the above ground sctions to act as a sort of rusted feature while below ground i will probably coat them with something, somebody mentioned to me to use tar paint but am open to any ideas anyone may have.Thanks in advance for any help!
Reply:Just a non-professional opinion here, but I suspect 8mm will take quite a while to rust completely through. Of course in a load-bearing application just weakened steel could cause you problems. I would say put some decent self-etching metal primer and paint on them and bury them deep - they'll possibly outlive you.Of course if you build yourself a 40-foot cliff that collapses on your house don't come crying - this is free advice on the internet from an amateur
Reply:Yeah i didnt really think of the "weakened through rust" approach, although i dont believe it will be a huge issue as the tallest retaining wall will still be under a metre