Port Hedland, Western Australia

Iron ore mines in the Pilbara region.

Port Hedland is known by the Indigenous Kariyarra and Nyamal people as Marapikurrinya, which either means "place of good water" (as told by a Nyamal language speaker) and makes reference to the three reliable fresh water soaks that can still be seen in and around the town, or as the town council's website says "refers to the hand like formation of the tidal creeks coming off the harbour (marra - hand, pikurri - pointing straight and nya - a place name marker)".[5] According to Dreamtime legend, there was a huge blind water snake living in the landlocked area of water known as Jalkawarrinya. This landlocked area is now the turning basin for the ships that enter the port and as the story goes, "the coming of the big ships meant it was unable to stay".

The coastline in the area was seen by European mariners as early as 1628, when the Dutch merchant ship Vianen, captained by Gerrit Franszoon de Witt visited.

Swedish-born mariner Peter Hedland was the first European to note the harbour's existence and the possibility of using it as a port. Peter Hedland arrived in the area in April 1863 on board his boat Mystery, which he had built himself at Point Walter on the banks of the Swan River. He named the harbour Mangrove Harbour and reported that it would make a good landing site with a well protected harbour, and that there was also fresh water available. However, the port was initially regarded as unusable, due to a sandbar that frequently sealed the entrance and thick mangroves around the shore; further, the narrow entrance made the harbour difficult to enter in bad weather.[6]

Later in 1863, government surveyor Joseph Beete Ridley examined Mangrove Harbour while exploring the country between Nicol Bay and the Fitzroy River, describing it as "an excellent anchorage and perfectly landlocked". He named it Port Hedland after the master of Mystery. Ridley located a firm landing place above the mangroves, and a practicable stockroute from there to the De Grey River.[7]

In 1866, the Government Resident at Roebourne, Robert John Sholl, directed Charles Wedge to re-examine Port Hedland as an alternative port, because the distance from Tien Tsin Harbour (later known as Cossack) was discouraging settlement in areas such as the De Grey River. Wedge encountered difficulties in his efforts, as he was hampered by heavy rain and the tidal creeks around Mangrove Harbour and was unable to reach the proposed port site to survey its suitability.[8][9]

In 1891, exploration of the area by Tom Traine, John Wedge (son of Charles Wedge)[10] and Syd Hedley identified two landings and described the harbour as "pretty as well as safe". In September 1895, Cossack residents requested the District Surveyor survey the headland at Port Hedland in order to establish a town and requested that the Government build a jetty.[11]

In 1896, the Port Hedland town site was surveyed by government surveyor E.W. Geyer, who named the grid of streets after the pastoral pioneers, including Richardson, Withnell, Wedge and McKay streets, and in October 1896, the town site was gazetted.[11]

By 1905, the Roads Board had made considerable improvements to the roads and streets.[12] In 1909 port facilities were built, and in 1911 a rail link to Marble Bar commenced operation.

On 30 July 1942 the town was bombed by the Japanese, killing one soldier at the local airfield.

By 1946, approximately 150 people lived in the area.

The population of the town in 1968 was about 3,000 people.[13]

Port Hedland has a hot arid climate (Köppen BWh) although subject to the influence of tropical cyclones. Port Hedland is very warm to sweltering all year round, with mean maximum temperatures of 36.4 °C (97.5 °F) in January and 27.1 °C (80.8 °F) in July. Maximum temperatures in summer are usually moderated by a warm but humid sea breeze. Port Hedland is very sunny, averaging over 10 hours of sunshine per day annually and being in the sunniest region of Australia,[21] receiving around 218.9 clear days annually. Dewpoint in the warmer months typically ranges from 19 to 22 °C (66.2 to 71.6 °F).

Annual rainfall (falling almost exclusively between December and June) averages 311.5 mm (12.26 in) but because of erratic cyclones is subject to some of the largest variations in annual precipitation in the world. As an illustration, in 1942, 1,040 millimetres or 40.94 inches fell, but two years later in 1944 only 32 millimetres or 1.26 inches fell and the town went for over 300 days with no rain. The town received record daily rainfall on 27 January 1967 when a total of 387.1 millimetres or 15.24 inches of rainfall was recorded for 24 hours, which is more than the mean annual rainfall.[22] The high summer temperatures experienced in Port Hedland mean that most tourists to the area choose to visit in the cooler months between May and September.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the Western Pilbara, including Port Hedland is the sunniest place in Australia; being the only place to record an annual average of more than 10 hours a day of sunshine.[23]

Port Hedland has a flatback sea turtle rookery, located on the main beach front. Several lookouts along the beach front path allow views of marine mammals including Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphins and Australian snubfin dolphins.

The Port Hedland Saltworks Important Bird Area is a 103 km² tract of originally intertidal land, now containing a saltern, about 20 km east of the port of Port Hedland. The site regularly supports over 1% of the world populations of red-necked stints and sharp-tailed sandpipers, as well as a population of the range-restricted dusky gerygone.[25] Species that have strongly declined since the 1980s are broad-billed sandpipers, Asian dowitchers, curlew sandpipers, red-necked avocets, banded stilts, Oriental plovers, Oriental pratincoles and white-winged black terns. Other species present include Australian bustards, bush stone-curlews, western bowerbirds, painted finches and canary white-eyes.[26]

Estuaries such as Pretty Pool support mangroves, marine fish, and birds.

Pollution from iron ore dust regularly exceeds national standards. The local hospitalisation rate for respiratory infections is 30% higher than the Western Australian average.[27]

The Blackrock Stakes is a 122 km race from Goldsworthy to Port Hedland in which competitors, either in teams or as individuals, push wheelbarrows weighed down with iron ore. It was first run in 1971, and competitors pushed a wheelbarrow full of iron ore from a remote mine site into Port Hedland. Since then the race has grown to raise more than $1 million for charity as a modified version where teams of 10, trios, duos and lone runners now push modified wheelbarrows containing 11 kg of iron ore over the distance.[28]

• Don Rhodes Mining and Transport Museum
• Pilbara historical timeline
• Pilbara newspapers
• Port Hedland International Airport
• Port Hedland Saltworks Important Bird Area
• Silver Star Cafe (Port Hedland)

Media related to Port Hedland, Western Australia at Wikimedia Commons

• Port Hedland
• WA Planning Commission - Land Use Survey (1999)
• Bureau of Meteorology: Port Hedland Meteorological Office
• Port Hedland Port Authority