Newman, Western Australia

A mining town housing employees of Mt. Newman Mining Company, which works the iron ore deposits of Mt. Whaleback.
Location: 1,186 kms north of Perth; 450 km south of Port Hedland, on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert. Altitude: 1, 053 m above sea level. It is the highest town in Western Australia.
Origin of name: the town is named after Mount Newman. It was thus named in 1896 by surveyor WF Rundell after Aubrey Woodward Newman, a survey team member who died of typhoid fever on reaching the area on a mapping expedition in that year.
Brief history: In 1957 AS 'Star' Hilditch discovered a huge iron ore deposit 15 km from Mt. Newman which was named Mt. Whaleback, as the hill looked like the shape of a humpback whale. Established in 1969 by the Mt. Newman Mining Company to house the workforce from the nearby Mt. Whaleback iron ore mine, the population has fluctuated from more than 6,000 to an estimated 4,500 residents in 2004. Mt. Whaleback is today one of the world's largest open-cut iron ore mines. The mine's huge ore trains, which consist of up to 240 cars and four locomotives, take ore 426 kms to the Port Hedland port facilities.
Natural features: Mt. Newman; BHP Gorge; Mt. Whaleback; Hamersley Ranges; Kalgans Pool; Eaglerock Falls; Lake Disappointment (300 km east); Weelo Walli; Eagle Rock Falls
Built features: Ophthalmia Dam
Heritage features: Wanna Munna Aboriginal Rock art