PORT HEDLAND, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

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The oldest port in the Pilbara region, it today serves the iron ore mines of Mt Goldsworthy, Shay Gap and Mt Newman. Built on an island 13 km long and 1.6 km wide, it is connected to the mainland by four long causeways over tidal creeks.
Location: 1,670 kilometres from Perth.
Origin of name: honours Captain Peter Hedland, of the cutter Mystery, which visited the area in 1863 on an exploratory voyage headed by Messrs Ridley and Parbury.
Brief history: originally known as Mangrove Harbour, it is at this location that Dutch navigator Gerritt de Witt was blown ashore in 1628 aboard the Vyanen. Port Hedland developed as a port after the discovery of gold at Marble Bar and Nullagine in 1888. The original port, named Condon, was near the mouth of the de Grey River. It is now an abandoned ruin.
Towards the end of the century it became apparent that the pastoral industry in the Eastern Pilbara needed a port, and in 1896 the first Port Hedland jetty was begun. With the discovery of gold in the Marble Bar area a few years later, the jetty was extended in 1908, and a railway between Marble Bar and Port Hedland was completed in 1911. From then until the late 1930s, the port was mainly used for the import of stores and producer items for the local industries, and the export of pearl shell, wool, livestock, gold, tin and small amounts of copper. After World War II, the port continued to serve the pastoral industry, and began to export significant quantities of manganese. In 1965, Goldsworthy Mining (now BHP Billiton) dredged an approach channel and turning basin for ships of up to 65,000 dead weight tonnes (DWT), thus beginning the use of the port as an export point for iron ore mined in the Pilbara region.
Natural features: Indian Ocean; De Grey River; coastal islands (Dixon, Depuch, North Turtle, Bedout Islands); Cape Keraudren; Finucane Island; Pretty Pool
Built features: iron ore shipping berths
Heritage features: Nelson Point Aboriginal rock art; South West Creek Aboriginal rock art (6 km south-west).