Port Hedland (20°18′S 118°36′E) is a major port and town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, with a population of approximately 13,000 (this includes its satellite suburb South Hedland, 18 km away). Emblems: Floral - Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos manglesii); Mammal - Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus); Bird - Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) Motto: none Slogan or Nickname: Wildflower State Other Australian states and territories Capital Perth Government Const. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1860x1395, 510 KB) Summary Photo taken (2nd Aug 2003) and supplied by Nachoman-au. ... Postcodes are used by Australia Post to identify postal districts in Australia. ... Basic Definition In geography, the elevation of a geographic location is its height above mean sea level (or some other fixed point). ... km redirects here. ... Perth is the capital of the Australian state of Western Australia. ... Local Government Areas of Western Australia There are 144 Local Governments in Western Australia (including Christmas Island and Cocos Islands), represented by the Western Australian Local Government Association External link Statoids on Australia Shires Categories: Local Government Areas of Western Australia ... The Town of Port Hedland is a Local Government Area of Western Australia for the town and district of Port Hedland (; post code: 6721) in the Pilbara Region. ... State Electoral District is a term used to refer to a voting area within Australian states. ... Central Kimberley-Pilbara is an Electoral district of Western Australia. ... The Australian House of Representatives is elected from 150 single-member districts called Divisions. ... The Division of Kalgoorlie is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Western Australia. ... Celsius is, or relates to, the Celsius temperature scale. ... Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), who proposed it in 1724. ... Celsius is, or relates to, the Celsius temperature scale. ... Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), who proposed it in 1724. ... The metre, or meter (US), is a measure of length. ... Mid-19th century tool for converting between different standards of the inch An inch is an Imperial and U.S. customary unit of length. ... The Pilbara is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. ... South Hedland ( ; post code: 6722) is a major suburb of the Town of Port Hedland Western Australias Pilbara region in the northwest. ...

Port Hedland is a natural deep anchorage port that as well as being the main fuel and container receival point for the region was seen as perfect for shipment of the iron ore being mined in the ranges located inland from the town. The ore is moved by railway lines from four major iron ore deposits to the east and south of Port Hedland. Other major resource activites supported include the offshore Natural gas fields , salt, manganese, and livestock. Grazing of cattle and sheep was formerly a major revenue earner for the region but this has slowly declined. Port Hedland was formerly the terminus for the WAGR Marble Bar Railway which serviced the Gold mining area of Marble Bar. Note: an anchorage is a place where a ship lays anchor. ... This heap of iron ore pellets will be used in steel production. ... Natural gas is a gaseous fossil fuel consisting primarily of methane. ... Binomial name Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 Cattle (often called cows in vernacular and contemporary usage, or kye as the Scots plural of cou) are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. ... Species See text. ... Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the earlier name for the current Public Transport Authority (PTA) of Western Australia, an arm of the Government of Western Australia. ... Marble Bar Railway The isolated Port Hedland to Marble Bar railway was a Western Australian Government Railways 3 6 gauge branch line that was opened in July 1911, and closed in the early 1950s. ... Marble Bar is a tiny town in the Pilbara region of north-western Western Australia. ...

History

Port Hedland was originally known by the Indigenous Kariyarra and Nyamal people as Marrapikurrinya, 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)".^[1] 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". See also, List of Indigenous Australian group names Indigenous Australians are the first human inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands. ...

Though the coastline in the area had been explored in the 1700s, Captain Peter Hedland was one of the first Europeans to explore the harbour for the purpose of developing an export port. Peter Hedland arrived in the area in April 1863 onboard his boat, Mystery that 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. What Hedland failed to point out was that the harbour was difficult to enter because of a huge sandbar that sealed the entrance meaning it was only accessible at high tide and that it was difficult to enter in bad weather because of the narrow entrance.^{[citation needed]}

During 1866 the resident Magistrate of Roebourne , Charles Wedge , investigating alternative towns site to Roebourne reported that Port Hedland's suitability was pessimistic. In 1891 the exploration of the area by Tom Traine John Wedge and Syd Hedley identified two landings and described the harbour as "pretty as well as safe". During September 1895 Cossack residents requested the District Surveyor to survey the headland at Port Hedland and requested the Government to build a jetty. Roebourne, Western Australia is an old gold rush town in the states Pilbara region. ... Cossack police quarters and gaol, now backpacker accommodation. ...

Goldsworthy mining discovered iron ore in the Pilbara in the late 1950's and built the towns of Goldsworthy and later Shaygap as mine sites. A rail line was then built to Port Hedland where dredging was undertaken to deepen the port's channel and a wharf was built opposite the township of Port Hedland on Finicane Island. Shipment of ore began in the early 1960's.

In 1967 iron ore was discovered at Mt Whaleback and a mining venture was undertaking that included the establishment of a new Town, Mount Newman, 426 km of rail from the mine to the port and the development of processing equipment at both Mount Newman and Port Hedland. In 1986, at a cost of $87 million, the existing channel was dredged to allow the port to increase the tonnage of those ships able to enter the port. Prior to dredging the port was only able to load vessels less than 2000 tones but today they are able to accomidate ships over 250 000 tones. This heap of iron ore pellets will be used in steel production. ...

Geography and climate

The climate of Port Hedland is warm to hot, with mean maximum temperatures of 36°C (97°F) in January and 27°C (81°F) in July. Maximum temperatures in summer are usually moderated by a warm but humid sea breeze.Temperatures in summer have been recorded as high as 52°C (125.6°F)but generally do not exceed 45°C (113°F). Annual rainfall (falling almost exclusively between December and June) averages 300 millimetres (12 inches) but because of erratic cyclones is subject to some of the largest variations in the world. As an illustration, in 1942 1040 mm (41 inches) fell, but in 1944 only 28 mm (1.1 inches) fell and the town went for over 300 days with no rain. Cyclone Catarina, a rare South Atlantic tropical cyclone viewed from the International Space Station on March 26, 2004 Hurricane and Typhoon redirect here. ...

Location of Port Hedland, Western Australia

Located between Port Hedland and South Hedland are the large salt hills of Dampier Salt. These large mounds have almost become a tourist attraction in their own right. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x1367, 98 KB) Shows location of w: Port Hedland, Western Australia marked in red in the Australian state of w:Western Australia. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x1367, 98 KB) Shows location of w: Port Hedland, Western Australia marked in red in the Australian state of w:Western Australia. ... South Hedland ( ; post code: 6722) is a major suburb of the Town of Port Hedland Western Australias Pilbara region in the northwest. ...

A natural phenomenon which occurs in certain seasons is the "Stairway to the Moon" which is caused by a coincidental effect of moonlight and tides. This can best be viewed from the eastern suburb of Cooke Point.^{[citation needed]}

Immigration detention facility

In 1991 an immigration detention facility was opened at Port Hedland to deal with the arrivals of boat people. Port Hedland was seen as a good location as it is located far away from the major cities, and had an international airport that would allow for easy deportations when required. Privatised by the Howard Government in the late 1990s, the Port Hedland Immigration Reception and Processing Centre was the location of many protests and suicide attempts by its detainees, as well as so-far unresolved deaths (see Mohammed Saleh). The centre was closed in 2004 due to the falling numbers of unauthorised boat arrivals to Australia's northwest, but still stands; the town mayor has called for its demolition.^{[citation needed]} 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Immigration Detention is the policy of indefinitely holding immigrants to a country while a determination is made as to whether they will be allowed to enter that country, or will be repatriated to the one from which they came. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

References

2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 18 is the 322nd day of the year (323rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

External links

Coordinates: -20.310° 118.601° Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...

• Maps and aerial photos
  • Street map from Street Directory, MSN Maps and Multimap.
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, WikiMapia and Terraserver.
• Port Hedland
• Rail & Topo Map (red dots)
• WA Planning Commission - Land Use Survey (1999)
• Bureau of Meteorology: Port Hedland Meteorological Office