Earth:Pilbara historical timeline

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This timeline is a selected list of events and locations of the development of the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Date Event Location Notes
c 46,000 BP Evidence of human habitation in Juukan Gorge Juukan Gorge
c 40,000 BP Estimated age of Dampier Indigenous Australian rock art Murujuga
1622 East India Company ship Tryall wrecked, some survivors reach Java Tryal Rocks
1628 Dutch ship Vianen ran aground but refloated and explored coast near Barrow Island
1818 Captain Phillip Parker King surveyed the coastline, naming the Intercourse Islands and Nickol Bay Dampier
1861 Francis Thomas Gregory and his party explore the Nickol Bay area, naming Port Walcott, the Hardey River, the De Grey River and the Fortescue River
April 1863 Captain Peter Hedland discovers Mangrove Harbour (Port Hedland) Port Hedland
April/May 1863 Charles Nairn, at the behest of his brother-in-law, pastoralist and entrepreneur Walter Padbury, establishes the first sheep station in the region. De Grey River.
May 1863 Tien Tsin Harbor  [sic] (known later as Cossack) is established Tien Tsin Harbor  [sic]
September 1863 Sherlock Station selected by John Wellard Sherlock Station
1864 Mount Welcome Station established by John and Emma Withnell Mount Welcome Station
1864 Cooya Pooya Station established by Thomas Lockyer Cooya Pooya - 1865 Pyramid Station established by the Richardson Brothers for the Portland Squatting Company Pyramid Station
1865 (November) The first permanent government office in the region is established, headed by R. J. Sholl, Government Resident for the North District. Sholl has been relocated from the short-lived settlement at Camden Harbour  [sic] (on the north coast of the Kimberley). Mount Welcome/Harding River
1866 On the recommendation of surveyor Charles Wedge and R.J. Sholl, the region's first townsite, named Roebourne, is gazetted, adjoining the government camp, Mt Welcome and the Harding River. Roebourne
1869 Pardoo Station established as an outstation of De Grey Station Pardoo Station
1872 Copper discovered west of Whim Creek Whim Creek
1872 Mundabullangana Station established by the MacKays Mundabullangana
1872 Chirritta Station established by Donald Norman McLeod. Chirritta
1878 Minderoo Station established by the Forrest brothers and Septimus Burt Minderoo
1878 Yarraloola Station established by the Woolhouses Yarraloola
1879 Croydon Station established by the Robinsons Croydon Station
1886 Yarrie Station established by Christopher Coppin Yarrie Station
1887 Gold discovered at Mallina, east of Whim Creek Mallina Station
1887 First tramway opened, 2’ gauge and horse drawn, between Cossack and Roebourne Roebourne[1]
1890 Gold discovered in Coongan River bed Marble Bar
1891 Emu Creek Station established Emu Creek Station
1893 Marble Bar town site gazetted
1893 Marronah Station established by J. H. Mansfield Maroonah
1894 Cyclone kills 45 people at sea Port Hedland
1896 Townsite of Port Hedland gazetted Port Hedland
1896 Warrawagine Station established. Warrawagine
1898 Cyclone causes £30,000 worth of damage to Cossack
1899 Townsite of Nullagine gazetted Nullagine
1905 Mining starts at Wodgina mine site south of Port Hedland
1906 Alfred Canning commences surveying Canning Stock Route
1909 Townsite of Point Samson gazetted Point Samson
1910 Canning Stock route completed droving of first cattle commences
July 1911 Railway opened connecting Port Hedland with Marble Bar Marble Bar Railway
1912 Sinking of passenger steamer SS Koombana with loss of 150 lives off Port Hedland
1924 Marble Bar records world record 160 days at or above 100 °F (37.8 °C)[2] Marble Bar - 1931 Indigenous girls Molly Craig, Daisy Kadibil and Gracie Fields escape Moore River Native Settlement and walk home to Jigalong along the rabbit-proof fence Jigalong
1937 Asbestos mined at Yampire Gorge, near Wittenoom Wittenoom
1938 Government surveyors, Finucane and Telford, surveyed Mount Goldsworthy and reported the iron content of the ore at 65.66% with estimated reserves of more than 6,000,000 tons
1946 The Pilbara Strike takes place
1950 Townsite of Wittenoom gazetted Wittenoom
October 1952 Operation Hurricane British nuclear test Montebello Islands
November 1952 Lang Hancock flies over the Pilbara region, discovering vast iron ore deposits Turner River
1956 Operation Mosaic British nuclear tests Montebello Islands
December 1960 Australian Government changes restrictions on iron ore exports Australia wide
March 1961 Western Australian government announces that iron ore exploration permits will be allowed Western Australia
September 1962 CRA geologists identify Mount Tom Price deposits Mount Tom Price
1964 Oil was discovered in commercial quantities by West Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd Barrow Island
January 1965 Dampier and Mount Tom Price - construction commences at locations
February 1965 Construction commences on the town of Goldsworthy Goldsworthy
June 1965 Dampier - Tom Price railway works commence Hamersley Iron
1966 Asbestos mine closed at Wittenoom Gorge Wittenoom
1966 Rio Tinto opens its first iron ore mine in the Pilbara Mount Tom Price mine
July 1966 Tom Price to Dampier - first fully loaded ore train
August 1966 Dampier - first shipment of ore loaded
1967 Iron ore discovered at Mount Whaleback Newman
May 1967 Hamersley Holdings Limited shares on the Australian Securities Exchange
1968 BHP establishes an iron ore mine near Newman Mount Whaleback
1968 Plane crash kills 26 Indee Station, near Port Hedland
August 1969 Development of community at Karratha begins
July 1970 East Intercourse Island connected by causeway
1971 Townsite of Wickham gazetted Wickham
1972 Cape Lambert port opened Cape Lambert
1972 Townsite of Newman gazetted Newman
1972 Townsite of Paraburdoo gazetted Paraburdoo
1972 Townsite of Pannawonica gazetted Pannawonica
1972 Dampier Salt commences operations Dampier
1974 North West Coastal Highway from Geraldton to Port Hedland completely sealed
1975 Veevers Meteorite Crater discovered Great Sandy Desert
December 1975 Cyclone Joan - flooding in Pilbara and damages Hamersley Rail
October 1977 Tom Price, Paraburdoo, Dampier and Karratha combined population passes 15,000
1978 Meekatharra to Newman section of Great Northern Highway upgraded. Great Northern Highway
1981 WAPET discovers gas off the Pilbara coast with the drilling of the Gorgon 1 well Gorgon gas project
1983 Death of John Pat in police custody sparks calls for reform of police treatment of indigenous suspects Roebourne
1984 North Rankin A Gas Platform commissioned North West Shelf
1984 Pintupi Nine, last indigenous nomads without white contact, found Lake Mackay
1989 Newman to Port Hedland section of Great Northern Highway upgraded Great Northern Highway
1989 BHP opens iron ore mine near Newman Jimblebar mine
January 1990 Rio Tinto Group opens iron ore mine in Hamersley Range Channar mine
1991 Port Hedland Immigration Reception and Processing Centre opened Port Hedland
1992 Rio Tinto opens another iron ore mine in Hamersley Range Brockman 2 mine
December 1993 BHP opens another iron ore mine near Shay Gap Yarrie mine
1994 Rio Tinto opens another iron ore mine in Hamersley Range Marandoo mine
1995 Goodwyn A gas platform commissioned North West Shelf
1996 Doris Pilkington Garimara's book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence published Brisbane
2002 Widespread flooding from Cyclone Chris Western Pilbara
2003 Riots at Port Hedland Immigration Detention Centre[3] Port Hedland
2004 Rio Tinto opens another iron ore mine in Hamersley Range Eastern Range mine
2006 Indee Gold Mine opens at Mallina, east of Whim Creek and is closed in 2008 Mallina
2007 Rio Tinto opens another iron ore mine in Hamersley Range Hope Downs mine
March 2007 Wittenoom townsite officially abolished by gazettal Wittenoom
July 2007 Hickman Meteorite Crater discovered in search of Google Earth Ophthalmia Range
October 2007 Fortescue Metals Group begins mining iron ore in the Chichester Range Cloud Break mine
April 2008 First train runs on Fortescue railway Fortescue railway
June 2009 Fortescue Metals Group opens new iron ore mine in the Chichester Range Christmas Creek mine
September 2010 Rio Tinto opens another iron ore mine in Hamersley Range Brockman 4 mine
2013 Flooding from Cyclone Rusty Port Hedland, De Grey Station
2014 Death of Ms Dhu in police custody South Hedland
2018 Runaway ore train deliberately derailed after travelling 90 km[4] Turner Siding
2020 Ancient rock shelters in Juukan Gorge blown up by Rio Tinto Juukan Gorge
2020 Ngururrpa Indigenous Protected Area declared Great Sandy Desert

See also

  • Kimberley historical timeline
  • Regions of Western Australia

References

  1. ↑ "Cossack". Hamersley News (Western Australia) XI (3): p. 12. 9 February 1978. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214558391. Retrieved 23 September 2023. 
  2. ↑ "Marble Bar heatwave, 1923–1924". Australian Climate Extremes. Bureau of Meteorology. http://www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/levelthree/c20thc/temp1.htm. 
  3. ↑ "Excess force used to quell detainees". The Age. 25 August 2015. https://www.theage.com.au/national/excess-force-used-to-quell-detainees-20050825-ge0r7j.html. 
  4. ↑ Piesse, Emily (7 Nov 2018). "BHP runaway iron ore train left a twisted wreck after derailment stopped it reaching WA town". ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-07/investigators-visit-runaway-bhp-iron-ore-train-derailment-site/10469802. 

Further reading

  • Hamersley Iron (1985) Diary titled Hamersley Iron. The Pilbara Flora Collection 1984. The 18th Year of Hamersley Iron Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd Perth, WA.
  • Oakley, Glenda.(1992) More dates! : a Western Australian chronology 1930 to 1989 Northbridge, W.A. Friends of Battye Library occasional paper; no. 3 ISBN 0-646-10780-1
  • Trengrove, Alan (1976) Adventure in iron / Hamersley's First Decade Melbourne, Stockwell Press. ISBN 0-909316-03-1 (Hamersley Chronology on end-pages)



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