50 Years of Boom, Bust & Red Dog the Life & Times of Karratha City
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50 YEARS OF BOOM, BUST & RED DOG THE LIFE & TIMES OF KARRATHA CITY Brought to you by StreetWise Media www.streetwisemedia.com.au Premier of WA Gazetted 50 years ago, Karratha is one of t e newest townsites The Karratha townsite was officially in Western Australia, however it has grown quickly to become proclaimed in the Government the most populous centre in the State’s north west. gazette on 8 August 1969 by then Governor of WA Major-General Sir Karratha is built on the traditional lands of the Ngarluma Douglas Anthony Kendrew. people, who have occupied the area since at least 40,000 years ago and continue to act as its custodians today. The Subsequent development of the name Karratha comes from the Ngarluma word meaning ‘good North West Shelf oil and gas industry country’ or ‘soft earth’. in the 1980s helped Karratha to grow into a thriving regional service centre The townsite’s origins are closely connected to growth in the by the early 2000s. State’s iron ore industry. In the 1960s, global growth in demand for iron ore led to the lifting of Commonwealth restrictions on Karratha today is a strikingly vibrant, attractive urban centre. iron ore exports and the establishment of the Pilbara as a major The town is home to more than 15,800 people and services iron ore supplier. In 1963, the Western Australian Government thousands of other residents living in the surrounding signed the Hamersley Iron State Agreement. This was followed communities of Wickham, Pt Samson, Roebourne and Dampier by the completion of the Tom Price to Dampier railway in 1966, as well as the wider Pilbara. allowing the first shipment of iron ore from Parker Point in Dampier. There is a feeling of excitement in the air in Karratha, with many new projects in the pipeline that will enable the economy In 1968, in recognition of the need for a new population centre and community to further expand and diversify. in the Pilbara to support iron ore operations in the Hamersley Ranges, Karratha was established by joint agreement with the As more families choose Karratha as their home, the next 50 Western Australian Government and Hamersley Iron. years look incredibly bright. The construction of the suburb of Bulgarra began in 1969, followed by Pegs Creek in 1975, Millars Well (1980), Nickol (1981) and Baynton (1987). WA Premier Mark McGowan Mayor of Karratha Gazetted on August 8, 1969, this year marks 50 years of The investment boom that Karratha. A modern town built on the back of the resource commenced during the first decade industry, its name derived from the pastoral station from which of this century provided substantial land to create the town site was taken. government and private capital for the improvement and development of Now the largest town in the Pilbara region of WA, the world’s Karratha. richest mineral province, Karratha in local Aboriginal language means ‘good country’ or ‘soft earth’. Electricity, water and sewage infrastructure was upgraded, a Today the City’s ports export both hematite and magnetite iron range of new multi-storey buildings ores, liquefied natural gas, salt, ammonia, LPG, condensate were built and landmark public and ammonium nitrate totalling over $40 billion in value during developments initiated by Council had a transformative effect 2018. on the town. Originally established to meet the need for staff housing for Rio And so, just 50 years since the first shovel dug into the earth, Tinto (then Hamersley Iron), Karratha rapidly expanded with the Karratha has become a fantastic place to live, work and play. establishment of Dampier Salt in the early 1970s. In the early 1980s Woodside Petroleum and the huge North West Shelf Project – then the largest project in the world – came to town, opening up new suburbs during its 20-year development of five LNG trains. Mayor Peter Long HAPPY ANNIVERSARY WELCOME to this special commemorative publication and development of inland communities after 1900. From celebrating 50 years since the city of Karratha was gazetted a indigenous stories of the “good country” to the first pastoral ‘townsite’. stations and settlements mining iron ore, salt and gold. From destructive cyclones to unions fighting to improve conditions Published by StreetWise Media, with the support of the City for workers in the Pilbara. of Karratha, ‘50 Years of Boom, Bust & Red Dog - The Life & Times of Karratha City’ showcases the rich history of the ‘50 Years’ includes a selection of photographs, including the “powerhouse of the nation”. And not just since August 8, cover image, courtesy of City of Karratha Councillor Margaret 1969. Bertling. Achival images were sourced from the City of Karratha Local History Collection and reproduced with the Karratha was a solution to a mining problem - housing. But the permission of the City of Karratha. road leading to its birth is tied intimately to the extraordinary people who for more than a century endured the extraordinary Special thanks to local history librarian Sally Culver for conditions of settling a ‘new’ land. directions to finding the 1969 time capsule (page 12) and WA Maritime Museum archaeologist Mike McCarthy for his The first European settlers who arrived at Cossack, Roebourne, historical expertise and sound arguments for renaming ‘Sturt’s Point Samson and Port Hedland were determined and heavily desert pea’ because British explorer William Dampier first invested in developing the ‘North’. Perseverance, hard work collected it in 1699. and sacrifice in the face of adversity, droughts, cyclones; they displayed the same qualities which by 2014 transformed a StreetWise Media also thanks WA Premier Mark McGowan mining town into a 21st century city of nearly 20,000 people. and Karratha Mayor Peter Long for their support and Woodside Energy for access to archival and contemporary images of its Their legacy is written in the street signs and landmarks Pilbara operations. of Karratha, Dampier, Roebourne, Wickham and Cossack - Shakespeare, Sholl, Withnell, Hedland, Dampier. Limited copies of ‘50 Years of Boom, Bust & Red Dog The Life & Times of Karratha City’ are available at Proudly supported by local businesses and industry leaders [email protected] and www.streetwisemedia.com.au. including Woodside, SCOOP Property and Finance and Merenda Group, this souvenir issue pays homage to the Copies also will be available for a limited time at City of pioneers, politicians, companies, councils and community Karratha offices, visitor centre, library, cafes, shopping centres groups which forged a city out of dust. and select sites in Dampier, Roebourne, Point Samson, Wickham, Cossack and Port Hedland. From the first tentative footsteps in the North West at Cossack and Roebourne in the early to mid 1860s to the expansion Carmelo Amalfi Wayiba. Nyindaguru milbanha warrbangu garliam ngurra. Hello. Welcome to everyone who has come from far away to Ngarliam country. TREASURED STONE MURUJUGA is the traditional Aboriginal name for the Dampier Archipelago and Burrup Peninsula. More than 1500km north of Perth, the ancient landscape is the only place on Earth where the story of people and their changing environment is recorded continuously for at least 30,000 years. In rock. Hundreds of thousands of individual works, called petroglyphs, were completed over generations. Today, they are protected in Murujuga National Park, which covers about 5000ha; the largely inaccessible country nominated for a place on the World Heritage List. Rock faces include images of birds, fish and land animals, human figures, figures with mixed human and animal traits and geometric designs. According to ‘Dreamtime’ beliefs, mythic beings walked across the ancient landscape performing heroic deeds and creating plants and animals, rivers and mountains. Visitors can explore the State’s 100th national park via the Dampier Road turnoff into Burrup Peninsula Road, then right on the road to Withnell Bay. StreetWise Media acknowledges the Ngarluma-Yindjibarndi, Yaburara-Mardudhunera and Woon-goo-tt-oo people as the traditional custodians of Murujuga National Park. - 2 - PILBARA DREAMTIME ANCESTORS of the Ngarluma, Yaburara, Some of the earliest evidence of Yindjibarndi and Mardudhunera people Aboriginal occupation on the North West lived in the Pilbara region for tens of coast includes radio carbon dating of thousands of years. The Aboriginal word cutting implements, including spoons, for the Pilbara is bilybara, or ‘dry’ in the shell and beads unearthed at Boodie Nyamal and Banyjima languages. Cave on Barrow Island, 50km off the Pilbara coast. They reveal the now largely Yindjibarndi people traditionally lived in submerged northern coastline was the area near the town of Roebourne. occupied up to 50,000 years ago. The area is bordered by Kariyarra and Nyamal land to the north, Ngarluma west, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Martuthunira and Kurrama land south and people have for thousands of years passed Nyiyaparli and Palyku land east. Several down stories and paintings of ancestral hundred people still speak Yindjibarndi. beings from ‘the north’. The Aboriginal word for Karratha means Recently, researchers retraced the ancient ‘good country’ or ‘soft earth’. routes described in these stories to better understand how and when Aboriginal The youngest city in the Pilbara, Karratha people first settled the Australian was established on the back of a rapidly continent. expanding resources industry. The pressure for land in the 1960s and 1970s One thing is certain, they had to be is one of the reasons why Indigenous organised to cross the land bridges connecting Asia and Sahul (Australia). Australians first raised concerns over the At least 1000 people were needed to Burrup rock art. establish a colony 50,000 years ago. Acting on a request by Murujuga Alternatively, they arrived in smaller, Aboriginal Corporation, and described successive waves, “averaging at least as, “a significant moment in the history 130 people every 70 or so years over the of heritage management in WA”, WA course of about 700 years”.