Nestled between the immensity of the Indian Ocean and the vastness of the Pilbara, Mags Webster discovers some big surprises in Port Hedland.
PORT HEDLAND
Established: 1880s
Population: 15,000
It’s 6am. Sunrise is spreading a wash of rose and apricot across a cloudless sky. The ocean is smooth and calm, there is only the lightest of breezes. The air is pure and still cool from the night. It is low tide, and the reef along the fringes of the rugged shore is exposed, pockets of water reflecting pearlised light and teeming with various species of aquatic life. Apart from one or two early-morning walkers, Port Hedland’s Cemetery Beach is just about deserted. Another day is dawning in this tranquil Pilbara town, which also just happens to be Australia’s busiest port, and the largest bulk export outlet in the world.
The unexpectedness of this scene is typical of Port Hedland, a key player in the resources industry, yet far from an average mining town. Sometimes there is a perception that places like these exist only to champion collective endeavour at the expense of individual experience; that they are places where the fine grain of community life gets rubbed away. But that somewhat reductive analysis does not fit Port Hedland, a place whose identity was established way before the start-up of the iron ore industry in the 1960s. Home to around 20,000 people , the town and its satellite South Hedland is located on the Pilbara coast just over 1700km north of Perth and around 600km south of Broome. Inland to the east lies the Pilbara region, 502,000km2 of some of the most dramatic, remote and ancient country in the world, the epicentre of Australia’s ongoing love affair with minerals exploration and mining.
Port Hedland’s original name, the one by which it was known long before white settlement, is Marapikurrinya. This beautiful Aboriginal word describes the handprint shape (clearly visible from the air) that the tidal waters make, long fingers of creek reaching in through mangroves, a handshake between ocean and land, between wet and dry. As local man Kerry Robertson says ‘that’s our name for Port Hedland. You get five creeks here, it’s also the name of a family group that our father passes onto us, to all the family, me and my kids and we’re still part of the Marapikurrinya clan group. There’s a place where the fresh water is flowing into salt water, drawing into one big yinda, freshwater flowing in to make those creeks, that’s the yinda now. That’s a place where water always is, people could always drink fresh water and it’s where the rainbow serpents lay.’
“This is a region that enchants and inspires through sheer scale and character, through the way the land has been curated by weather and time.”
This almost perfect natural harbour, sitting in the ‘palm’ of the hand, was where Captain Peter Hedland steered his ship the Mystery in 1863. His discovery triggered a period of great change and expansion for this stretch of the Pilbara coast: millions of acres of land were granted in pastoral leases, sparking a wool export industry, vast pearl shell beds were harvested offshore, while further inland at Marble Bar, gold and tin mines did brisk business. Gazetted as a town-site in 1896, Hedland’s accessible harbour was an essential part of the late 19th century regional and economic infrastructure, but by the first half of the 20th century Hedland’s prosperity was waxing and waning relative to the fortunes of these export industries. Everything changed with the discovery of iron ore in Hamersley Ranges, and once the Commonwealth embargo on ore exports was lifted in the early 1960s, Port Hedland’s future as a strategic hub for the resources industry was assured. By the beginning of the 1970s, South Hedland was under construction to accommodate the rapidly expanding population.
Today, Port Hedland is a major operational centre for BHP Billiton (which has been in the town since 1966), Fortescue Metals Group, and emerging resources player Atlas. The town is also a key support centre for the North West Shelf LNG offshore gas fields. In addition, Dampier Salt produces 3.2Mtpa of salt from a 9000ha area between Port and South Hedland. Aside from iron ore and salt, commodities exported from Port Hedland include manganese ore, chromite ore, copper concentrate and general cargo. Throughout the last decade the port’s handling capacity has grown year on year, crowned by the departure of a record-breaking six vessels and over a million tonnes in on a single tide in June 2012, and this tonnage capacity is on track for a significant increase with the completion of new berths for BHP Billiton in the Inner Harbour.
So much for facts and figures. If this place wears the label of ‘resource town,’ then it is resourceful in every sense of the word. Independence of spirit is hardwired into Port Hedland’s DNA; robustness and resilience is written into attitudes and architecture. It’s a good job too, for according to the Bureau of Meteorology, this part of the Pilbara coast experiences more cyclones than any other part of Australia. But Hedland is more than capable of weathering the parch or blast of a climate brewed north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Buildings which existed well over a century ago, when the entire settlement amounted to little more than the town centre (or West End), are still there and enjoying a second or third wind: the onetime headquarters of Hedland’s only pearling operation, Banger’s Bungalow, is now a business centre, while a 1900s cottage houses the Dalgety House Museum.
“Port Hedland aspires to be Pilbara’s premier Port City. If this ambitious agenda is realised, by 2025 the population will double in size and the town’s physical infrastructure will be transformed.”
A later heritage building, the old Port Hedland Courthouse, has been repurposed into a thriving gallery and retail space which stocks product by local makers and designers as well as showcasing the region through the eyes of the world’s leading artists and photographers. In the gardens of the Gallery—real greenery, trees and flowers—stands an icon of American railroad history, the sleek stainless steel dining car (complete with kitchen) of a distinctive 1930s Burlington Zephyr. Gifted to BHP in the 1970s, the Zephyr became a Pilbara stalwart, running regularly between Port Hedland and Newman 400km to the south before the road connected the towns in 1989. Its latest incarnation is as the Silver Star Café, arguably the best breakfast spot in Hedland. On exhibition opening nights, and when the West End Markets are selling local and regional handmade produce, the gardens are crowded with a vibrant crowd of locals and visitors, and this gracious old carriage once again provides the hospitality for which it was originally designed.
The cosmopolitanism of this scene mirrors the extraordinary rejuvenation the West End itself has undergone in recent years, changing from a sun-stricken and down-trodden network of streets into a pleasant and climate-friendly environment punctuated by parks, trees and public art, plus shade schemes designed by local Aboriginal artists. The transformation is thanks to a partnership between BHP Billiton, the Town of Port Hedland and cultural organisation FORM (which manages the Gallery and Visitor Centre, and runs a variety of social and artistic development programs in the Pilbara) but it is also emblematic of Hedland’s confidence in itself, allowing its unique nature and history to be expressed through landscaping and art projects which harmonise with the town’s industrial infrastructure.
The true value of any place lies in the human story, and here the story is played out against the massive industrial theatre of the region. Operations on this scale are often on a city’s outskirts, invisible as well as inaccessible. But in Port Hedland, anyone coming to the centre of town has a ringside seat for some of the greatest industrial drama in the Pilbara. Everything seems geared towards the outsize: endless sky and landscape, mind-blowing amounts of iron ore. For those excited by superlatives, the Pilbara does not disappoint. Even the trains (BHP Billiton runs 34 a day from its seven mine-sites) are each several kilometres long, and the cargo they carry is close to 2.5 billion years old. The ore is loaded onto Capesize vessels, practically the largest man-made moving objects afloat, and these leviathans cross the line of vision right at the end of the main street.
Port Hedland’s ability to accommodate the might of the resource sector alongside everyday life on a human scale is one of its biggest assets: making room for life as it is lived by people not only connected to mining, but also working in retail, hospitality, pastoral and health care, education, public service, small business owners, entrepreneurs and artists. This balance will stand it in good stead for the future, for with the State Government’s Pilbara Cities program, big plans are on the horizon. Currently the region’s largest town, Port Hedland aspires to be Pilbara’s premier Port City. If this ambitious agenda is realised, by 2025 the population will double in size and the town’s physical infrastructure will be transformed. Mayor Kelly Howlett believes as a result, not only will Hedland’s profile be raised throughout Australia, but ‘our city will [also] be regarded as an important community, rather than just as an important export hub.’ Port Hedland will have to continue redefining people’s idea of a mining town.
It is a challenge the town can handle. Over 52 different nationalities call Hedland home, and this diversity has always been a part of Hedland’s appeal. It is also a place where people invest time and effort, where the work ethic is strong. Mining industry aside, many individuals work long hours and juggle several jobs: as one long term resident puts it ‘I work 14 hour days and I have five different jobs that help Hedland be Hedland.’
The town is also perfectly placed for some of the best outdoor opportunities in Australia. Positioned between the Indian Ocean and a stunning landscape up to 3.5 billion years old, it is no wonder that this is where people discover and indulge a love of fishing, diving, camping, photography; where just a couple of hours drive inland they can marvel at the splendour and scale of the gorges at Karijini, or the lushness of Millstream National Park. This is a region that enchants and inspires through sheer scale and character, through the way the land has been curated by weather and time. It has a beauty, allure and ambience to rival anywhere.
It’s after 5.30pm. The sun has disappeared beyond the ocean, leaving behind a surreal glamour in the 23 kilometre stretch between South and Port Hedland, where blinding white salt mounds are now rinsed in a glorious afterglow: lavender and plum, flame and magenta. As darkness advances, the lights are on at BHP Billiton’s Nelson Point facility, bucket wheel reclaimers in silhouette, the massive wedge-shaped hulls of the ships blurring into shadow. Families are gathering at the Yacht Club for its famous fish and chips, and an evening of relaxation. The heat gone, the air is warm and mellow. Just another day in a far from average mining town.
Meet the Author
MAGS WEBSTER
Mags Webster moved to Western Australia from the UK in 2003. She has travelled to the Pilbara many times as part of her work with FORM. A freelance writer and award-winning poet, Mags is currently based in Hong Kong.
This article was kindly contributed by FORM. FORM is a not for profit cultural organisation that uses creativity to encourage, strengthen and sustain social engagement and cultural achievement in Western Australia. To explore our work in the Pilbara visit:
www.discoverthepilbara.com.au
www.courthousegallery.com.au
www.canningstockrouteproject.com
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