Pilbara historical timeline

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 the John and Emma Withnell	Mount Welcome Station
1864	Cooya Pooya Station established by Thomas Lockyer[citation needed]	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 the 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