Brilliant blue skies and white clouds over the Pilbara

Paraburdoo
Typical Pilbara mining town
Paraburdoo lies 651 km north of Carnarvon (1536 km north of Perth) and 365 m above sea level. It is located at the southwestern end of the Hamersley Range National Park. Only 81 km south of Tom Price, Paraburdoo is a typical Pilbara mining town.

Named after the nearby 'Pirraburdoo' lease (it was never an actual pastoral station), it is said that the name of the town refers to the white cockatoos which live in the area and which were a ready food supply for the local Aborigines. According to some experts 'piru' means meat and 'pardu' means feathers.

Like most of the new towns in the Pilbara, the construction and development of Paraburdoo occurred in the early 1970s. It was originally constructed by Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd between 1970 and1971 to house workers at the nearby mine. The first house in the town was occupied in September 1970. It is a comment on the size of the operations that the town's population has remained relatively stable at 2000-2500 since 1971. The town is no longer 'closed' although accommodation at the local hotel is expensive and the town's focus is clearly on mining and not on tourism.

Iron ore from the huge open cut mine (which produces 17 million tonnes per annum) is crushed and screened at Paraburdoo before being railed to Tom Price and onto the port at Dampier where it is blended with ore from Tom Price. The journey from Paraburdoo to Mount Tom Price is difficult and six engines are used to pull the train up a continuously adverse 300 metre gradient. A typical train stretches over 2 km and has 200 cars carrying a total weight of 25 000 tonnes.

A new mine, the Channar J.V., has recently opened 22 km from Paraburdoo. Ore from the mine is carried to the town by overland conveyor.

Things to see:  

Major Attractions
Attractions in the region are limited. Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd conducts tours of the mine every Thursday at 12.45 pm and bookings can be made by contacting (08) 9189 5200. Being on the edge of the desert and in the Hamersley ranges the area is noted for its beautiful scenery and its rich variety of wildlife.

For details of the general history of the area see the entry on

Hotels  

Restaurants