Port Hedland Attractions
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Port Hedland (pop. 11,200) is on the northwest coast of the Pilbara region. The town lies on an island which is linked with the mainland by three causeways. In the 19th C, like most ports in the tropical North West, it was a pearl-fishing center. Its great days began with the iron ore boom of the 1960s, and it is now the Australian port handling the greatest annual tonnage. Here iron ore from enormous opencast mines up to 420km in the interior is loaded into huge ore carriers. Visitors are welcome to watch the loading of the ore in the harbor, and the buses of the Mount Newman Mining Company take them on a conducted tour (booking through tourist bureau).
The town's second most important industry is the production of salt by the evaporation of seawater in shallow salt pans - an activity which has left its mark on the landscape.
Facing the harbor control tower is an exhibition illustrating the development of the port. In a limestone ridge opposite the main entrance to the Mount Newman Mining Company are Aboriginal rock drawings.
There is good fishing round the harbor. Boats can be hired. There is remarkably rich bird life in the area.
The town's second most important industry is the production of salt by the evaporation of seawater in shallow salt pans - an activity which has left its mark on the landscape.
Facing the harbor control tower is an exhibition illustrating the development of the port. In a limestone ridge opposite the main entrance to the Mount Newman Mining Company are Aboriginal rock drawings.
There is good fishing round the harbor. Boats can be hired. There is remarkably rich bird life in the area.
