Karratha is 1500km north of Perth, WA, in an area rich with history and resources. If you have a few days to linger, there’s a lot to discover.
The red landscape of the Pilbara region paints a region awash with the vast wealth of iron ore mining that established the area as a significant driver of our economy. You can’t miss the giant infrastructure and non-stop activity in towns with a mix of modern industry and history. But look deeper and you’ll find strong living connections to an ancient past, sometimes at odds with industrial progress.
Karratha is a fast-growing city on the shores of Nickol Bay, about 1500km north of Perth on the North West Coastal Highway. It’s a popular destination for anyone doing a Big Lap or exploring the Western Australia coast. With a population of more than 20,000, it’s a busy shopping and service centre and has one of the biggest best stocked supermarkets I have ever seen. As a mining town with a more than average disposable income the variety and quality of fresh food items was top shelf. The wide mix of ready-to-cook meals was unexpected, but I’d imagine perfect for shift workers. Sporting facilities abound and include a swimming pool and gymnasium and the beach at Hearson Cove is a 30-minute drive away.
English navigator William Dampier passed by in 1699 and lent his name to the nearby shipping port. European settlement dates back to the mid-1800s when pastoralists staked a claim near Cossack at the mouth of the Harding River. Pearl diving and farming drove the area’s development, which saw the establishment of the first major town in WA’s north at Roebourne.
The discovery of a 3.95kg gold nugget at Pilbara Well in 1888 started a gold rush that helped sustain the settlements for several decades. However, low and erratic rainfall decimated farming, and pearling died out in 1900 when the fleet moved north to Broome.
The fortune of the Pilbara changed forever when iron ore was discovered in 1938. However, due to the looming war, the government banned exports. The restriction continued until 1960 when the discovery of mammoth reserves and a changing world political scene saw 500 tons shipped in the first export to Japan. By 1966, the embargo was lifted completely, and the building of loading facilities began at Dampier. By 1968, more land was needed for housing, and Karratha was born.
The Pilbara’s Hamersley Precinct is a rare geological formation created 1.8 billion years ago when the oceans contained a high proportion of dissolved iron and little oxygen. As the first plant life evolved, they released oxygen into the water to form iron-rich hematite, which settled on the seabed in great abundance to form the deposits that eventually emerged as the iron ore-rich hills of the Pilbara.
The region’s enormous and unique ore reserves enable Australia to be the biggest producer of export-ready iron ore with a bright future despite new discoveries in Africa and a mercurial Chinese economy. Operating mines have an expected life of 73 years, and the total life of all currently proven reserves is 175 years. In 2018, Australia exported 899 million tonnes, so it’s big business.
Anyone interested in big things will love the infrastructure at Dampier, which is built around the export trade. Big trains haul kilometre-long carriages nearly 300km over dedicated tracks to the port. Vantage points offer views of the railway, the ships, and loading facilities under the watchful eye of monuments to the original Red Dog who lived here.
Business as usual
Karratha is the cosmopolitan heart of the Pilbara with all your shopping and mechanical needs. Land for the town was excised from Karratha Station, named from the local Ngarluma language for ‘a good place’. Because it was established in the 1970s, there’s a modern vibe around the town. The civic centre is modern and vibrant, with plenty of cafes, pubs, a brewery and the largest shopping mall in the northwest. The central art precinct is worth a look for the varied displays of modern and Indigenous art.
The Yaburara Heritage Trail climbs the hill behind the Karratha Tourist and Visitor Information Centre for views over the town. The trail leads to a mix of Aboriginal art in the form of petroglyphs etched into the red boulders. A printed map at the centre shows the 3km trail with access to various Aboriginal sites, including shell middens, grinding stones, rock engravings, a quarry, and artefact scatters. The track can be steep and rocky, so it’s recommended for fit walkers.
Modern industry meets ancient history
Dampier is 20km east of Karratha on the nearby Burrup Peninsula, named after nearby Mount Burrup, which in turn recognises Henry Burrup, a bank clerk murdered in his sleep by unknown assailants in Roebourne in 1885. With the opening of the export port, entrepreneurs saw opportunities for further development and the tidal flats between Karratha and the peninsula became home to the Dampier Salt Company’s solar salt fields, the biggest in the southern hemisphere.
The discovery of gas out in the Indian Ocean saw Woodside Offshore Petroleum lay a 135km submarine pipeline to a gas plant on the peninsula. They constructed a pipeline to Perth and exported Liquid Petroleum Gas to Asia.
Gas production has recently expanded, with the Pluto gas fields now supplying an upgraded facility with a proposed capacity of five million tonnes per annum, underpinned by agreements with Kansai and Tokyo Gas in Japan. Future plans include an expanded gas facility and fertiliser plants, but expanding industry into the Peninsula isn’t without controversy.
A conflict for land
Aboriginal people have lived in the Pilbara for tens of thousands of years. To them, the Burrup Peninsula is Murujuga, or ‘hipbone sticking out’, and the area — including the offshore islands — has been a traditional meeting and trading place for the various groups of the area for thousands of generations.
The Yaburara, as part of the broader Ngarda-Ngarli people, are the traditional owners of Murujuga, home to the richest concentrations of rock art anywhere in the world. Various experts have described the density and diversity of the engravings as masterpieces of human creative genius, yet they remain one of our best-kept secrets. Some estimates suggest over a million art sites across the Burrup and nearby islands, meaning the area boasts the world's most prolific aboriginal rock engraving sites. The petroglyphs — rock carvings — of Murujuga range in age, with some thought to date back 50,000 years. The rock art tradition continued until at least 1865, when J.P. Stow landed on Murujuga on a voyage north and wrote of a meeting with 20 locals. “The native showed us some of their drawings on the rocks. There were sketches of fish, turtles, lizards and birds, including emus. One artist made a sketch of a turtle on the sand.” On a site near the gas plant is a depiction of a sailing boat from the same period. There are quite a few petroglyphs on Murujuga done by Traditional Custodians that show other European ships and animals.
However, the rock art tradition was broken in 1898 following an event that decimated the Yaburara language group. The death of police following a dispute over sheep stealing led to reprisals known as the Flying Foam Massacre that lasted months. Records of the number of Aboriginal deaths are sketchy but are estimated as more than 60. The massacre and a smallpox outbreak soon after broke the rock art tradition of thousands of years. Lately, the broader communities retain a solid spiritual and cultural connection to the land, with the images a permanent reminder of traditional law and how it should be followed.
In April 2006, the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC) was formed, representing the five Traditional Owner and Custodial groups for Murujuga. In 2013, the 5134-hectare Murujuga National Park was created — becoming the first national park in Western Australia to be jointly managed by Traditional Custodians and the WA Government.
Significant rock art was destroyed when the port infrastructure was built, and the fight to protect the asset continues. The area is now part of the national estate and is before UNESCO for determination as a World Heritage Area.
Nganjarli (Deep Gorge) is a 30-minute drive east of Karratha on Hearson Cove Road. It’s the first recreation site to be developed within the national park. The 700m trail is designed for universal access and features interpretive signage, viewing platforms, and an elevated boardwalk following the edge of natural rock piles. You can view an array of rock engravings, shell middens, grinding stones, and a variety of bush tucker.
While it’s possible to explore the artworks around the Burrup Peninsula on your own, access to some sites is restricted under the WA Aboriginal Heritage Act. So, we found the experience with a guided tour through MAC most valuable. (Tours can be booked online here)
We spent a couple of hours with Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation’s Assistant Ranger Services Manager Peter Cooper, a Mardudhunera Traditional Custodian. Peter explained the area’s significance and pointed out many engravings we would have missed, including a thylacine that was extinct on the mainland thousands of years ago.
History awaits
While the townships of Karratha and Dampier are relatively recent additions to the map, the surrounding area is rich in history. You can easily spend a day visiting the original settlements at Roebourne and Cossack, where valuable examples of colonial architecture are preserved.
Like many places across Australia, the 1800s were times of boom and bust, and Cossack might be an exemplary tale of things that go wrong. We have noted that Cossack grew on the back of diving for pearl shell, exported for buttons and jewellery but more than 80 pearl luggers exploited the seabed unmercifully and the resource was gone within a few decades. So, too, the gold rush that brought prosperity and rapid growth petered out by the turn of the century. Then, the town wharf proved unsuitable for larger ships, and a new facility at nearby Port Sampson in 1904 added to the town’s demise. By 1910, Cossack was gradually abandoned, and by the 1950s, it was a proper ghost town.
Still, the 50 years of prosperity brought significant buildings, many of which have been restored into the historic site we see today. For information about the rich history, it’s worth collecting a guide to the Cossack Heritage Trail at the Karratha Tourism and Visitor Centre. Significant heritage buildings include the two-story stone Post Office (1882), the Courthouse (1885), and the Customs House (1895). A nearby lookout affords views over the town and along the Harding River.
Roebourne also prospered on hopes for the pastoral industry and gold. As setters arrived for the gold and the pastoralists struck some bumper years, the need for commercial and government outlets grew. Roebourne established itself as the fledgling Pilbara hub, and some significant buildings followed. These days, Roebourne is home to 800 people, with essential shopping at a garage and a community-owned store.
The Court House Prescient includes a police station and the goal constructed in an unusual octagon shape designed so one warden could supervise four wings. Built to house mainly aboriginal prisoners, the wings were intended to house 14 inmates but often had 40 prisoners crowded in under appalling conditions. Some offenders were walked in chains over 1000km to the prison for offences ranging from stealing to absconding from indentured work on farms.
We were amazed to see remnants of the original Mount Welcome Homestead still standing. The 1886 hospital’s wide verandas and sturdy construction are good examples of buildings designed to cope with the region’s heat and regular cyclones. When we visited, it was sad to see many of the buildings fenced off. The Karratha Council has developed the Roebourne Structure Plan, which will see the heritage area redeveloped as a tourist hub over the next few years.
Horse racing at the nearby track dates back to 1867, and the current site has operated for 134 years. Over winter, the local Jockey Club hosts four race meetings, including the Roebourne Cup in July.
Where to stay
Karratha has three caravan parks (Best Western Plus The Ranges Karratha, Discovery Parks – Pilbara Karratha, and AAOK Karratha Caravan Park), and paid bush camping is available at Gnoorea Point Campground and Cleaverville Campsite (40 Mile) on the coast. Millstream-Chichester National Park is 130km inland on the Red Dog Highway and Wilson Creek Road.
THE NEXT STEP
If you want to learn the latest caravan news, find the most innovative new caravans and camping gear or get inspired to plan your next adventure to some of Australia's best getaway destinations, subscribe to our weekly newsletter. We promise to send you only the best content.
Related Articles:
Coral Bay, Western Australia: The best things to see and do
Discover the best things to do in Karratha, WA