Hamersley Range, Pilbara Region, Western Australia

The Hamersley Range is a mountainous region of the Pilbara region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

. The range was named on 12 June 1861 by explorer Francis Thomas Gregory after Edward Hamersley, a prominent promoter of his exploration expedition to the northwest. Juukan Gorge lies within the ranges, as does Karijini National Park (formerly known as Hamersley Range National Park).

History

The traditional Aboriginal owners of the area that the range runs through are the

Puutu Kunti Kurrama The Kurrama people, also known as the Puutu Kunti Kurrama people, are an Aboriginal Australian people from the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura peoples, although of different language groups, are represe ...

and Pinikura peoples. In 1999 a small range within the Hamersley was named the Hancock Range after the Hancock family, who were pioneers in the area. The Hancock range is east of Karijini National Park in a region of broad valleys and peaks that rise to almost . The Hancock Range is close to Mulga Downs Station, a property owned by the Hancock family and where Lang Hancock is buried.

Geography

The range runs from the Fortescue River in the northeast, to the south. The range contains Western Australia's highest point, Mount Meharry, which reaches approximately AHD. There are many extensively eroded gorges, such as Wittenoom Gorge. The twenty highest peaks in Western Australia are in the Hamersley Range. Peaks in the range include Mount Bruce (), Mount Nameless/Jarndunmunha (), Mount Reeder Nichols (), Mount Samson (), Mount Truchanas () and Mount Tom Price (). Karijini National Park (formerly Hamersley National Park), one of Australia's largest

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

s, is centred in the range. Paraburdoo 2006 03 03 from the air

Juukan Gorge

A cave in Juukan Gorge, about from Mt Tom Price, was one of the oldest in the western Pilbara region, and the only inland site in Australia to show signs of continuous human occupation through the

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

Mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

company Rio Tinto received ministerial consent to damage the site in 2013 in the pursuit of expanding their

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the ...

mining operations, but a year later, an

archaeological dig In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

discovered the site was more than twice as old as previously thought and rich in cultural artefacts, including sacred objects. One particularly significant finding was a length of plaited human hair, woven together from strands from the heads of several different people, about 4,000 years old. DNA testing revealed that the hair had belonged to the direct ancestors of

and Pinikura (PKKP) people alive today. PKKP heritage manager Heather Builth told Rio Tinto that the site was one of the "top five" most significant in the whole of the Pilbara region, and archaeologist Michael Slack told them that one of the rock shelters, Juukan 2, was of "the highest archaeological significance in Australia", saying that its significance "could not be overstated", being " he onlysite of this age with

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''biota''. Zoo ...

l remains in unequivocal association with stone tools". The cave was ultimately blasted along with another Aboriginal sacred site on 23 May 2020 as part of their expansion of the Brockman 4 mine, despite the PKKP having said many times that they wanted to preserve the site, and issuing an urgent request to halt the blasts five days beforehand. The '' Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972'' (WA) does not allow for mining consent to be renegotiated on the basis of new information, and the blasting was legal under a Section 18 exemption in the Act. WA Aboriginal Affairs Minister

Ben Wyatt Benjamin Wyatt or Ben Wyatt may refer to: * Benjamin Dean Wyatt (1775–1852), English architect * Ben Wyatt (footballer), English footballer * Ben Wyatt (politician), Australian politician * Ben Wyatt (Parks and Recreation), fictional charact ...

was as of August 2020 reviewing the Act.

Mining

Banded Iron Formation of Hamersley Range DSCN2938

The range contains large deposits of

, producing a large proportion of Australia's iron ore exports. It is predominately associated with

banded iron formation Banded iron formations (also known as banded ironstone formations or BIFs) are distinctive units of sedimentary rock consisting of alternating layers of iron oxides and iron-poor chert. They can be up to several hundred meters in thickness a ...

. Western Australia's major iron producers have mines, communities and railways that occur along the range. Rio Tinto operates several

mines within the range, including Mount Tom Price, Marandoo,

Brockman Brockman and Brokman may refer to: People * Ann Brockman (1896–1943) American painter * Ann Brockman (writer) (c.1600-1660) English writer on medicine * Benjamin T. Brockman (1831–1864), American Confederate Army officer * Brent Brockman (born ...

, Channar, West Angelas,

Mesa A mine The Mesa A mine, sometimes also referred to as Waramboo mine,Paraburdoo. Over 100 million tonnes of iron ore is removed from the range every year. Existence of crocidolite (blue asbestos) in the Hamersley Range has been known since 1915. In 1917 crocidolite was discovered at Wittenoom, it was mined from the 1930s and was discontinued in 1966 because of unprofitable production costs. Wittenoom, was Australia's only blue asbestos mining town.

History

Geography

Juukan Gorge

Mining

See also

References

Further reading