Hamersley Range, Pilbara Region, Western Australia

The Hamersley Range is a mountainous region of the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...

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 th ...

. The range was named on 12 June 1861 by explorer

Francis Thomas Gregory Francis Thomas "Frank" Gregory (19 October 1821 – 23 October 1888) was an Australian explorer and politician. Born in England, he emigrated with his family to Australia as a boy. He was the younger brother of the explorer and politician Augu ...

after Edward Hamersley, a prominent promoter of his exploration expedition to the northwest.

Juukan Gorge Juukan Gorge is a gorge in the Hamersley Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, about from Mt Tom Price. It was named by the daughter of Puutu Kunti Kurrama man Juukan, also known as Tommy Ashburton, who was born at Jukarinya (Mt B ...

lies within the ranges, as does

Karijini National Park Karijini National Park is an List of national parks of Australia, Australian national park centred in the Hamersley Ranges of the Pilbara region in the northwestern section of Western Australia. The park is located north of the Tropic of Caprico ...

(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 and

Pinikura The Binigura people, these days usually spelt Pinikura, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Country The Binigura in Norman Tindale's calculation, held sway over some of tribal land, centred on the A ...

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

in a region of broad valleys and peaks that rise to almost . The Hancock Range is close to

Mulga Downs Station Mulga Downs Station is a pastoral lease that once operated as a sheep station but is currently operating as a cattle station in Western Australia. It is located north east of Tom Price and south west of Marble Bar in the Pilbara region. T ...

, a property owned by the Hancock family and where

Lang Hancock Langley Frederick George "Lang" Hancock (10 June 1909 27 March 1992) was an Australian iron ore magnate from Western Australia who maintained a high profile in the spheres of business and politics. Famous initially for discovering the world's ...

is buried.

Geography

The range runs from the

Fortescue River The Fortescue River is an ephemeral river in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is the third longest river in the state. Course The river rises near Deadman Hill in the Ophthalmia Range about 30 km south of Newman. The river flo ...

in the northeast, to the south. The range contains Western Australia's highest point,

Mount Meharry Mount Meharry is the highest mountain in Western Australia. It is located in the Hamersley Range within the southeastern part of Karijini National Park in the Pilbara region, approximately south-southeast of Wittenoom, and east-southeast of ...

, which reaches approximately AHD. There are many extensively eroded gorges, such as

Wittenoom Gorge Wittenoom is a declared contaminated site and former townsite north-north-east of Perth, in the Hamersley Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The declared contaminated site comprises , making it the "largest contaminated site i ...

. 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 ().

(formerly Hamersley National Park), one of Australia's largest

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

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 gree ...

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 via ...

company

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to: Businesses * Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation ** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada ** Rio Tinto Borax in America *** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, ...

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 fo ...

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 artefact A cultural artifact, or cultural artefact (see American and British English spelling differences), is a term used in the social sciences, particularly anthropology, ethnology and sociology for anything created by humans which gives information ...

s, 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 Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...

revealed that the hair had belonged to the direct ancestors of Puutu Kunti Kurrama and

(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 Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

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 tool A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...

s". The cave was ultimately blasted along with another

Aboriginal sacred site Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

on 23 May 2020 as part of their expansion of the

Brockman 4 mine The Brockman 4 mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, north-west of Tom Price. The mine, located near the existing Brockman mine, was opened in 2010.Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 The ''Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972'' (AHA) is a law in the state of Western Australia governing the protection of Aboriginal cultural sites, which is as of 2022 being superseded by the '' Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021'' (ACH Act). The ...

'' (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 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.

operates several

mines within the range, including Mount Tom Price, Marandoo, Brockman, Channar, West Angelas, Mesa A mine, and Paraburdoo. Over 100 million tonnes of iron ore is removed from the range every year. Existence of

crocidolite Riebeckite is a sodium-rich member of the amphibole group of silicate minerals, chemical formula Na2(Fe2+3Fe3+2)Si8O22(OH)2. It forms a solid solution series with magnesioriebeckite. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system, usually as long prisma ...

(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