__NOTOC__ Onslow is a coastal town in 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 ...

, north of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. It has a population of 848 people and is located within the

Shire of Ashburton The Shire of Ashburton is one of the four local government areas in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, covering an area of . It is named after the Ashburton River. The shire's administration centre is in the town of Tom Price. It had a ...

local government area. The town is served by Onslow Airport, and is located 76 km off of the

North West Coastal Highway North West Coastal Highway is a generally north-south Western Australian highway which links the coastal city of Geraldton with the town of Port Hedland. The road, constructed as a sealed two-lane single carriageway, travels through remote and ...

History

Onslow was gazetted on 26 October 1885 as a town to serve the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

at Ashburton Roads, at the mouth of the Ashburton River, exporting

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

from

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

s of the

hinterland. It was named after the then

Chief Justice of Western Australia The Chief Justice of Western Australia is the most senior judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia and the highest ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of Western Australia. The chief justice is both the judicial head of the Su ...

Sir Alexander Onslow Sir Alexander Campbell Onslow (17 July 1842 – 20 October 1908) was the third Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, which is the highest ranking court in the Australian State of Western Australia. Onslow is a forebear of ...

(1842–1908). Wool continued to be the major industry for the next eighty years, despite the extremes of

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

and

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

that characterize the region and are related to the passage or absence of

cyclones In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...

. Although a large

jetty A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...

was built at the original site of Onslow (Old Onslow), repeated cyclone damage and the silting up of the river caused increasing problems with the loading and unloading of visiting ships. The cargo was transferred by

lighter A lighter is a portable device which creates a flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of items, such as cigarettes, gas lighter, fireworks, candles or campfires. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable liquid or c ...

from the ship in Ashburton Roads to the jetty, then by horse-tram from the jetty across of marshland inland to the town. This led the state government in 1923 to develop a new town and jetty north-east at Beadon Point. The new townsite was gazetted on 10 January 1924, and the residents of Old Onslow moved across in 1925. The new location for Onslow's jetty was better protected from storm damage with the townsite more conveniently located on the coast. On 15 May 1943, Onslow became the most southerly town in Australia to be bombed by Imperial Japan in World War II, when a single plane bombed the airfield. However, there was no damage or casualties. Since the war, the declining purchasing power of wool has, despite consistently good rainfall on the inland sheep stations since the late 1960s, led to a change in focus of Onslow's economy from wool to tourism. It is an access point for Coral Coast activities, such as

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...

on the coral reefs offshore from the town.

Climate and weather

Onslow has a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

BWh Bust/waist/hip measurements (informally called 'body measurements' or ′vital statistics′) are a common method of specifying clothing sizes. They match the three inflection points of the female body shape. In human body measurement, these t ...

) having very little year round rainfall with most of it falling in the first half of the year. Only a few months have average highs below 27 °C (80.6 °F). Onslow recorded the joint hottest temperature ever recorded in Australia (along with

Oodnadatta Oodnadatta is a small, remote outback town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia, located north-north-west of the state capital of Adelaide by road or direct, at an altitude of . The unsealed Oodnadatta Track, an outback road ...

)Global Measured Extremes of Temperature and Precipitation.

National Climatic Data Center The United States National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), previously known as the National Weather Records Center (NWRC), in Asheville, North Carolina, was the world's largest active archive of weather data. Starting as a tabulation unit in New Orl ...

. Retrieved 21 June 2007. at 50.7 °C (123 °F) on 13 January 2022. During Onslow's long history, the town has gone through the extremes of heatwaves, heavy rains and cyclones. For example, in 1912, Onslow received only of rainfall and during 1935-36 combined only fell. While in 1961 a record was recorded, most of which fell between late January and early March, a result of three cyclone impacts within five weeks. These cyclones brought heavy rain and destructive winds to Onslow, resulting in flooding and damage to buildings. A major long-term drought between 1935 and 1941, during which time only one cyclone hit (in April 1937) and did not produce rain on the inland sheep stations, led to a decline in Onslow's fortunes. Onslow, Western Australia 1

Cyclones

Numerous cyclones have impacted Onslow over the years, the first recorded by white colonists was in 1880. On 28 March 1934, a severe cyclone hit the town, with the new jetty nearly destroyed. All the buildings suffered damage, with some destroyed. Another severe cyclone crossed the coast at Onslow on 7 February 1963, damaging nearly every building in town. Destructive wind gusts of were recorded during the cyclone, which bent telephone poles, leaving them parallel with the ground. On 19 February 1975, Severe Tropical Cyclone Trixie crossed the coast near Onslow, with the cyclone's centre passing directly over nearby Mardie. A wind gust of were recorded at Onslow, whilst wind gusts of at Mardie (This was the limit of the recorder, so the gusts at Mardie may have been higher). At the time, the wind gust recorded at Onslow was the highest recorded in Australia.

References

External links

Onslow Information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Onslow, Western Australia Shire of Ashburton Coastal towns in Western Australia North West Shelf

History

Climate and weather

Cyclones

See also

References

Further reading

External links