Derby ( ) is a town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. At the 2016 census, Derby had a population of 3,325 with 47.2% of

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

descent. Along with Broome and Kununurra, it is one of only three towns in the Kimberley to have a population over 2,000. Located on King Sound, Derby has the highest

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

s in Australia, with the differential between low and high tide reaching .Derby tides at derbytourism.com.au
. Retrieved 7 January 2007

History

Derby falls within Nyiginka country. The town was founded in 1883 and named after

Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby Edward Henry Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby, (21 July 182621 April 1893; known as Lord Stanley from 1851 to 1869) was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British statesman. He served as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs twice, from ...

, the British secretary of state for the colonies. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Derby was bombed by Japanese planes because of an air base and jetty that was used by Australian forces. More recently, refugees were housed at Royal Australian Air Force Base Curtin, however the detention centre was closed in 2014. Derby was famous in the 1920s as the terminus of the first scheduled aviation service in Australia,

West Australian Airways West Australian Airways was an Australian airline based in Geraldton, Western Australia. Established on 5 December 1921 as Western Australian Airways by World War I pilot Norman Brearley, it was the first airline in Australia to establish a sch ...

Ltd. Their service began with their first flight on 5 December 1921, which crashed, near

Geraldton Geraldton ( Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

. At one time the Perth to Derby service was the world's longest passenger airline route. In 1968 the town had a population of approximately 1,500 people, many employed at the meatworks. A A$900,000

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

road from Glenroy Station to Derby was completed the same year to assist with the development of beef processing. A A$2 million steel and concrete jetty was built in 1965 to provide adequate port facilities for the shipment of live cattle. The West Kimberley Regional Prison, whose architecture won several awards, was opened in 2012.

Population

According to the 2016 census of population, there were 3,325 people in Derby. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 47.2% of the population. * 77.4% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was New Zealand at 3.4%. * 72.5% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Kriol at 6.2%. * The most common responses for religion were No Religion 27.7% and Catholic 26.8%.

Culture

Derby is rich in cultural diversity, with the local

Aboriginal Australian culture Australian Aboriginal culture includes a number of practices and ceremonies centered on a belief in the Dreamtime and other mythology. Reverence and respect for the land and oral traditions are emphasised. Over 300 languages and other groupings ...

playing a large part in the community. The Mowanjum Festival is held annually at Mowanjum Community, located south east of Derby, and features a showcase of

traditional art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tra ...

. The Boab Festival (named after the

boab ''Adansonia gregorii'', commonly known as the boab and also known by a number of other names, is a tree in the family Malvaceae, endemic to the northern regions of Western Australia and the Northern Territory of Australia. Names The specific ...

tree) is a fortnight-long festival that includes traditional events such as mud football, watermelon seed spitting, the

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ) refers to events of the Carnival celebration, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday, which is known as Shrove Tuesday. is French for "Fa ...

and other festivities. Historically, Derby has played a major role in the Australian

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an air medical service in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote an ...

for the Kimberley region. The Kimberley School of the Air is located in Derby. The school provides education to isolated Primary-aged children living on

cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stat ...

s and in remote Aboriginal communities and outstations scattered throughout the Kimberley region. Derby has two schools located in the town, Holy Rosary School Derby and Derby District High School. Derby District High School follows Chris Sarra's vision of "Stronger Smarter", which aims to raise the expectations of the school as a community. Wharfinger's House Museum tells the story of the aviation history of the town as well as the history of the port. The Norval Gallery showcases the work of artist Mark Norval as well as a broad selection of Indigenous artwork from across the Kimberley.

Economy

There is employment in the pastoral and mining industries, as well as administration and tourism. There is oil at Blina,

diamond mining Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

at Ellendale. Granite is quarried from the Wunaamin-Miliwundi Ranges and lead and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

from Cadjebut and an

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 ...

mine at Koolan Island. A major mineral sands mining project is being developed at Thunderbird, west of Derby. In 1997 the Derby wharf, which was closed in the 1980s, was re-opened for barging operations for the export of lead and zinc. Tourism bolsters the local economy between the months of May and September. The Derby

Leprosarium A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. ''M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Afr ...

on the outskirts of the town was one of two in Western Australia that helped to contain an epidemic of

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria '' Mycobacterium leprae'' or '' Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve d ...

from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Notable people

*Vinka Barunga, who grew up in Mowanjum and Derby, graduated from the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany and various other facilitie ...

with an

MBBS Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United Kin ...

in 2016, and is the first Worrora doctor and the first Aboriginal doctor in Derby. *Bebe Backhouse, a Melbourne-based Bardi Jawi author and creative industry specialist, grew up in Derby.

Climate

Derby has a hot

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi ...

( Köppen ''BSh''), with a short, highly variable wet season lasting from late December to March. The wet season features hot, humid days and nights and erratic downpours. In some years there may be no wet season at all, as occurred in 1923–24 and in 1951–52, but in other years, such as 1999–2000, more than the average annual rainfall has fallen in a month. Derby can be affected by severe

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dep ...

s. The dry season lasts from April to November and features very little rain, warm to hot daytime temperatures, and mild to cool nights. Extremes of temperature range from on 17 November 1968 to on 21 July 1965, while the wettest month on record was January 1917, when of rain fell, including the wettest day, 7 January 1917, when was recorded.