Paraburdoo () is a mining town in the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The region is served by Paraburdoo Airport, which is situated from the town.

Etymology

The name of the town comes from an Aboriginal word that apparently means "feathered meat", which could refer to the abundant little corella or flock pigeons. It could also mean Rock Cave (para means rock and buradoo means hole or cave) to refer to caves nearby.

Economy

Paraburdoo was developed in the early 1970s to support Hamersley Iron's (now

Pilbara Iron Pilbara Iron manages assets for Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto (corporation), Rio Tinto, and Robe River Iron Associates, an unincorporated joint venture between Rio Tinto (53%) and Japanese steel companies Mitsui & Co, Mits ...

) local

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 f ...

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

operations, and was gazetted as a town in 1972. Road from Paraburdoo

The town provides housing to workers of the three nearby Rio Tinto mines, those being the Channar,

Eastern Range The Eastern Range (ER) is an American rocket range (Spaceport) that supports missile and rocket launches from the two major List of rocket launch sites, launch heads located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center ( ...

and

Paraburdoo mine The Paraburdoo mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, near Paraburdoo. The mine is owned and operated by Rio Tinto, and is one of twelve iron ore mines the company operates in the Pilbara.Mining
Rio Tinto Iron Ore website, accessed: 6 November 2010

Geography

Paraburdoo is located north of Perth, north of the

Tropic of Capricorn The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reach ...

, nearly from the coast, and above sea level.

Facilities

Most of the town's residents are employed by Pilbara Iron's mining operation and the supporting services. Facilities available for families include daycare, a primary school, and a

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...

. The nearest high school is Tom Price Senior High School in Tom Price, away. There are also skate parks, swimming pools, tennis courts, and netball, cricket and football fields. Paraburdoo has its own shopping facilities and medical centres.

Climate

Paraburdoo 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 ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''BWh''). In summer, the days are very hot and the nights are warm. The mean annual maximum temperature is , and the all-time record high is , on 21 January 2024. There is an average of 72.2 days per year where the temperature rises above . In winter, the days are warm and the nights are cool. Precipitation is highly variable, coming from storms and

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

s. It falls most often between December and March. Some years, summer months can see no rainfall, and other years over of rainfall can come in a single month. Rainfall is sparse from July to November. The annual average rainfall is which would make it a

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 se ...

except that its high

evapotranspiration Evapotranspiration (ET) refers to the combined processes which move water from the Earth's surface (open water and ice surfaces, bare soil and vegetation) into the Atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere. It covers both water evaporation (movement of w ...

, or its aridity, makes it a desert climate.

References

External links

Rio Tinto Iron Ore website
{{authority control Mining towns in Western Australia Shire of Ashburton