This timeline is a selected list of events and locations of the development of the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

DateEventLocationNotesc 46,000 BP Evidence of human habitation in Juukan Gorge Juukan Gorge c 40,000 BP Estimated age of Dampier Indigenous Australian rock art Murujuga 1622 East India Company ship Tryall wrecked, some survivors reach Java Tryal Rocks 1628 Dutch ship Vianen ran aground but refloated and explored coast near Barrow Island1818 Captain Phillip Parker King surveyed the coastline, naming the Intercourse Islands and Nickol Bay Dampier 1861 Francis Thomas Gregory and his party explore the Nickol Bay area, naming Port Walcott, the Hardey River, the De Grey River and the Fortescue River April 1863 Captain Peter Hedland discovers Mangrove Harbour (Port Hedland) Port Hedland April/May 1863 Charles Nairn, at the behest of his brother-in-law, pastoralist and entrepreneur Walter Padbury, establishes the first sheep station in the region. De Grey River. May 1863 Tien Tsin Harbor  (known later as Cossack) is established Tien Tsin Harbor  September 1863 Sherlock Station selected by John Wellard Sherlock Station 1864 Mount Welcome Station established by John and Emma Withnell Mount Welcome Station 1864 Cooya Pooya Station established by Thomas Lockyer Cooya Pooya 1865 Pyramid Station established by the Richardson Brothers for the Portland Squatting Company Pyramid Station 1865 (November) The first permanent government office in the region is established, headed by R. J. Sholl, Government Resident for the North District. Sholl has been relocated from the short-lived settlement at Camden Harbour  (on the north coast of the Kimberley). Mount Welcome/Harding River 1866 On the recommendation of surveyor Charles Wedge and R.J. Sholl, the region's first townsite, named Roebourne, is gazetted, adjoining the government camp, Mt Welcome and the Harding River. Roebourne 1869 Pardoo Station established as an outstation of De Grey Station Pardoo Station 1872 Copper discovered west of Whim Creek Whim Creek 1872 Mundabullangana Station established by the MacKays Mundabullangana 1872 Chirritta Station established by Donald Norman McLeod. Chirritta 1878 Minderoo Station established by the Forrest brothers and Septimus Burt Minderoo 1878 Yarraloola Station established by the Woolhouses Yarraloola 1879 Croydon Station established by the Robinsons Croydon Station 1886 Yarrie Station established by Christopher Coppin Yarrie Station 1887 Gold discovered at Mallina, east of Whim Creek Mallina Station 1887 First tramway opened, 2’ gauge and horse drawn, between Cossack and RoebourneRoebourne 1890 Gold discovered in Coongan River bed Marble Bar 1891 Emu Creek Station established Emu Creek Station 1893 Marble Bar town site gazetted 1893 Marronah Station established by J. H. Mansfield Maroonah 1894 Cyclone kills 45 people at sea Port Hedland 1896 Townsite of Port Hedland gazetted Port Hedland 1896 Warrawagine Station established. Warrawagine 1898 Cyclone causes £30,000 worth of damage to Cossack 1899 Townsite of Nullagine gazetted Nullagine 1905 Mining starts at Wodgina mine site south of Port Hedland 1906 Alfred Canning commences surveying Canning Stock Route 1909 Townsite of Point Samson gazetted Point Samson 1910 Canning Stock route completed droving of first cattle commences July 1911 Railway opened connecting Port Hedland with Marble Bar Marble Bar Railway 1912 Sinking of passenger steamer SS Koombana with loss of 150 lives off Port Hedland 1924 Marble Bar records world record 160 days at or above Marble Bar 1931 Indigenous girls Molly Craig, Daisy Kadibil and Gracie Fields escape Moore River Native Settlement and walk home to Jigalong along the rabbit-proof fence Jigalong 1937 Asbestos mined at Yampire Gorge, near Wittenoom Wittenoom 1938 Government surveyors, Finucane and Telford, surveyed Mount Goldsworthy and reported the iron content of the ore at 65.66% with estimated reserves of more than 6,000,000 tons 1946 The Pilbara Strike takes place 1950 Townsite of Wittenoom gazetted Wittenoom October 1952 Operation Hurricane British nuclear test Montebello Islands November 1952 Lang Hancock flies over the Pilbara region, discovering vast iron ore deposits Turner River 1956 Operation Mosaic British nuclear tests Montebello Islands December 1960 Australian Government changes restrictions on iron ore exports Australia wide March 1961 Western Australian government announces that iron ore exploration permits will be allowed Western Australia September 1962 CRA geologists identify Mount Tom Price deposits Mount Tom Price 1964 Oil was discovered in commercial quantities by West Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd Barrow Island January 1965 Dampier and Mount Tom Price - construction commences at locations February 1965 Construction commences on the town of Goldsworthy Goldsworthy June 1965 Dampier - Tom Price railway works commence Hamersley Iron 1966 Asbestos mine closed at Wittenoom Gorge Wittenoom 1966 Rio Tinto opens its first iron ore mine in the Pilbara Mount Tom Price mine July 1966 Tom Price to Dampier - first fully loaded ore train August 1966 Dampier - first shipment of ore loaded 1967 Iron ore discovered at Mount Whaleback Newman May 1967 Hamersley Holdings Limited shares on the Australian Securities Exchange 1968 BHP establishes an iron ore mine near Newman Mount Whaleback 1968 Plane crash kills 26 Indee Station, near Port Hedland August 1969 Development of community at Karratha begins July 1970 East Intercourse Island connected by causeway 1971 Townsite of Wickham gazetted Wickham 1972 Cape Lambert port opened Cape Lambert 1972 Townsite of Newman gazetted Newman 1972 Townsite of Paraburdoo gazetted Paraburdoo 1972 Townsite of Pannawonica gazetted Pannawonica 1972 Dampier Salt commences operations Dampier 1974 North West Coastal Highway from Geraldton to Port Hedland completely sealed 1975 Veevers Meteorite Crater discovered Great Sandy Desert December 1975 Cyclone Joan - flooding in Pilbara and damages Hamersley Rail October 1977 Tom Price, Paraburdoo, Dampier and Karratha combined population passes 15,000 1978 Meekatharra to Newman section of Great Northern Highway upgraded. Great Northern Highway 1981 WAPET discovers gas off the Pilbara coast with the drilling of the Gorgon 1 well Gorgon gas project 1983 Death of John Pat in police custody sparks calls for reform of police treatment of indigenous suspects Roebourne 1984 North Rankin A Gas Platform commissioned North West Shelf 1984 Pintupi Nine, last indigenous nomads without white contact, found Lake Mackay 1989 Newman to Port Hedland section of Great Northern Highway upgraded Great Northern Highway 1989 BHP opens iron ore mine near Newman Jimblebar mine January 1990 Rio Tinto Group opens iron ore mine in Hamersley Range Channar mine 1991 Port Hedland Immigration Reception and Processing Centre opened Port Hedland 1992 Rio Tinto opens another iron ore mine in Hamersley Range Brockman 2 mine December 1993 BHP opens another iron ore mine near Shay Gap Yarrie mine 1994 Rio Tinto opens another iron ore mine in Hamersley Range Marandoo mine 1995 Goodwyn A gas platform commissioned North West Shelf 1996 Doris Pilkington Garimara's book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence published Brisbane 2002 Widespread flooding from Cyclone Chris Western Pilbara 2003 Riots at Port Hedland Immigration Detention Centre Port Hedland 2004 Rio Tinto opens another iron ore mine in Hamersley Range Eastern Range mine 2006 Indee Gold Mine opens at Mallina, east of Whim Creek and is closed in 2008 Mallina 2007 Rio Tinto opens another iron ore mine in Hamersley Range Hope Downs mine March 2007 Wittenoom townsite officially abolished by gazettal Wittenoom July 2007 Hickman Meteorite Crater discovered in search of Google Earth Ophthalmia Range October 2007 Fortescue Metals Group begins mining iron ore in the Chichester Range Cloud Break mine April 2008 First train runs on Fortescue railway Fortescue railway June 2009 Fortescue Metals Group opens new iron ore mine in the Chichester Range Christmas Creek mine September 2010 Rio Tinto opens another iron ore mine in Hamersley Range Brockman 4 mine 2013 Flooding from Cyclone Rusty Port Hedland, De Grey Station 2014 Death of Ms Dhu in police custody South Hedland 2018 Runaway ore train deliberately derailed after travelling 90 km Turner Siding 2020 Ancient rock shelters in Juukan Gorge blown up by Rio Tinto Juukan Gorge 2020 Ngururrpa Indigenous Protected Area declared Great Sandy Desert

See also Kimberley historical timeline Regions of Western Australia

References

Further reading Hamersley Iron (1985) Diary titled Hamersley Iron. The Pilbara Flora Collection 1984. The 18th Year of Hamersley Iron Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd Perth, WA. Oakley, Glenda.(1992) More dates! : a Western Australian chronology 1930 to 1989 Northbridge, W.A. Friends of Battye Library occasional paper; no. 3 Trengrove, Alan (1976) Adventure in iron / Hamersley's First Decade Melbourne, Stockwell Press. (Hamersley Chronology on end-pages)