region. Port Hedland is known by the
Indigenous Kariyarra and Nyamal people as Marapikurrinya, which either means "place of good water" (as told by a Nyamal language speaker) and makes reference to the three reliable fresh water
soaks that can still be seen in and around the town, or as the town council's website says "refers to the hand like formation of the tidal creeks coming off the harbour (marra - hand, pikurri - pointing straight and nya - a place name marker)". According to
Dreamtime legend, there was a huge blind water snake living in the landlocked area of water known as Jalkawarrinya. This landlocked area is now the
turning basin for the ships that enter the port and as the story goes, "the coming of the big ships meant it was unable to stay". The coastline in the area was seen by European mariners as early as 1628, when the Dutch merchant ship
Vianen, captained by
Gerrit Franszoon de Witt visited. Swedish-born mariner
Peter Hedland was the first European to note the harbour's existence and the possibility of using it as a port. Peter Hedland arrived in the area in April 1863 on board his boat
Mystery, which he had built himself at
Point Walter on the banks of the
Swan River. He named the harbour Mangrove Harbour and reported that it would make a good landing site with a well protected harbour, and that there was also fresh water available. However, the port was initially regarded as unusable, due to a sandbar that frequently sealed the entrance and thick mangroves around the shore; further, the narrow entrance made the harbour difficult to enter in bad weather. Later in 1863, government surveyor Joseph Beete Ridley examined Mangrove Harbour while exploring the country between Nicol Bay and the Fitzroy River, describing it as "an excellent anchorage and perfectly landlocked". He named it Port Hedland after the master of
Mystery. Ridley located a firm landing place above the mangroves, and a practicable stockroute from there to the
De Grey River. In 1866, the Government Resident at
Roebourne,
Robert John Sholl, directed
Charles Wedge to re-examine Port Hedland as an alternative port, because the distance from
Tien Tsin Harbour (later known as Cossack) was discouraging settlement in areas such as the De Grey River. Wedge encountered difficulties in his efforts, as he was hampered by heavy rain and the tidal creeks around Mangrove Harbour and was unable to reach the proposed port site to survey its suitability. In 1891, exploration of the area by Tom Traine, John Wedge (son of Charles Wedge) and Syd Hedley identified two landings and described the harbour as "pretty as well as safe". In September 1895,
Cossack residents requested the District Surveyor survey the headland at Port Hedland in order to establish a town and requested that the Government build a jetty. By 1905, the Roads Board had made considerable improvements to the roads and streets. In 1909 port facilities were built, and in 1911 a
rail link to
Marble Bar commenced operation. On 30 July 1942 the town was bombed by the Japanese, killing one soldier at the local airfield. By 1946, approximately 150 people lived in the area. The population of the town in 1968 was about 3,000 people.
Mining Goldsworthy Mining developed an iron ore mine approximately 100 kilometres east of Port Hedland in the early 1960s and built the towns of
Goldsworthy and later Shay Gap as mine sites. A rail line was then built to Port Hedland, where dredging was undertaken to deepen and widen the port's channel, and a wharf was built opposite the township of Port Hedland on Finucane Island. Shipment of ore began on 27 May 1966, when the
Harvey S. Mudd sailed from Port Hedland to Japan with 24,900 tonnes of ore. In 1967,
iron ore was discovered at
Mount Whaleback, and a mining venture was undertaken that included the establishment of a new town,
Newman, 426 km of rail from the mine to the port and the development of processing equipment at both Newman and Port Hedland. In 1986, at a cost of $87 million, the existing channel was dredged to allow larger ships to enter the port. Prior to dredging, the port was only able to load vessels of less than 2,000 tonnes, but today it is able to accommodate ships over 250,000 tonnes. In 2013, finance was being raised for yet another iron ore mine, railway and port, this time for the
Roy Hill project. It requires a 344 km railway. With the neighbouring ports of
Port Walcott and
Dampier, Port Hedland is one of three major
iron ore exporting ports in the
Pilbara region.
1968 plane crash On 31 December 1968, a
Vickers Viscount operated by
MacRobertson Miller Airlines crashed at nearby
Indee Station. The plane had flown from Perth without incident until about 10 minutes before landing at Port Hedland. The aircraft suffered catastrophic failure of the spar in the right wing. The wing suddenly separated from the fuselage. All 26 on board, including both pilots and two flight attendants, were killed.
Immigration detention facility In 1991, an
immigration detention facility, the Port Hedland Immigration Reception and Processing Centre, was opened to deal with the arrival of
boat people seeking asylum. Port Hedland was seen as a good location, as it is in an area where many asylum seekers arriving by boat were entering Australia, and it had an international airport that would allow for easy deportations when required. The detention centre, situated on the beach front, was formerly a single-men's quarters for Mount Newman Mining Co. The centre was privatised by the
first Howard Ministry in the late 1990s. It was closed in 2004 due to the falling number of asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia's north-west. The town mayor called for the federal government to allow the town to use the detention centre to accommodate the many new mine workers needed for the town's mining boom. A lack of accommodation made it difficult for companies to operate efficiently, as they were unable to house staff or consultants within the town's small number of hotels. The centre is now operating as the Beachfront Village.
West End In October 2019 the state government announced an Improvement Plan would be imposed over the West End of Port Hedland. The purpose of the plan was to prohibit all future residential development due to the health impacts caused by dust levels generated by Port activities.
Cyclones On 13 April 2023
Cyclone Ilsa, a large and destructive category 5 tropical cyclone, made landfall just east of the port city. In January 2025, the port was closed by its operator Pilbara Ports Authority due to a tropical cyclone threat. == Climate ==