Port Walcott
Western Australia
Port Walcott is located in Western Australia
Port Walcott
Port Walcott
Coordinates20°39′S 117°12′E / 20.650°S 117.200°E / -20.650; 117.200
Established1960s
Location38 km (24 mi) from Karratha
State electorate(s)North West
Federal division(s)Durack
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall
31.9 °C
89 °F		 20.1 °C
68 °F		 295.0 mm
11.6 in

Port Walcott, formerly known as Tien Tsin Harbour, is a large open water harbour located on the northwest coast of Western Australia, located near the town of Point Samson.

History

Before the port was established, the land was inhabited by the Ngarluma, an Aboriginal people.[1]

Early European exploration of northwest Western Australia commenced around the Nickol Bay and Port Walcott areas, as colonial settlers established pastoral and pearling industries in the late-19th century. Early shipping links to the outside world centred on the port of Cossack (formerly Tien Tsin), now a ghost town.

In 1818, the explorer and surveyor Captain Phillip Parker King, in the Mermaid, charted Nickol Bay. Visits to the region by American whalers are recorded to have occurred from around the 1840–50s. In April 1861, a government-funded expedition sailed to Nickol Bay in the Dolphin, while in 1862, Bateman (of John and Walter Bateman) sent his vessel Flying Foam[2] to harvest pearl shell in the area.

In April 1863 Captain Peter Hedland on the Mystery came upon Mangrove Harbour (later renamed Port Hedland) and Tien Tsin Harbour (later named Port Walcott).[3] In August the same year the Tien Tsin arrived,[4] which together with Mystery carried settlers and stock to the port,[3] and established the first European settlement in the northwest, on the banks of the Harding River, inland from Tien Tsin Harbour.[5][6]

The Norwegian-owned iron barque Solveig carrying jarrah piles for the Point Samson jetty was anchored in Port Walcott when it was wrecked during a cyclone in 1907[7] The Department of Maritime Archaeology lists 14 such shipwrecks in the vicinity, lost between 1868 and 1970.

Geography

Port Walcott lies between Dampier and Port Hedland at the mouth of the Harding River. Landmarks within it include Cape Lambert, Wickham, Jarman Island, Butchers Inlet and the historical town of Cossack (initially called Tien Tsin), the first port in the northwest of Western Australia. The town of Roebourne is situated further inland on the banks of the Harding River.[8][9]

Port Walcott's main population centre is Point Samson, which has a population of 298 (2011 census).[10]

Port Walcott receives an annual rainfall of about 295 mm (11.6 in).

Local magnetic anomalies are reported northward of Cape Lambert, in the approaches to Port Walcott.[11]

Port facilities

Port Walcott contains the port facilities of Cape Lambert, which along with the neighbouring ports at Port Hedland and Dampier, are the three major iron ore exporting ports in the Pilbara region,[12] and in the top five ports in Australia by tonnage (81 million tonnes in 2010/11).[13]

Ship

The bulk carrier Hanjin Port Walcott, built in 2012 by Hanjin Shipping and sold to JP Morgan in 2017, now known as HL Port Walcott, was named after Port Walcott.[14][15][16]

References

  1. ↑ Horton, David R. (1996). "Map of Indigenous Australia". AIATSIS. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  2. ↑ Flying Foam
  3. 1 2 Ross Anderson; Jeremy Green (2011). Anketell Port Development - Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage (MUCH) desktop analysis (PDF). Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Museum. p. 2-3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 July 2022.
  4. ↑ "Shipping Intelligence". The Inquirer and Commercial News. Vol. XXII, no. 1, 176. Western Australia. 19 August 1863. p. 2. Retrieved 18 October 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ McMarthy, Michael (Mack) (1990). Charles Edward Broadhurst (1826–1905): a remarkable nineteenth century failure (PDF). Murdoch University. pp. 30–49. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  6. ↑ Nayton, Gaye (2011). "The Archaeology of Market Capitalism: A Western Australian Perspective". Contributions to Global Historical Archaeology. Springer Science & Business Media: 77. ISBN 9781441983183. ISSN 1574-0439. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  7. ↑ S, Sledge (1978). Wreck Inspection North Coast (WINC) expedition 1978: report of investigation of shipwreck and historic sites along the north and northwest coasts of Western Australia, June–September 1978. Western Australian Museum: Department of Maritime Archaeology, No. 11. p. 17.
  8. ↑ Anderson, Ross; Green, Jeremy (2011). Anketell Port Development – Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage (MUCH) desktop analysis (PDF). Australia: Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Museum. p. 3.
  9. ↑ Port handbook – Port Walcott (PDF). Port Walcott: Rio Tinto. 1 July 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  10. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Point Samson (Urban Centre/Locality)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  11. ↑ Australia Pilot. HMSO. 1959. p. 31.
  12. ↑ Annual report 2015 – Pilbara ports authority. Port Hedland: PPA (Pilbara ports authority). 1 May 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  13. ↑ of Western Australia, The State Government (2012). Ports Handbook – Western Australia (PDF). Department of Transport. p. 34.
  14. ↑ "Ship HL PORT WALCOTT (Bulk Carrier)". MarineTraffic.com. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  15. ↑ Andy Pierce (19 July 2017). "JP Morgan snaps up last capes from Hanjin fleet". TradeWinds. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  16. ↑ Thaulow, Hans (20 July 2017). "Zodiac Maritime linked to Hanjin cape pair". Splash247. Retrieved 12 July 2022.


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