Port Hedland at random

Port Hedland was a necessary stop to find spare parts for our solar panel regulator which had karked it. All it needed was a couple of diodes but we went from pillar to post looking to find some of the right specifications. We were successful in the end, and so we should have been with all the businesses around servicing the mining industry. Mark had to buy a soldering iron as well to fix the electronics. It is always the way, the one time you decide to leave that tool behind, sure as anything you'll need it, and we did. I think he has about five soldering irons now, different sizes for any job imaginable.

Cabanas out near the 'Yacht Club'

There is a lot of development going on and much has changed since our visit last year. FMG is building enormous structures out towards Finucane and BHP is building another rail line into their port facility. There is a huge reclamation of tidal flats going on out there too, truckloads and truckloads of red dirt had been carted in. 

Part of FMG's new infrastructure 

We had a meal at Port Haven, a mining canteen, which caters for the miners that live there as well as being open to the public. Great meal, plenty of choice and reasonably priced. A local lad gave us the nod about eating there and there were quite a few locals lined up to eat here.  The mining accommodation associated with it looked more like resort accommodation, rather different to the other masses of units that are dotted here and there on the outskirts of town.

Mark's photo of Miske waiting while we take dawn photos of the salt

Rio Tinto Salt works under an indigo sky 

Ore train with the notorious hot briquette plant in the background

With all this talk of trains I thought I should at least put in an image or two of them. One morning I was up early, long before sunrise to record the sounds of trains, horses and the blue winged kookaburras. There was a heavy mist, with water dripping steadily off the tree beside our camper and for all my efforts - all I got was bitterly cold and the sound of dripping water.

Empty ore trucks at BHP's facilities by the port 

Mudlarks down by the mangroves

Industrial landscapes

Salt ponds and stockpile 

Port Hedland is a fantastic industrial landscape that dominates any sense of suburbanality. It is all trucks and trains and steel structures and flashing lights and dark ores piles and ships and salt and workers and hums twenty four hours a day.

Part of BHP Billiton's facilities at the port with mangroves in foreground 

This structure and movement rises out of spinifex, samphire and mangrove flats, and is bordered by the sea that creeps in and out of the mangroves with the tides. Red dust infiltrates and stains everything.

Tanks and truck in town

On the road out to Finucane Island

The port is the destination for the inland disappearing hills that reappear as red brown or black stockpiles before disappearing into the bowels of ships that sink lower and lower into the sea, down to the top of the red plimsoll line. The reshaped hills then disappear over the horizon disguised as long low slung ships.

Part of the port that is accessible to the public - ore ships in the background being loaded

We camped at the Port Hedland Golf Club, as all the caravan parks were full and the golf club kindly takes all the overflow. At least there are clean toilets and showers and it is surrounded by low scrub. The hum of industry is interspersed with the unlikely sound of trotting horses training in early hours of the morning well before sunrise. In my photograph you can just see the industrial lights in the background.

Training horses beside the golf club

While in Hedland we visited the Courthouse Gallery, an arm of Form Gallery based in Perth. We particularly enjoyed the works by Futureshelter that were on display.

 The reclaimed reclaimer by Futureshelter

My photograph of reclaimers - they are used to move bulk materials from a stockpile

The works are a series of limited edition multi screen prints which engaged with the industrial landscape and the tradition of engineering drawings. They were created following on from a trip up there from Perth in February where Adam Coffey and Jane King were inspired by the 'extremes in landscape from the raw nature to the giant machines'. Being up there in February would truly be experiencing the extremes of the place, being so hot and humid at that time of the year. I thought the prints beautifully captured the sense of place of Port Hedland. Their website can be found here and the images came from their blog.

Mirror image by Futureshelter

You have to love this cheeky take on the occupational health safety message - beware the chair! Any one who has been on an industrial site these days would understand, compared to the old days when safety was not regulated like it is today. But it does save lives and reduce injuries.

Beware of the chair by Futureshelter