Dampier - Culture and History

The town's impossibly regular design reflects the fact that it was specifically constructed in 1965 as a port and processing centre to meet the needs of the Hamersley Iron mining operations at Tom Price and Paraburdoo. However by 1968 it had outgrown its original plan and consequently the ever-increasing population was moved to the new town of Karratha.

The road from Karratha (and the North West Coastal Highway) out to Dampier runs through harsh desert landscapes and at one point runs for kilometres beside the huge salt pans which are part of the Dampier Salt Company's activities.

The Dampier Salt Company is Australia's largest single salt producer with over 9000 hectares of salt pans producing over 2.4 million tonnes of salt each year. The company was formed in 1967, started operations in 1971, and most of its workforce now live in Karratha.

Dampier is one of the largest ports in Australia. In 1989, 506 vessels were loaded with over 49 million tonnes of iron ore from the Hamersley mines at Tom Price and Paraburdoo, making it the largest tonnage port in Australia. It is possible to visit and inspect the port facilities and all of the industries.

If visitors to the area turn north before Dampier and continue along Burrup Road they arrive at the huge complex on the Burrup Peninsula known as the North West Shelf Project. Run by Woodside Liquefied Natural Gas this is Australia's largest resource project developing the gas reserves of the North Rankin and Goodwyn gas fields both of which lie 140 km off the coast.