A RADIO telescope near Geraldton has identified the remnants of a supernova which exploded about 9000 years ago when it would have been visible to indigenous people in Australia. University of Melbourne cultural astronomer Duane Hamacher said some Aboriginal traditions…
A NEW study of ancient snake fossils reveal the legless serpents had hind legs during the first 70 million years of their evolution. They also show how it got its bite. “Snakes are famously legless, but then so are many…
‘IMPS’, lumpers, the 1930s rise of fascism and the shooting of four Chinese seamen who went on strike in 1942 after seeking refuge in Fremantle from attacks by Japanese warships. History lovers are invited to attend the Fremantle History Society’s…
UNIONS played a vital role in building the social infrastructure Karratha needed after it was gazetted on August 8, 1969. Industrial chaos raged across the Pilbara. In the weeks leading up to the gazetting of the new townsite, thousands of…
OIL and gas giant Woodside discovered the North Rankin gas field about 135km northwest of Dampier just two years after Karratha was gazetted. The Goodwyn and Angel fields were discovered in 1972 and together, these resources formed the basis of…
STURT’S desert pea flowers from spring to summer, the flaming red floral emblem of South Australia named after British explorer Charles Sturt. In the Pilbara, the stunning black-eyed pea lines major highways and pastoral properties, the eye-catching species also described…
MURUJUGA is the traditional Aboriginal name for the Dampier Archipelago and Burrup Peninsula. It means, ‘hip bone sticking out’, in the Ngarluma Yaburara language. Acting on a request by Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, and described as, “a significant moment in the…
KARRATHA townsite was gazetted on August 8, 1969. Born out of iron, salt and gas, the ‘powerhouse of the Pilbara’ 1520km north of Perth is home to some of Australia’s biggest resource development projects. KARRATHA was declared a city in…
FRANCIS Thomas Gregory regarded the Roebourne area as prime pastoral land good enough to also grow cotton on. The townsite on Ngarluma country was gazetted on August 17, 1866. Roebourne residents had already seen a century come and go by…
IN 1863, Swedish-born seaman Lars Peter Hedlund sailed into WA history when he entered unexplored Butcher’s Inlet in ‘Tien Tsin Harbour’ (later renamed Cossack). Explorer and pearler Captain Hedlund (after whom Port Hedland is named) arrived in the 13m cutter…
