The Don Rhodes Mining and Transport Museum is a public park in

Port Hedland A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

, Western Australia, with an open-air display of retired mining machinery and railway rollingstock. Located on Wilson Street, which links the town with the

Great Northern Highway Great Northern Highway is an Australian highway that links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its northernmost port, Wyndham. With a length of almost , it is the longest highway in Australia, with the majority included as part of the ...

and

North West Coastal Highway North West Coastal Highway is a generally north-south Western Australian highway which links the coastal city of Geraldton with the town of Port Hedland. The road, constructed as a sealed two-lane single carriageway, travels through remote and ...

, the museum faces Nelson Point Yard, the northern terminus of the

Mount Newman railway The Mount Newman railway, owned and operated by BHP, is a private rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia built to carry iron ore. It is one of two railway lines BHP operates in the Pilbara, the other being the Goldsworthy rail ...

History

Don Rhodes, after whom the museum is named, was a pioneer of the mining and transport industries in the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a g ...

region, and was responsible for commissioning the first modern Australian built roadtrain. While working manganese leases, Rhodes initially used various English made trucks, but these could not cope with the task. He therefore arranged for his chief engineer, Harold Ridley, to design and build the 70 ton Rhodes Ridley roadtrain, a rig that, when it was completed in 1958, was capable of hauling the company's 100 ton crushing plants. However, the government of the day ultimately refused to license the Rhodes Ridley or even allow it to operate on gazetted roads. It had done barely by the time it was forced to retire.

Exhibits

Three standard gauge locomotives are on display in the centre of the museum. Each of them previously operated on one or both of the mining railways that terminate at Port Hedland (the

Goldsworthy railway The Goldsworthy railway, owned and operated by BHP, is a private rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia built to carry iron ore. It is one of two railway lines BHP operates in the Pilbara, the other being the Mount Newman rai ...

and the Mount Newman railway).

References

Notes

External links

{{commons category, Don Rhodes Mining and Transport Museum
Donovan Francis Duncan RHODES
– an illustrated biography of Don Rhodes Mining museums in Australia Port Hedland, Western Australia Railway museums in Western Australia

History

Exhibits

See also

References

Notes

Further reading

External links