The Hamersley Range is a mountainous region of the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The range was named on 12 June 1861 by explorer

Francis Thomas Gregory Francis Thomas "Frank" Gregory (19 October 1821 – 23 October 1888) was an Australian explorer and politician. Born in England, he emigrated with his family to Australia as a boy. He was the younger brother of the explorer and politician Augu ...

after Edward Hamersley, a prominent promoter of his exploration expedition to the northwest. The range is one of the oldest mountain ranges on Earth and primarily consists of ancient rock formations, including banded iron formations (BIFs), that are about 2.5 billion years old. The Pilbara Craton, which underlies the Hamersley Range, dates back to around 3.4 billion years, but the range itself is younger than that. The deformation that began uplift of the region and created the tightly folded rocks of the range began around 2.2 billion years ago, during the

Ophthalmia Ophthalmia (; also called ophthalmitis, and archaically obtalmy) is inflammation of the eye. It results in congestion of the eyeball, often eye-watering, redness and swelling, itching and burning, and a general feeling of irritation under the ey ...

Orogeny Orogeny () is a mountain-mountain formation, building process that takes place at a convergent boundary, convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An or develops as the compressed plate crumples and is tectonic uplift, u ...

. This would make it approximately the 6th oldest mountain range in the world.

Karijini National Park Karijini National Park is an List of national parks of Australia, Australian national park centred in the Hamersley Ranges of the Pilbara region in the northwestern section of Western Australia. The park is located north of the Tropic of Capricor ...

(formerly known as Hamersley Range National Park) lies within the range.

History

The traditional Aboriginal owners of the area that the range runs through are the

Puutu Kunti Kurrama The Kurrama people, also known as the Puutu Kunti Kurrama people, are an Aboriginal Australian people from the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura peoples, although of different language groups, are repres ...

and Pinikura peoples. In 1999 a small range within the Hamersley was named the Hancock Range after the Hancock family, who were pioneers in the area. The Hancock range is east of

in a region of broad valleys and peaks that rise to almost . The Hancock Range is close to

Mulga Downs Station Mulga Downs Station is a pastoral lease that once operated as a sheep station but is currently operating as a cattle station in Western Australia. It is located north east of Tom Price and south west of Marble Bar in the Pilbara region. ...

, a property owned by the Hancock family and where

Lang Hancock Langley Frederick George "Lang" Hancock (10 June 1909 27 March 1992) was an Australian iron ore magnate from Western Australia who maintained a high profile in the spheres of business and politics. Famous initially for discovering the world's ...

is buried.

Geography

The range runs from the

Fortescue River The Fortescue River is an ephemeral river in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is the third longest river in the state. Course The river rises near Deadman Hill in the Ophthalmia Range about 30 km south of Newman, Western Austr ...

in the northeast, to the south. The range contains Western Australia's highest point,

Mount Meharry Mount Meharry ( Panyjima:) is the highest mountain in Western Australia. It is located in the Hamersley Range within the southeastern part of Karijini National Park in the Pilbara region, approximately south-southeast of Wittenoom, and east- ...

, which reaches approximately AHD. There are many extensively eroded gorges, such as Wittenoom Gorge. The twenty highest peaks in Western Australia are in the Hamersley Range. Peaks in the range include Mount Bruce (), Mount Nameless/Jarndunmunha (), Mount Reeder Nichols (), Mount Samson (), Mount Truchanas () and Mount Tom Price ().

(formerly ''Hamersley National Park''), one of Australia's largest

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

s, is centred in the range.

Mining

The range contains large deposits of

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

, producing a large proportion of Australia's iron ore exports. It is predominately associated with

banded iron formation Banded iron formations (BIFs; also called banded ironstone formations) are distinctive units of sedimentary rock consisting of alternating layers of iron oxides and iron-poor chert. They can be up to several hundred meters in thickness and e ...

. Western Australia's major iron producers have mines, communities and railways that occur along the range. Rio Tinto operates several

mines within the range, including Mount Tom Price, Marandoo, Brockman, Channar, West Angelas,

Mesa A mine The Mesa A mine, sometimes also referred to as Waramboo mine,Paraburdoo. Over of iron ore is removed from the range every year. Existence of

crocidolite Riebeckite is a sodium-rich member of the amphibole group of silicate minerals, chemical formula Na2(Fe2+3Fe3+2)Si8O22(OH)2. It forms a solid solution series with magnesioriebeckite. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system, usually as long prism ...

(blue asbestos) in the Hamersley Range has been known since 1915. In 1917 crocidolite was discovered at Wittenoom, it was mined from the 1930s and was discontinued in 1966 because of unprofitable production costs leaving behind the largest contaminated site in the southern hemisphere, an area nearly the size of the

Chernobyl exclusion zone The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation, also called the 30-Kilometre Zone or simply The Zone, was established shortly after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. Initially, Soviet authorities declar ...

area. Wittenoom was Australia's only blue asbestos mining town.

Juukan Gorge

A cave in Juukan Gorge, about from Mount Tom Price, was one of the oldest in the western Pilbara region, and the only inland site in Australia to show signs of continuous human occupation through the

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

. The cave was destroyed by Rio Tinto along with another

Aboriginal sacred site An Australian Aboriginal sacred site is a place deemed significant and meaningful by Aboriginal Australians based on their beliefs. It may include any feature in the landscape, and in coastal areas, these may lie underwater. The site's status i ...

on 23 May 2020 as part of their expansion of the

Brockman 4 mine The Brockman 4 mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, north-west of Tom Price. The mine, located near the existing Brockman mine, was opened in 2010.Karijini National Park Karijini National Park is an List of national parks of Australia, Australian national park centred in the Hamersley Ranges of the Pilbara region in the northwestern section of Western Australia. The park is located north of the Tropic of Capricor ...

Ophthalmia Range The Ophthalmia Range is a mountain range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, approximately north of Perth, Western Australia, Perth. There are some variations of the spelling of Ophthalmia. The eastern end of the range is connected to ...

History

Geography

Mining

Juukan Gorge

References

Further reading