Dampier, Western Australia
Dampier is a major industrial port in the northwest of Western Australia. The Dampier Port is part of the Dampier Archipelago. The port services petrochemical, salt, iron ore and natural gas export industries. Rio Tinto exports large volumes of iron ore through the port, and in September 2010 announced plans to expand capacity. At the 2011 census, Dampier had a population of 1,341.
History
The Yaburrara Aboriginal tribe lived in the area for many thousands of years.
The town derives its name from its location on Dampier Island, 3 km off the Pilbara coast and part of the Dampier Archipelago, both named after the English navigator William Dampier. In 1963 the island became an artificial peninsula when it was connected to the mainland by a causeway for a road and railway. In 1979 Dampier Peninsular was renamed after Mt Burrup, the highest peak on the island, which had been named after Henry Burrup, a Union Bank clerk murdered in 1885 at Roebourne.
In 1699 Dampier, in command of the 26-gun warship HMS Roebuck on a mission to explore the coast of New Holland, following the Dutch route to the Indies, passed between Dirk Hartog Island and the Western Australian mainland into what he called Shark Bay. He then followed the coast northeast, on 21 August 1699 reaching the Dampier Archipelago, which he explored, naming Rosemary Island. He continued to Lagrange Bay, just south of what is now Roebuck Bay, before sailing for Timor.
