{{Use Australian English|date=April 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}} {{Infobox Australian place | type = town | name = Port Walcott | image = | caption = | lga = | pop = |pop_year = |pop_footnotes = |coordinates = {{coord|20|39|S|117|12|E|display=inline,title}} | est = 1960s | postcode = | dist1 = 38 | location1 = Karratha | fedgov =Durack | stategov =North West | state = wa | maxtemp = 31.9 | mintemp = 20.1 | rainfall = 295.0 }}
'''Port Walcott''', formerly known as '''Tien Tsin Harbour''', is a large open water harbour located on the northwest coast of Western Australia, located near the town of Point Samson.
== History == Before the port was established, the land was inhabited by the Ngarluma, an Aboriginal people.<ref name=aiatsismap>{{cite web | title=Map of Indigenous Australia | website=AIATSIS|first= David R.|last= Horton|date=1996 |author-link= David Horton (writer)| url=https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/map-indigenous-australia | access-date=12 July 2022}}</ref>
Early European exploration of northwest Western Australia commenced around the Nickol Bay and Port Walcott areas, as colonial settlers established pastoral and pearling industries in the late-19th century. Early shipping links to the outside world centred on the port of Cossack (formerly Tien Tsin), now a ghost town.{{cn|date=July 2022}}
In 1818, the explorer and surveyor Captain Phillip Parker King, in the ''Mermaid'', charted Nickol Bay. Visits to the region by American whalers are recorded to have occurred from around the 1840–50s. In April 1861, a government-funded expedition sailed to Nickol Bay in the ''Dolphin'', while in 1862, Bateman (of John and Walter Bateman) sent his vessel ''Flying Foam''<ref>[http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/wrecks/id-261 Flying Foam]</ref> to harvest pearl shell in the area.
In April 1863 Captain Peter Hedland on the ''Mystery'' came upon Mangrove Harbour (later renamed Port Hedland) and Tien Tsin Harbour (later named Port Walcott).<ref name=nma2011>{{cite book|author1=Ross Anderson|author2=Jeremy Green|title=Anketell Port Development - Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage (MUCH) desktop analysis|year=2011|publisher=Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Museum |page=2-3|url=https://www.museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/sites/default/files/no._281_anketell_gap_analysis.pdf| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712033231/https://www.museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/sites/default/files/no._281_anketell_gap_analysis.pdf| archive-date= 12 July 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> In August the same year the ''Tien Tsin'' arrived,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article69136813 |title=Shipping Intelligence |newspaper=The Inquirer and Commercial News |volume=XXII |issue=1,176 |location=Western Australia |date=19 August 1863 |accessdate=18 October 2018 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> which together with ''Mystery'' carried settlers and stock to the port,<ref name=nma2011/> and established the first European settlement in the northwest, on the banks of the Harding River, inland from Tien Tsin Harbour.<ref>{{cite book|last=McMarthy|first=Michael (Mack) |title=Charles Edward Broadhurst (1826–1905): a remarkable nineteenth century failure|accessdate=2 May 2017|url=http://museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/sites/default/files/no._172_c.e.broadhurst_0.pdf|year=1990|publisher=Murdoch University|pages=30–49}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Nayton|first1=Gaye|title=The Archaeology of Market Capitalism: A Western Australian Perspective|journal=Contributions to Global Historical Archaeology|date=2011|page=77|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7YBTp23Y__kC&pg=PA62|accessdate=2 May 2017 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|issn=1574-0439|isbn=9781441983183}}</ref>
The Norwegian-owned iron barque ''Solveig'' carrying jarrah piles for the Point Samson jetty was anchored in Port Walcott when it was wrecked during a cyclone in 1907<ref>{{cite book|last=S|first=Sledge|title=Wreck Inspection North Coast (WINC) expedition 1978: report of investigation of shipwreck and historic sites along the north and northwest coasts of Western Australia, June–September 1978|year=1978|publisher=Department of Maritime Archaeology, No. 11|location=Western Australian Museum|page=17}}</ref> The Department of Maritime Archaeology lists 14 such shipwrecks in the vicinity, lost between 1868 and 1970.{{cn|date=July 2022}}
== Geography ==
Port Walcott lies between Dampier and Port Hedland at the mouth of the Harding River. Landmarks within it include Cape Lambert, Wickham, Jarman Island, Butchers Inlet and the historical town of Cossack (initially called Tien Tsin), the first port in the northwest of Western Australia. The town of Roebourne is situated further inland on the banks of the Harding River.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Ross|last1=Anderson|first2=Jeremy|last2=Green|title=Anketell Port Development – Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage (MUCH) desktop analysis|year=2011|publisher=Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Museum|location=Australia|page=3|url=http://museum.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/No.%20281%20Anketell%20Gap%20Analysis_0.pdf}}{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="handbook">{{cite book |title=Port handbook – Port Walcott |date=1 July 2016 |publisher=Rio Tinto |location=Port Walcott |url=http://www.riotinto.com/documents/_Iron%20Ore/Port_Handbook_Final_-_July_2016(2).pdf |access-date=13 September 2018}}</ref>
Port Walcott's main population centre is Point Samson, which has a population of 298 (2011 census).<ref name=Census2011Y>{{Census 2011 AUS|id=UCL522048 |name=Point Samson (Urban Centre/Locality) |accessdate=19 February 2015|quick=on}}</ref>
Port Walcott receives an annual rainfall of about {{cvt|295|mm}}.{{cn|date=July 2022}}
Local magnetic anomalies are reported northward of Cape Lambert, in the approaches to Port Walcott.<ref>{{cite book|title=Australia Pilot|year=1959|publisher=HMSO|page=31}}</ref>
==Port facilities== Port Walcott contains the port facilities of Cape Lambert, which along with the neighbouring ports at Port Hedland and Dampier, are the three major iron ore exporting ports in the Pilbara region,<ref>{{cite book|title=Annual report 2015 – Pilbara ports authority|date=1 May 2016|publisher=PPA (Pilbara ports authority)|location=Port Hedland|url=https://www.pilbaraports.com.au/|accessdate=1 June 2017}}</ref> and in the top five ports in Australia by tonnage (81 million tonnes in 2010/11).<ref>{{cite book|last=of Western Australia|first=The State Government|title=Ports Handbook – Western Australia|year=2012|publisher=Department of Transport|page=34|url=http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/mediaFiles/marine/MAC-B-WAPortsHandbook2012.pdf.pdf}}</ref>
== Ship == The bulk carrier ''Hanjin Port Walcott'', built in 2012 by Hanjin Shipping and sold to JP Morgan in 2017, now known as ''HL Port Walcott'', was named after Port Walcott.<ref>{{cite web | title=Ship HL PORT WALCOTT (Bulk Carrier) | website=MarineTraffic.com | url=https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:4403442/mmsi:538006759/imo:9757591/vessel:HL_PORT_WALCOTT | access-date=12 July 2022}}</ref><ref >{{cite web | author=Andy Pierce | title=JP Morgan snaps up last capes from Hanjin fleet | website=TradeWinds | date=19 July 2017 | url=https://www.tradewindsnews.com/news/jp-morgan-snaps-up-last-capes-from-hanjin-fleet/2-1-126811 | access-date=12 July 2022}}</ref><ref name="Thaulow 2017">{{cite web | last=Thaulow | first=Hans | title=Zodiac Maritime linked to Hanjin cape pair | website=Splash247 | date=20 July 2017 | url=https://splash247.com/zodiac-maritime-linked-hanjin-cape-pair/ | access-date=12 July 2022}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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Category:Pilbara Walcott Category:Transport in Western Australia