PARABURDOO
40th Anniversary 1972 – 2012
303 ECU7385 CRICOS IPC 00279B
Happy 40th
s
~ Hap ary
Regards,
Regards,
Jeffrey Breen CEO - Shire of Ashburton
Scott Wilkinson Paraburdoo Rio Tinto - General Manager
py
2012
ry Hap sa
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his year we celebrate 40 years since Paraburdoo’s inaugural shipment of iron ore set sail from Dampier’s East Intercourse Island. This remarkable milestone is a fitting occasion to reflect on the achievements we have made as a community, as well as a business over the last four decades. Establishment of the townsite commenced in 1970, with commercial production just two years later aligning with the formal gazetting of Paraburdoo in June 1972. In the 40 years since, Paraburdoo has well and truly cemented its position as a vibrant town and an integral part of Rio Tinto’s Iron Ore business, with preparation underway to export our two billionth tonne. No longer a ‘closed town’, the Paraburdoo community displays immense pride, which translates to our fiercely competitive sporting teams, well-kept community facilities and the way in which we interact with each other every day. Winning countless accolades in the Keep Australia Beautiful Tidy Towns initiative, Paraburdoo upholds a strong reputation within the Pilbara as an attractive town that offers a fantastic lifestyle for residents. We have a bright future ahead of us; Rio Tinto is committed to continuing to invest in community facilities and initiatives that promote Paraburdoo as a resilient, sustainable community. A community that is as important as the resources we uncover. I look forward to seeing you at the festivities throughout the next few months and celebrating 40 great years of Paraburdoo.
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CA ~ PA NI
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ongratulations Pannawonica, Paraburdoo and Tom Price on the 40th anniversary of officially being towns! All three towns were established in the late 1960s-early 1970s as residential bases for iron ore mining operations. Pannawonica is named after the nearby Pannawonica Hill. Pannawonica means “hill that came from the sea” referring to the Aboriginal legend that the sea spirit dragged the hill fom near the sea forming the Robe River in the process. Paraburdoo is named after the many little corellas that are live around the area. It translates from the local Aboriginal language as “meat feathers”. Tom Price was named after Thomas Moore Price, Vice President of a US-based steel company. Tom Price is the highest town in WA at 747m AHD. All of the towns are thriving communities, each with its own unique character. Over the years, the longevity of the towns has been uncertain in line with the world demand for iron ore but now a long term future for each of the towns is more certain. The towns are at various stages of a facelift (who doesn’t need one after 40 years?) to further enhance their lifestyle experience and livability. Even though the physical appearance of the towns may change over the next two or three years the sense of community and spirit of the towns that has endured for the past forty years will live on long into the future.
ANNAW ~P E y Anniver O p
BURDOO RA Anniver ~
M PRI TO C
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Contents
Timeline Building the town’s foundations Welcome to Bellary Springs Roo tales and runways Down at the local Photo essay - Paraburdoo in pictures What you love about Paraburdoo Forging new families
2 – Artwork Chantelle Brooker
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Credits This magazine was written by Tess Ingram, Rebecca Parish, Sarah Vasey and Aaron Bradbrook – four Edith Cowan University journalism students who leapt at the chance to travel to Paraburdoo to meet the locals and find out what they think of their town turning 40. Back at ECU’s Mt Lawley Campus two graphic design students Steffi Rosedel and Chanelle Percival created an InDesign document and made the words and pictures the journalism students brought back into this magazine. As an ECU lecturer I was delighted to be able to work with the Shire of Ashburton to offer these students the chance to showcase their talents and to introduce them to the rugged beauty and tremendous spirit of the people of remote Australia. ECU prides itself on offering practical as well as theoretical training and this real world challenge was a win-win opportunity.
study externally, and many are the first in their families to come to university; what matters for all of them is that they are learning skills that will help them find fulfilling careers and to make a valuable contribution to society. Their success in making a magazine that celebrates the efforts of Paraburdoo people who have created and continue to maintain the town’s sense of community is a contribution these students can be proud of. We wish you all a happy anniversary. Best wishes,
AT ECU Mt Lawley students from all walks of life in WA mingle with international students working towards qualifications in a wide range of fields. Some of our students are part time, some
Journalists Tess Ingram Rebeca Parish Sarah Vasey Aaron Bradbrook Photos By Aaron Bradbrook Rebeca Parish Tess Ingram Sarah Vasey Archive photos courtesy of the Shire of Ashburton Back cover atrwork by Jack Brown and Georgia Solomon Designed By Steffi Rosedel Chanelle Percival Editor Dr Kayt Davies Senior Lecturer in Journalism Edith Cowan University 2 Bradford St, Mt Lawley Western Australia 6050 CRICOS IPC 00279B With help from: Deb Wilkes Executive Manager Community Development Shire of Ashburton
Journalism students From left to right: Rebecca, Tess, Aaron and Sarah.
Printed by: Graphic Source 12 Jersey St, Jolimont WA 6014
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4 text and photography by Sarah Vasey
1976 Colour TV came to Tom Price and Paraburdoo.
1973 The Saints Football Club started and became the Fortescue League Premiers.
1973 The school held its first swimming carnival.
1973 March 18 UFO sighting.
1972 Paraburdoo mine started mining.
1972 June 30 town was gazetted.
1972 May 27 the Shire of Ashburton and Tableland merged to form the Shire of West Pilbara.
1971 Reg Clarke became the first reverend for the Anglican Parishes of Paraburdoo, Tom Price and Wittenoom.
1971 August 9 shopping arcade was opened – supermarket, chemist, news agency, snack bar, and uni-sex hair dressers.
1971 By August over 150 houses were completed, 500 more were waiting to be completed.
1971 Volunteer fire fighters started.
1970 Paraburdoo School opened, with 73 students, three staff and one head master.
1970 September 1, the Kirkaldy family were the first residents to move into town, Mrs Kirkaldy was the first female to move in. They lived in number 8 Ashburton Road.
1970 August 19, the first blast at the mine, moving 30,000 tons of material.
Then to Now
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2012 40th Anniversary celebrations.
2011 In August 200-year-old bones were found near Paraburdoo.
2005 Pilbara Rail was folded into Pilbara Iron.
2004 Skate park was officially opened.
2004 Rio Tinto announced that Robe and Hamersley started merging operations under the new Pilbara Iron entity.
2001 Paraburdoo High School students began to travel to Tom Price for school.
2000 The last year that Paraburdoo District High School was open.
1996 The Demons Football Club rooms burnt down, all that was left was the barbecue stack and the bar bell.
1987 In December the Shire of West Pilbara renamed to Shire of Ashburton.
1986 Saints Club rooms were officially opened.
1986 By now the school had 28 staff, three deputy principles, and one head master.
1985 Demons Football Club started.
1980 Tee ball started.
1979 Prince Charles visited Paraburdoo.
Denis McMahon Building the town’s foundations by Tess Ingram
Can you tell us about the mine site and what it was like when it first started? Well you have to appreciate that the mine had a false start. Did you know that?
– Denis McMahon
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enis McMahon was the first General Manager of the Paraburdoo mine. He was in charge of the mine, the town, the community spirit and was the main man developing Paraburdoo from dust and dirt to the early stages of what it is today. But amidst all his hard work, in 1970 an economic downturn struck and the Paraburdoo mine was temporarily shut down, forcing Denis and his 240 employees to leave their new home. Denis is now 81 and living in New South Wales but he was happy to spend an hour sharing with us what Paraburdoo was like back in 1970.
growing daily – every one of them that needed another job, we got them another job somewhere in the country. So I was the mine manager right at the beginning, until that hiccup. So you need to be aware that that happened.
Do you mean before the town was gazetted? No, when Hamersley Iron was building the mine and town there was an economic downturn, particularly in Japan. We had families in a growing town and the mine was well on the way, but it was shut down for about 20 months.
So you were only there until this happened? Yes I was.
WOW! I was not aware of that… when was that? That was right at the beginning. For reasons I’m not privy to, it was deemed to be advantageous not to initiate the mine at the planned time, so it was delayed, and we shut it down. We worked our guts out so that every one of the employees we had about 240 employees then, and it was
Me too. How did you first become involved in the project? How did you get the job at Paraburdoo? Well I was first in Tom Price. I was Chief Mining Engineer. And then I was the mine superintendant, and then they combined that job with the crushing and screening plant superintendant’s job and called it
And so how long then were you living in Paraburdoo? Ooh good question. Perhaps 12 months, I’m not sure. I am hopeless with dates!
production manager, so I was the production manager at Tom Price. And then I moved to Paraburdoo to open up the new mine. And when you went to Paraburdoo, what was there already? The first time I went down there, there was nothing. I had a family in Tom Price and I used to commute very early on Monday morning and return about noon on Saturday depending on how things were going. We were living in demountables which had been brought in and put into place but it was real frontier stuff in those early days and the real thrust as far as the town was concerned was to create a spirit, an ‘esprit de corp’ within the town because we were right out on the end of the road. Tom Price was big brother and we were the little one down the road, starting up anew. So the real thrust was to really develop a community. And exactly how did you go about doing that? A good example was this young US army mining engineer from Vietnam got demobbed and came to Sydney on R&R. He walked into Rio’s office in Sydney and said:‘Look, I’m a retired lieutenant in the marines and I’m a mining engineer.Have you got any work
for me?’ And they told him yes, there was a job going in Paraburdoo. So across he came and very soon after he said: “Well look, I’ve got a fiancé in the US and I want to get married.” So the long and short of it was she flew out from Boston to Sydney, I think it was Boston, and we got somebody in the company in Sydney to see she got off the plane and onto a plane to Perth, then had somebody in Perth to get her off the plane and put her on a plane to Paraburdoo. She came up here and a week later she got married. And the spirit in the community? Well they threw the wedding! The whole town was invited to the wedding and the couple didn’t have any money so the wives around town provided the food for the reception and the men provided the drinks. The only place that the wedding could be held was in the manager’s residence, it had just been finished and I had just moved in, and so I gave the bride away and the whole town was there and it was fantastic. All of this was happening coming into summer, and I’m sure you know what the temperatures are like in the Pilbara in summer? Oh my goodness. I have heard about that! We had a particularly hot one, from my recollection, about 150 consecutive days all over 100 degrees
Fahrenheit, with the exception of a cyclone in the middle somewhere, which came through and nearly knocked us away but dropped the temperature for a few days into the high nineties. For three consecutive months, every day was around 112 and one Christmas it was 118! So in the middle of this we were starting to bring the families in. At the beginning we had about 15 houses filled but we found that the wives didn’t know each other because it was so darn hot they stayed in their air-conditioned houses all day and made a break for it at night down to the shed we had set up as a shop. So we had a Midsummer night’s dinner in one the newly built houses for the 15 wives, no husbands, and we set the chef up in the mess to cook. It didn’t finish until about 2am and there were all these wives skipping home at about 2am. But from there in they knew each other and there was a tremendous spirit! I remember when we brought the first lot of mine buses in to take the people to work. I think we ordered about three or four of them. Then the town got together and did a quiet deal; alcohol was extremely expensive as we were stuck out on the end of the supply line. Well somebody who knew somebody did this and that, and at the end of the day, those buses arrived full of alcohol! They had got on to a big bulk wholesaler in Perth and damn near every place in town ordered
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all the wine and beer they wanted. I somehow knew about this and didn’t and I began to wonder why everyone was enquiring, when are the buses going to arrive? Not excited about going to work in the bus, but about what the bus was bringing! There was a real spirit about the place. And part of the driving spirit was that we were going to show Tom Price how it really should be done. We were the small little fella right down the end of the road, and they were a booming, expanding community. So yes, it was a great dynamic place to be. It really was. It really sounds like it. It is wonderful to speak with you. There really aren’t many people left in town that have been there right from the beginning? I don’t imagine so. I was the Hamersley Iron manager and so I was responsible for developing this mine and then operating it, and for filling the houses with employees and running the town. It was a big job.
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That would have been an enormous job I would imagine! But it really was, it was a great place to be. There was one
aspect of the town that was difficult. Remember how I said that there was a drop in temperature due to the cyclone? Well that cyclone hit before the bridge was built and when the cyclone came through, the creek came up and the road flooded. Nobody could get to the mine. So for three days I had all the employees on one side of the bridge in town and all the work to be done on the other side of the creek. We had a well-advanced plant nursery so for three days I had about 200 blokes planting trees around the town. I won’t say they broke any records, but I’m sure that had a significant impact on the character of the town and the way the town looked. Paraburdoo certainly has a lovely feel to it. The town itself is really lovely, so green in contrast to the red surroundings. I think so. And for a relatively young mine manager… How old were you if you don’t mind me asking? Well I am almost 81 now… it’s my birthday in about three weeks I actually went back to Paraburdoo as part of my 80th birthday celebrations. It’s quite different now. Lot’s more women!
What was the gender balance like at the time? Was it a mostly male dominated town? At that time there was perhaps 1500 men in the construction force, building the railway and the houses and the offices and so on, we had about 240 Hamersley Iron employees, all men, and I would suppose that we had those 15 wives and that went up over time incidentally. And then when we opened the mine office had about four or five young women come in and operate the office. So I suppose it would have been about 95 per cent male. And I can remember before we brought the first lot of 15 wives in, the sort of place that it was at the time. I sat down quietly in two or three sessions with the employees and pointed out that no matter what their social inclinations were they were not in any way to include those 15 women that were coming in. I mean it was frontier stuff. And obviously the female population grew and changed… did that elicit changes in the community? Well it’s hard to say about Paraburdoo because I was only there a short time but this was a time before women were employed as truck divers or in the crushing and screening
plant. So the women were almost exclusively in the office. There was quite an imbalance but no, there were never any real problems but it was just an issue you had to be aware of. Yes indeed. Mining communities are unique in many ways and have many quite unique challenges and benefits. In writing this magazine we have been talking a lot about the benefits of living in a community where the mine supports and finances a great deal of the services and facilities. Oh yes! But think of this, in the time I am talking about, every home was owned by the mine and every person living in the home was paying rent to the mine and was employed by the mine or by a contractor working for the mine. That included, the mine also built the school, the hotel, the supermarket and leased them out so the mine manager, such as myself in somewhere like Paraburdoo or Tom Price wasn’t just the manager of the mine, he also had on his payroll a mine services group who planted the trees in the town, made sure the roads were in good nick… basically serviced the town and so on and so forth. And this is before they became open towns, so the mine manager was like the captain of a ship.
That was an immense responsibility. Did you enjoy having such a demanding role? Absolutely. People are there because they want to be there. They had all pulled up roots and had moved from somewhere else. But the manager had to make himself as great a part of the community as everyone else. He couldn’t sit up in an ivory tower on top of the hill and look down. So you drank down at the public bar and you had to put up with people coming up to you half drunk and talking about what they were unhappy about, but you knew what was going on. That was one thing about Paraburdoo earlier on – the first policeman we had was fantastic, Sergeant Malcolm Cole. It was his fourth or fifth mining camp and he really helped set it up. For instance he said things like, do we allow people to bring pets with them? Do we actively discourage ladies of the night from coming in to ply their trade? Do we allow firearms? Because this was the culture of where we were. We were setting up the culture of the place, we were bringing families in to create a supportive and vibrant community.
And having built this community was it then very difficult to see it disbanded early on? It was indeed. What comes to mind is this poem. You see we had built up this tremendous esprit de corp at Paraburdoo, as I’m the manager perhaps I’m biased, but then we had to close down. And there was a bit of doggerel. So there was this poem that circulated, we never found out who wrote it but it was one of the employees, it circulated as anonymous with apologies to Banjo Patterson and it went something like this: “At Paraburdoo where the ore trains are few And men of production are scanty On a road seldom crossed Met by folks that are lost Lie our hopes Our dreams And our bloody disappointment.” And I remember that forty years later.
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And when the town was disbanded… everybody left? That’s right. I was given three weeks before we shut down to do my damnedest to help anybody that needed a job to get a job. So I interviewed every employee separately, the whole 240 of them. And quite a few were very relaxed and some had found other jobs but those that needed a job, as far as I recollect, we found them one, every one of them. We pulled in all our credits we had all around the industry. We did that in three weeks and that’s probably not known at all. It was all the staff, we just go stuck in and we did it. I went to be the manager of operations at a group of three mines on the west coast of Tasmania.
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Welcome to Bellary Springs by Aaron Bradbrook and Tess Ingram
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stablished in 1984 as part of the homeland movement that saw hundreds of Aboriginal people move back to their traditional country, Bellary Springs is the officially recognised home of the Innawonga people, located 30km northeast of Paraburdoo. After receiving a land grant from the pastoral leaseholders at Rocklea station, who had worked the land for 28 years, the Innawonga people were officially acknowledged as the traditional owners of Bellary Springs. The battle for Bellary Springs began when Adrian Condon, son of Dolcie and brother of Pamela, along with four other Innawonga men launched an effort “to get the land back from the pastoralists.” Referring to both the community’s namesake and the inspiration behind establishing the community, Adrian explained:
“That’s where everything starts from; right there in the spring. That’s where we started from, the Innawonga.” Upon arrival at Bellary Springs, the sense of a vibrant community is instant. Michael Ingee, or Migo as he prefers to be called, spent many years living at Bellary but now lives and works in town. He showed us around the community, introducing us to the residents and taking us on a hike along the river. Astonishing ancient paintings shone from the rocks and perfectly displayed how history-rich and culturally important the Bellary Spring is. On June 29 a new community centre was opened in Bellary Springs. A joint project between the community, the Gumala Aboriginal Corporation and the University of Melbourne, the centre gives the community a space to host functions, after-school activities, cultural get-togethers and education programs. It also includes a homework centre for the Bellary children who attend school in Paraburdoo. Pamela Condon believes the new community centre will significantly improve community involvement and pride: “For a long time Bellary has been a home for the elders, so not a lot of change has happened. But hopefully now, the next generation, we can start making changes. The community centre is a step in the right direction.”
The Gumala Aboriginal Corporation (GAC) worked collaboratively with the Innawonga elders developing the community centre. At the opening of the centre, Stephen Peterson, the Chairman of the GAC noted that: “It is important for the community members that the centre had a view of the mountains in northeast Bellary Springs. The mountain range has a particular importance to many community members.” The aim of the University of Melbourne collaborators in the Bellary Springs Community Centre project was to “engage with communities directly to develop joint solutions that appropriately reflect community needs.” The result is a community centre that will bring together the whole community, young and old, under one roof.
– Pamela Condon
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Ivan Dias – Roo tales and runways story by Tess Ingram photography by Aaron Bradbrook
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Photos courtesy of Ivan Dias
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van stood and stared out the window at the raging storm. It was almost 9pm on a Friday and he had been due to leave Paraburdoo five hours ago to begin the long drive to Perth. Now he had two choices, he could go to bed, wake up early once the storm had cleared and do the entire drive in one go or take a chance and go now, but if anything went wrong he risked missing his flight to India where he was to meet his wife on holiday, he chose option two – drive now. Ivan planned to go as far as he could before stopping and sleeping wherever was nearby. Driving through the storm he saw a kangaroo ahead on the road. “Roos are always predictable,” he thought to himself. “They either go back into the scrub or straight across the road to the other side.” But this one didn’t do either of those things; it came straight for the car. Ivan accelerated in the hope of missing it, he thought he had when he heard a massive thud from the back of the car. Ivan slowed down, wound down his window and listened for any noises coming from the car or the bush. Nothing. As it was too wet to get out he drove on. Ivan drove for another one and a half hours before pulling into a petrol station for a break and a cup of coffee. The man at the counter was looking at him strangely and Ivan wasn’t
sure why. Then the man said, “Where are you taking him?” “What are you talking about?” Ivan answered and looked out to where the man was staring and saw the kangaroo sitting dazed in the tray of his ute. While they were watching - the animal composed himself, shook himself and hopped away. Ivan raced out and examined the tray of the ute and it look like the kangaroo had landed smack in the middle of it in it, dented the tray and then just sat there too stunned, and maybe too smart, to jump out of a car going 120km/h. Ivan Dias has lived in Paraburdoo for the last twenty years and has enough stories like this to fill a book. But we only have 1200 words. Putting a man of such character and passion into such few words seems an injustice, but Ivan won’t mind. That’s just the kind of guy he is. Ivan and his wife Annita migrated to Australia from India in January 1992, during the middle of a recession. Ivan was a hydraulic fitter in India. He couldn’t find work in the industry here without ‘West Australian experience’ and so had a quick succession of jobs in Perth before managing to get his CV into the hands of RioTinto.
“And a week later the manager called up and said ‘Ivan, there’s a job for you in Paraburdoo’ and I said ‘no worries, I’ll take it.’ And he said to me ‘do you know where Paraburdoo is?’ ‘In Australia?’ And he was like ‘yeah!’ “So my thing was I just wanted to get back into my trade and the plan was to come here for six months and get the ‘West Australian experience’ that I needed and then return to Perth but the minute we stepped off the plane we loved the place.” Loved it and embraced it. “I’m very comfortable here, I like the lifestyle. You know it doesn’t suit everybody… people always say to me “when you have six days off what do you do?” And I tell them I am always flat out because I’m a counsellor for the shire, a justice of the peace, the fundraising coordinator for the Royal Flying Doctor for Paraburdoo and Tom Price, plus I’m a level two T-ball umpire, I’m also the local snake catcher, the special minister at the church and I’ve been the lieutenant of the volunteer fire brigade for 12 years. So what I’m trying to say is, I keep busy. Very busy! My father used to say ‘an idle mind is the devil’s workshop’
because when you have nothing to do you do all the wrong things. But I’m never idle.” Consistent with what seems to be the general opinion in the town, Ivan also loves
Paraburdoo because it is a great place to raise children. Ivan’s two daughters, Karess (17) and Fleur (14), were both born in Paraburdoo and have lived here their whole lives. This makes Ivan’s daughters part of an elite group
of people born at the Paraburdoo hospital before it closed its birthing suite during the 1990s. “One of the things we love about Paraburdoo is that it’s still a very quiet town. Everybody knows everybody and nothing much… what do you call it? The bush telegraph…well nothing much gets past it. “When my kids were little I had them convinced that God had given us the ability to see through their eyes and know what they did. And they believed it because before they walked through the door we knew where they had gone and what they had done because somebody or other told us. “That’s why the kids also love it here because they find they have a lot more freedom. When we went to Perth they were on a leash so to speak, but here they can go wherever they want.” Ivan has brilliant eyes that sparkle with energy and mischief. As he tells his stories about the past twenty years in Paraburdoo, his eyes give him away. Ivan doesn’t just live in Paraburdoo. He is a man passionately in love with the town. According to Ivan though, things have changed a bit over the years.
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“It was about 1993/94 and I was going to Perth for a week. It was 7.30am and I called my wife who was at work to say goodbye and she said, ‘oh, where are you… are you calling from the airport?’ And I said ‘nah I’m at home.’ “She started yelling at me… I thought my flight was at 9.30 but no, that’s when it landed in Perth… it was actually leaving Paraburdoo at 7.40…. in 10minutes! “Straight up I call the airport hoping to beggary that the plane is late. This is one of the times when you want the plane to be late! The manager picked up the phone, and I knew his name, it was Neil. And I said ‘mate what time is the plane boarding?’ and he said ‘it is boarding, right now!’And I said, ‘oh s**t mate I’m meant to be on it.’ He said ‘Look Ivan, just get here as soon as you can. I’ll see what I can do.’ “Sweet. “So I’m racing around the house, pulling off my PJs and I thought, s**t, the last thing I want as I’m tearing to the airport is for the cops to pull me over so I picked up the phone again and spoke to Guy, the local police chief at the time. “I said ‘Guy, what are you doing this morning mate, out hassling the locals on the highway?’ And he said ‘no, why? What’s up?’ “I told him I had to be at the airport yesterday but I was running behind a bit.
I was probably going to be breaking the speed of sound getting out there so could he make sure they were off the streets. “He said, ‘Where are you at the moment?’ “ ‘At home. ’ “He says, ‘Ah look I’ll be there shortly.’ “Very confused as to why he’s coming here I frantically pull the last of my stuff together and race outside and there he is, sitting in the paddy wagon. “I jump in, and we take off for the airport where I leave him lugging the bags as I race to check in. “They tell me not to even worry about it at the desk, just to get on the plane so I run to the airstrip where I see this copper, my pal, heaving this bag above his head to an airhostess at the door who then drags it onto the plane because the luggage compartment had already closed! “Nowadays, even late last year, the General Manager arrived 35 minutes before his flight and he couldn’t check his luggage because the service had already closed 45 minutes before take-off. “He had missed it so had to send his bags on the next flight! Yet 20 years ago when I was just Mr Nobody they held a flight back for me and checked everything in! “So times have changed. But you have to live in the present, you can have good memories of the past but you can’t live in it.” – Ivan Dias
Val Comley – Down at the local story and photography by Aaron Bradbrook
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or the past eight years Val Comley has managed the local tavern and admits she wouldn’t be anywhere else. “I just love the town. I have a really good job and I love the people. It’s not a clicky town, you know, it’s just the feel about the town. And everyone just loves it.” Val Comley is the current manager of the Paraburdoo Inn and arrived in Paraburdoo in 1994. Originally from Mandurah, Val decided to make the trip up north with her husband at the time, who was offered a job on the Paraburdoo mine site.
“I don’t know what it is… but God I love the town, I really do.” All three of Val’s daughters attended Paraburdoo Primary School before heading over to Tom Price to complete their high school education. “They got quite well educated here and they now have quite good jobs,” she said. Raising children in Paraburdoo has given Val a boost when it comes to doing her job, as she believes the tavern frequenters have a deep respect for her: “They know not to mess with me because I have been around for a long time and people tend to know that.” “And especially now that we have the young ones coming in that I used to teach T-ball to!” What makes the pub so special is the mixture of its great characters, including Val, who have left their mark etched into the sides of the bar, a pinch of atmosphere and a dash of karaoke. Val explains on the two occasions throughout the year that karaoke is performed, one of the locals, Daniel, is the star performer. Bringing in huge crowds to completely pack the place out. According to Val, the one thing that has got the town talking is the Tavern’s newly renovated premises, with locals commenting
specifically on one important change… “People say, wow these toilets are fantastic,” she laughed. “They are probably the best toilets in the Pilbara!”
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I don’t know what it is ... but God I love the town, I really do
– Val Comley
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The Saints Football Club by Sarah Vasey, photography courtesy of Kevin Quill
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araburdoo is a huge sporting community; in recent years shift changes at the mine have caused a decline in participation, but the Saints Football Club is still going strong. With more workers in town, longer shifts make it really difficult for sports teams to schedule training and games. The Saints started in 1973 with their mullets and moustaches swishing through the wind to end their first year in the Fortescue Football League as premiers. In the early years the Saints competed against the then four Tom Price teams, the Towns, the Crushers, the Hills and the Centrals. They also used to play games in Tom Price for the first couple of years until the Peter Sullivan Oval in Paraburdoo was completed. Over time the league saw the Hills and the Centrals merge to form the Panthers. This was mostly because there were not enough players in the teams to make up games. There was also some renaming of teams as well. Currently there are the Tom Price Towns, Tigers, Panthers and the Paraburdoo Saints. After-game events and meetings were rotated between Saint players’ and members’ houses for 13 years before they got their club rooms in 1986, donated by Ron Burgers Autos. It was also during
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1985 that Paraburdoo saw the birth of a second football club, the Demons, with club rooms just two doors away from the Saints. The Demons’club rooms burnt down in 1996 due to an electrical fault, leaving only the barbecue stack and most importantly the bar bell behind.
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The Saints started in 1973 with their mullets and moustaches swishing through the wind to end their first year in the Fortescue Football League as premiers
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Owen Elliot, was one of many Demon members and players who built the club rooms. He also had the unfortunate job of having to put the fire out with the Volunteer Fire Fighters of Paraburdoo. The Demons folded after losing their club rooms leaving the Saints to continue on. The Saints have been premiers five times, first in 1973, then in 1976, 1990, 1991 and in 2009. While next year is the Saints’ 40th birthday, they are still feeling as young and vibrant and as dedicated to winning as ever.
Photo essay – Paraburdoo in pictures by Aaron Bradbrook
The view approaching the mine.
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Welcome to Bellary Springs
Michael ‘Migo’ Ingee taking in the incredible rock paintings surrounding Bellary Spring
Goin’ bush is a blessing that’s easy to come by.
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Last day of school, pyjama day.
After a hard day’s night.
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In Your Words - What do you love about Paraburdoo?
Chris Penfold
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Emma and Corey Bean with daughter Charlotte
In 1974, Chris Penfold and her partner Gavin arrived in Paraburdoo via gravel road with their car and only the possessions they could fit. When they arrived late in the afternoon, they found a deserted housing office with a note stuck to the door: Penfold, 118 Channar. A fully furnished house was supplied to the pair before they began working at Paraburdoo mine. This was the beginning of their time in Paraburdoo. At the time, Paraburdoo only consisted of the one site. All work clothing was to be supplied by the workers bar boots and a hard hat. Chris recalled the normal attire of a man on the mine being a shirt and shorts. High vis clothing wasn’t a requirement and there was no such
thing as safety glasses in those days. Chris herself worked in the personnel office and says a dress and sandals were her usual work clothes. After a short time spent in Paraburdoo, Chris and Gavin left town to go back to the city where cricket was calling Gavin’s name, but the Pilbara was never far from their hearts. In 2005 the couple returned to Paraburdoo where bitumen roads now linked them to the coast and a road trip to Perth was no longer the task it used to be. Gavin Penfold works in Planning in the MEM whilst Chris, who did five years at the hospital on return to Paraburdoo, now works at the local Credit Union. The pair plan to leave for Exmouth at the end of their working lives.
Ellen and Tony Stevenson
Annett and Gary Jeffery
Friend 22 Sport ly “Paraburdoo is what you make of it, it’s a very tight-nit community.”
“Paraburdoo is a nice, quiet, safe place to live. But it needs more businesses, a hardware store would be great, and a furniture store – like what Tom Price have.”
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“Should have moved here years ago, Paraburdoo is a nice small town and we love having the grandkids and daughter around.”
Angelique Machura with daughters Lillian and Monique “Parburdoo is great! Everyone is friendly and there’s lots of sport to play. The country views are beautiful and there’s lots of space for four wheel driving. Everything is generally pretty close, except Perth. The social life is probably the best thing about living in Paraburdoo.”
Karess and Fleur Dias
Comm “We love Paraburdoo, growing up here there was a lot of freedom and you always felt safe. There are a lot of sporting opportunities up here.”
Reuben Stevenson
Debbie Stobie
“The community is very good here in Paraburdoo, My favourite thing about living here is being able to play with my friends.”
“Paraburdoo is a beautiful, safe town. It has not changed a lot from when I was first here but i think in 1994, the town was more alive.”
Grant Phillips with son Chevy-James
Kevin Schammer with daughter Sarah Bostok and grandchild Mason Bostok
Luh Nunn with daughter Cecily
“Paraburdoo is a good community, there are nice people here. It’s very close-nit. It’s good being here with family.”
“It’s a good small community here, little and quiet, I like that.”
“Paraburdoo is a lot like other small town communities, we like going to the pool when it’s open, going to active play and taking my son to story time at the library.”
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Thelma Stobie
“Paraburdoo is starting to become more of a community, rather than just a mining town. It’s small, there’s no traffic and people who live here can come home to their families at night rather than flying in and out.”
Kim Heiko Stol & daughter Kayla
Deanne Cowland with daughter Hannah Wilkinson “Paraburdoo feels safe. It’s really like any other small community where you can be as involved as you like. Quite often friends you make in places like this, are friends for life.”
“Paraburdoo is a transient place to live, but the locals are good. It’s a real family environment, having the whole family together and as one unit is good.”
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23 e af Myra Lee Brianna and Brodie Faulns
“Everything is more or less, five minutes away. My favourite thing is that there are lots of community activities to be involved in.”
Forging new families story by Sarah Vasey photography by Aaron Bradbrook
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wen and Sharon Elliot drove to the Pilbara in the 1970s with their eldest son, and Owen’s parents to meet Owen’s brother who was living in Tom Price. Sharon was pregnant at the time with their second son. Three years later they found themselves in Paraburdoo thinking that it was a foot in the door that would lead them to Tom Price, but they still haven’t left Paraburdoo! “Once we got here we loved it, and we haven’t looked back since”. When the Elliots first arrived in Paraburdoo, there were more amenities than there are now, the hospital still delivered babies, they had a bank, a chemist, dentist, and cafes, to name a few. Mrs Elliot described how it was to enter the town as a new resident: “It was very easy to settle into town here, everyone was young and had young families. There was also none of your own family here.” Mrs Elliot continued, “we had neighbours that were only two doors
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across that were there for 30 years, we became family. If anything was wrong we would depended upon them.” In the days when the shifts were short, it meant that everyone was able to help each other out with or just go for a beer with the men. Due to the shift changes, everyone is now too tired after work, and most workers only have a few hours to do things before they have to go to bed. The Elliots have also watched the town change as fly in fly out has become popular. Mrs Elliott says that now people like to “get the money and go”. Mrs Elliot says that one of the best things about Paraburdoo is “the friendships we made in the town. We have friends that we may have only known for three years, but we have kept them, sometimes they are closer than your own family, because they understand what it’s like up here, whereas a lot of your family don’t or can’t afford to come up here to see you.”