REX - Regional Express

diggingdeep Flying across the Pilbara's distinctive rocky red hills in the 1950s, Lang Hancock stumbled across one of the world's most important reserves of iron ore. Western Australia's Pilbara region is now as well known for these brilliant rocky outcrops as it is for the 24-odd billion tonnes of iron ore in its hills. Today, the Pilbara's push for economic reward has shifted to the natural resources that lie offshore – in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG). While the total value of Western Australia's mineral and petroleum industry exports topped $100 billion in 2011–2012, with iron ore exports leading the list of resources at about $61 billion, LNG exports brought in a respectable $9.3 billion, with this figure expected to rise in 2013 and beyond. At the centre of this LNG industry is Chevron's latest project, based near the tiny town of Onslow in the Pilbara's coastal region. Onslow is a shady oasis around an hour's drive west from the North West Coastal Highway that runs between Carnarvon and Port Hedland. In 2011, the Wheatstone Project was quietly welcomed into Onslow. It is one of Australia's largest resource projects, set to bring lasting benefits and economic stimulation to the region. The Wheatstone LNG area was discovered in 2004; it was named after the Wheatstone Channel in the Montebello Islands, an archipelago of 174 isles that lies 130 kilometres off the Pilbara coast. While the future looks good for this Pilbara coastal town, its history was a lot less certain in 1628, when a less-than-impressed Dutch explorer charted the north-west Australian coastline and described it as "foul and barren". Aussies, being a fairly optimistic lot, were not put off by the observations of a few lost European navigators and by the late 1800s, they'd opened up this remote and inhospitable corner of the world with the hope of "riding on the sheep's back". The need for a port to service the fast-growing pastoral industry in the north-west saw Old Onslow Town come to life in 1883. Now, lying dusty and deserted on the shores of the Ashburton River, 1,386 kilometres north of Perth, the remains of Old Onslow Town are scattered about in the sand, after heavy silting and repeated cyclone damage made life in its exposed location too difficult to continue. The Onslow of today is curled around Beadon Bay, 20 kilometres from its original position. Onslow was actively involved in World War II, with the navy refuelling at its Onslow, Western Australia Population 573 Established 1880s Fed. electorate Durack Km to capital 1,386 km (Perth) "While the future looks good for this Pilbara coastal town, its history was a lot less certain in 1628." 31

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