The Pilbara is a vast region located in the northwest Western Australia that covers around 20% of the state of Western Australia, equivalent to Spain’s total land mass. With a residential population of around 58 000 people, the Pilbara is one of the least densely populated regions of the OECD and the world. The Pilbara’s population density (0.17 people per square kilometre) is even lower than the Northern Territory in Australia and in line with regions such as the Yukon, Canada, or Greenland, Denmark.
The Pilbara’s industrialisation dates back to the 1960s, when towns were established to accommodate the mining workforce, while First Nations people1 have inhabited the region for approximately 50 000 years (Webb, 2003[1]). The Pilbara is located on the traditional lands of approximately 25 First Nations language groups who have continuously practised their culture in the Pilbara region (Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre, 2020[2]). According to data from the 2021 Census, in the Pilbara, individuals identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander constitute 12.9% of the population. East Pilbara has a notably higher proportion at 17.9%, compared to West Pilbara's 11.4%. These figures are above the 3.2% observed in Western Australia as a whole and the 2.9% nationwide in Australia2 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021[3]).
Over the course of the 1950s and 1960s, the discovery of vast deposits of iron ore across the region and the repeal of a World War II export ban on iron ore by the Australian Government set the foundation for the industrial transformation and led the construction of the first towns (including the current four main cities in the region). While two of the ten towns initially built were eventually closed, others evolved from closed mining camps to open settlements. The industrialisation and the infrastructure development of this region was driven by extractive companies, which built roads, rail trains and utility infrastructure as part of agreements with the state of Western Australia (State Agreements).