Pilbara

The Pilbara region is very hot and VERY dry.  The kind of dry that causes the inside of your nose to dry out and crack and breathing through your mouth has you quickly grasping your water bottle.  We normally have to remind the kids to drink plenty,  but in this area nobody needed reminding and the water bottles were being refilled often.

The ground is largely comprised of iron stone pebbles,  ranging from rusty orange to almost black in colour and deceivingly heavy. Hitting two of the iron stones together results in a metallic clink,  similar to a hammer striking an anvil.

The predominant plant life is soft spinifex, a hardy grass which grows in clumps.  Each clump has an almost pillow-like appearance, positively inviting you to nestle in to them.  This would be a big mistake.  Each blade of grass ends in a needle fine tip coated with resin,  which,  after causing a nasty scratch should you foolishly brush against it,  continues to cause a stinging sensation for hours.

You may be surprised to discover that such a harsh environment is quite heavily populated. The reason is iron mining.

Apart from a few other hardy (or should that be foolhardy?) tourists braving the heat to discover the natural wonders,  the vast majority of vehicles on the roads were road trains transporting their loads of iron ore from the crushers (where iron stone is pulverised into ore) to Port Hedland, ready for shipping to iron smelters and steelworks.

Every few kilometres along the highway a dusty side road would be labelled as a private mine access.

In the midst of this desolate landscape lies the town of Tom Price. Rio Tinto’s Tom Price Iron Mine lies at the town boundary and the town primarily exists to meet the needs of the mine workers and their families. As a result,  the very well financed town has amenities that are unexpected for its size and location. There's a beautiful park which is mind boggling green,  with deciduous trees, a floral archway and a well equipped playground, complete with the essential shade sails.

Adjacent to the shopping centre is a montage of public art of which any major city would be proud: a bronze fountain overflows into a stylised creek set with river stones,  from which 2 metre tall bronze kangaroos drink,  while oversized bronze goanna and emus watch from a distance.

The public library boasts an enormous DVD collection,  a very large children's section including a variety of toys,  computer services and all the latest newspapers and magazines.

We saw a skateboard park,  swimming pool with extensive water playground,  numerous playgrounds,  tennis courts,  bmx track,  motorcross club and various other sporting facilities.

This level of affluence and wealth of services is in stark contrast to the vast majority of remote towns of a similar size which we have visited.  Most have a pub,  a roadhouse which is also the general store,  caravan park and cafe (and sometimes incorpoates the pub too!) Some have a small grocery store,  a health centre for visiting doctors at the weekly clinic and a school.

It was immediately apparent that Tom Price was a manufactured community and not representative of the average. The town centre was entirely populated by young Caucasian families, with some Asian and African immigrants working in service positions.  I  did see two aboriginal families but they were clearly the very small minority.  Also glaringly absent were older people -  I doubt anyone we saw was over 50 years old.

The blatant branding by Rio Tinto didn't sit well with me.  The library had photos of Rio Tinto hard hats,  mine trucks and ore trains in the children's section,  in addition to advertising for some kind of sponsored reading challenge.  The high school uniform was even less subtle: TPHS (Tom Price High School) was emblazoned on one leg of the tracksuit pants and Rio Tinto on the  other. 90% of the vehicles around town were owned by the mine.

Whilst I can appreciate the necessity of providing services for your employees in a remote area, in the same way that factories in England did during the Industrial Revolution (and Rio Tinto appears to have done this very well), the concept of having your home,  children's school, supermarket and all public services being owned by your employer left a bad taste in my mouth.

*Please note,  this is strictly my personal opinion and not in any way a negative aspersion of the residents of Tom Price or employees of Rio Tinto*