Newman, Western Australia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Newman (), located about 1120 km northeast of Perth and 9km north of the Tropic of Capricorn, is a town in the Pilbara region. It can be reached by the Great Northern Highway. With a population of 4,000, it is a modern mining town with leafy suburban-style homes providing a stark contrast to the surrounding reddish arid desert area.
Originally marginal cattle country, Newman was built in the 1960s with the discovery of rich iron deposits on nearby Mt Whaleback. The discovery marked the start of the resource boom in the WA in the 1970s. A privately owned railway was constructed linking it to Port Hedland which itself was upgraded to handle shipment of the ore to the world market. On June 21, 2001 a train 7.353 km (4.568 miles) long, comprising 682 ore cars and 8 locomotives made the Newman--Port Hedland trip and is listed as the worlds longest train ever [1]. The ore trains are typically over 2km long. Newman is also a service town to the nearby mining settlements like Tom Price and Paraburdoo.
Typical of company towns, Newman is laid out with a core, where shopping and hotels are located, surrounded by residential areas, with more industrial activities on the outskirts. There is one shopping mall in the town, two shopping plazas, three hotels, and three bars/restaurants outside of those contained in the hotels. One public outdoor pool serves the town's population.
[edit] Architecture
Being founded in the 1960s, Newman's architecture reflects the modern styles of that decade and the next, being predominantly functional and devoid of detail or embellishment. As the town was founded and built by a steel company, the majority of buildings use a steel frame construction. This applies to the suburban style homes themselves, most of them being two prefabricated halves inserted together into a steel I-section frame, the columns of which are left exposed on the exterior of the home. This construction method serves not only to showcase the company's product, but also gives strong resistance to cyclone winds which can affect the region from time to time. For this same reason, most houses are elevated from the ground by a few steps. Many houses also have large air-conditioning units situated next to them to provide adequate cooling against the very hot summer temperatures.
[edit] Transport
The town is served by Newman Airport.
