Town of Port Hedland

The Town of Port Hedland is a local government area in the Pilbara region of Western Australia containing the twin settlements of Port Hedland and South Hedland and the industrial precinct of Wedgefield. It had a population of approximately 14,500 as at the 2016 Census of which only a few hundred live outside the settlement boundaries. History The Pilbara Road District was gazetted on 22 June 1894. It lost some territory to the new Nullagine Road District on 8 July 1898. It was renamed the Port Hedland Road District on 18 March 1904. It became the Shire of Port Hedland on 1 July 1961 under the Local Government Act 1960, which reformed all remaining road districts into shires. It underwent substantial boundary changes on 28 April 1972, losing approximately 5,669 square kilometres to the Shire of Marble Bar and gaining approximately 18.3 square kilometres from the Shire of Roebourne. It assumed its current name when it gained town status on 18 March 1989.