Located 218 kilometres southeast of Port Hedland, and 1500 km northeast of Perth, Marble Bar has the
reputation of being the hottest town in Australia, but it has so much more to offer.
Nearby, there are fossilised stromatolites, which are one of the earliest forms of life on Earth, dating to 3.5 billion years ago.
Building and mining history from the gold rush of the 1890s are there to be explored, as is the surrounding peaceful outback landscape.
During December and January, temperatures around Marble Bar can be in excess of 45 °C (113 °F).
Ancient Fossils
Fossilised stromatolites found near Marble Bar are living fossils and the oldest living lifeforms on Earth. They are the layered trace fossils of microbial life, primarily cyanobacteria, dating to 3.5 billion years ago.
The Earth itself is an estimated 4.5 billion years old. These stromatolites built up the oxygen
content of the Earth’s atmosphere to about 20% during the Eoarchean era. An oxygen-rich atmosphere was critical to
the development of higher forms of life. These fossils can help to understand where all life came from.
Scientific research also shows that granite rocks near Marble Bar reveal how water entered the Earth's deepest crust from
the mantle below, to form continents almost four billion years ago.
Nyamal Aboriginal People
Traditionally, Nyamal people occupied the area east of the coastal Kariyarra country, inland from the town of Port Hedland, WA. This country includes the towns of Marble Bar and Nullagine, and runs north past the Oakover River to the borders of Manyjilyjarra, Warnman, Nyangumarta and Ngarla country and south past the Shaw River.
There are over 31 Aboriginal language groups in the Pilbara region.
As hunter-gatherers, Aboriginal
people moved around according to the season and natural resources. Those groups living in food-rich environments did not need to move around as much as those in areas with less natural resources.
The uncertainty and unpredictability of ecosystems (e.g. drought) meant that most Aboriginal populations were proportional
to resources and highly mobile.
Aboriginal people, as hunter-gatherers, did not usually hunt or forage for more food than they
immediately needed to be shared among the group. The food they hunted, fished and the wild vegetables and fruit they foraged were not stored for later use.
Hunting and gathering requires complex skills, knowledge, agility and patience.
Aboriginal language groups across Australia are diverse, and each has unique lore and religious beliefs, although there may be commonalities.
Kinship rights and obligations apply to land ownership, rights and roles and also regulate social relationships.
The division of labour was gender-based, with women usually foraging for plant foods, fishing and hunting small game. Men hunted and fished for large game animals, and dogs were used to hunt kangaroos.
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| Aboriginal people of Wester Australia, "The naturalist in Australia" (1897) |
Gender divisions were also evident in religious ceremony. Older men holding most of the important religious roles. Men and women, however, had separate religious ceremonies and sites from which the other gender was excluded.
Songlines are a type of oral map of the landscape used by oral cultures. Aboriginal people use songlines to communicate the path followed by the creator-beings of the Dreamtime.
The Dreamtime being a time in which everything,
including people and society was created by creator beings who shaped the landscape through their journeys.
The Spinifex Express train song, inspired by a Nyamal japi (everyday) song created by a person to share an experience, such as a journey through Country with others, was recorded in 1964. The song follows the waterholes on the track from Port Hedland to Marble Bar and creates something like a songline across the country.
Marble Bar Pool is a site of Aboriginal significance.
1600s: First Europeans
Port Hedland was said to be first sighted by Europeans in 1628 by the Dutch explorer Gerrit Frederikson De Witt. However, the Portuguese probably sighted the Western Australian coast during the 1520s.
1800s
The British Colony of Western Australia was claimed by Captain Fremantle on 2 May 1829.
The first European settlers of Pilbara were pastoralists in the 1860s following the explorer Augustus Gregory.
Nathaniel Cook travelled in 1881 with Edmund Keenan from Mallina to Coongan River, where Cook took up
pastoral country.
Cook named Marble Bar after he saw the multi-coloured stone bar that stretched across the Coongan River, mistakenly believing it to be marble. The stone was actually jasper.
The Pilbara Goldfield was declared on 1st October 1888.
1890s
However, the town of Marble Bar, located on a plateau about 200 m above sea level, originates with the discovery of alluvial gold at Prospecting Gully in the year 1891. The first discoveries were made by Francis Jenkins and party.
Alluvial gold was found on the Coongan River, attracting many miners to the district. A campsite was established near the bar (jasper) but gold reefs were found five kilometres northeast, and the camp moved to the new location, which would become the townsite of Marble Bar.
THE PIONEERS OF MARBLE BAR
Some Incidents of their Prospecting Career:
On April 21
, 1891, Messrs E Francis, H Jenkins and W Edmonstone pitched their camp on the Coongan River, about three miles from the present town site of Marble Bar, intending to prospect the neighbourhood for alluvial gold. Two days later Mr Francis was successful in finding payable gold in a gully near the now Homeward Bound Gold mine, and on the following day the three plucky prospectors were all on gold in different gullies near the prospecting claim. On May 1 Mr Francis rode over to Nullagine and made application to Warden Davis for a reward claim, and the three mates worked out a good deal of ground and were rewarded with a fair amount of gold, the exact weight being only known to themselves, but it is generally believed on the field to have been a few hundred ounces. While at work one day, one of the trio had just unearthed a splendid specimen containing about ten ounces of gold, when a stranger suddenly appeared on the scene, and the lucky digger just had time to drop the nugget on the ground and sit on it, as he did not care to let the stranger know what he was getting.
As he sat in this position, chatting with the stranger, a gust of wind blew his hat off his head, but our hero did not move, though the sun poured down its scorching rays on his uncovered head, he was determined not to get up for the hat, for to do that meant the revealing of his hidden treasure. The intruder, however, not finding his addressee in a very communicative mood, soon took his departure, and the three mates worked on unmolested, except for the threats from some of the fossicking crowd who posted notices of objection to the granting of the reward claim, and also talked of jumping, but it all ended in smoke.THE PIONEERS OF MARBLE BAR. (1894, December 1). Northern Public Opinion and Mining and Pastoral News (Roebourne, WA : 1894 - 1902)
It is reported that Francis and Co. sunk a well
some distance from their Reward claim, and by May 1892, forty men were settled near the well and used it for a small cost.
In 1892 the first building was erected at Marble Bar. The townsite developed in close proximity to the original well: this well, was the sole water supply for many years. The availability of water being important in this arid-type climate.
With miners settling around the well, two grog shanties, a blacksmith, and three stores were soon operating, and a settlement began to take shape. Within a few years the town's population had grown to over 5000.
was officially gazetted in 1893.
The Ironclad Hotel, which was one of the first two permanent
buildings in the town, was probably named after the richest reefing claim in the region, the Ironclad Lease. This name has been used since 1893.
The Government Buildings of Marble Bar have been described in the Heritage Council of WA report as
being situated on a triangle of land above Sandy Creek.
"It is a very handsome, unified and harmonious collection of government offices. Roofed with corrugated iron, it is constructed in local stone which blends with the countryside, and is decorated with stucco window dressings and brick quoins painted white”.
The government
buildings include, offices for the Mining Warden and the Mining Registrar, a Court House, Police Station and Quarters and the Post and Telegraph Office. The date for completion was given as 27th August 1895.
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| Marble Bar Hospital, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Friday 26 November 1897 |
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| Late residence of the resident maigistrate, Marble Bar, WA. Western Australian Goldfields Courier (Coolgardie, WA : 1894 - 1898), Saturday 25 December 1897 |
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| Aboriginal women, marble Bar, WA, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Saturday 19 March 1898 |
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| Marble Bar, WA, 1898 |
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| Government buildings, Marble Bar, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Friday 1 September 1899 |
In 1889 many deposits of alluvial tin were found near Marble Bar.
"The Bobby Dazzler" Gold Nugget
was found in Shark's Gully near Marble Bar in 1899 by Archie Clive.
In 1890 the 333 ounce "Little Hero" nugget was found at Shaw's Falls on the Marble Bar road.
The 332 ounce "General Gordon" nugget
was discovered in 1899.
1900s
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| Marble Bar Post Office, WA, and staff, 1900, SLWA |
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| Main Street, Marble Bar, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| Government Offices, Marble Bar, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| Miners of the Warrawoona Gold Project, Marble Bar, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| Mouth of the Klondike Mine, Marble Bar, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| First general store at Marble Bar, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| 1. Interior of McDonald's Store at Marble bar, WA. 2. Marble Bar Hotel, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| 1. Marble bar butcher shop, WA. 2. Maher & Miles' Office, marble Bar, WA. Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| Cooper & Blanton's Store, Marble Bar, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| Exterior of store, Byass and Co., Marble Bar, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| Hot air engine at Wyman's Well, Marble Bar, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| Port Hedland-Marble Bar Mail, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| Ironclad Hotel, Marble Bar, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| Aboriginal woman of Marble Bar, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904. *In hunter-gatherer cultures in warm climates nudity had been the social norm |
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| Moolyella pegmatite field, Marble Bar, East Pilbara Shire, Western Australia, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| Cooper & Blanton's Aerated Water Factory, Marble Bar, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| Interior of store, Byass & Co., Marble Bar, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| Klondyke Battery, Marble Bar, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| Dining room, Marble Bar Hotel, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| Billard Room, Marble Bar Hotel, WA, Great North-West (Perth, WA : 1904), Thursday 1 December 1904 |
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| Marble Bar, WA, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 25 February 1905 |
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| A section of the road port Hedland to Marble Bar, WA, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 25 February 1905 |
The hottest recorded temperature at Marble Bar of 49.2C recorded in January 1905 (and again in 1922).
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| Francis St, Marble Bar, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 28 December 1907 |
In 1908, storekeepers at Marble Bar began arranging contracts with some camel operators to have their
goods transported from the Port Hedland wharves at reduced rates. The offical contractor cameleers took industrial action, which was only resolved by police intervention.
The railway from Port Hedland to Marble Bar opened in 1909. And closed in 1951.
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| The Port Hedland-Marble Bar Railway, WA, turning the first sod, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 27 March 190 |
The Marble Bar State Battery was established in 1910.
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| Recent storm at Marble Bar, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 12 March 1910, |
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| '"Cheeky" who travelled from Marble Bar to Perth with money from wages saved by him'. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 8 January 1910 |
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| Government buildings, Marble Bar. Police Station, Courthouse and Post Office, 1911, SLWA |
In 1911 the field geologist Charles Honman began conducting a Geological Survey of WA. When
mapping an area of the Yilgarn goldfield, with a more senior field geologist, Honman expressed the view that the rocks around Marble Bar were associated with jaspilites (volcanic and sedimentary rocks known as greenstone belts). This view differed from the senior geologist, and was not accepted. Honman was, however, correct.
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| At the Marble Bar Races, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 15 July 1911 |
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| Camel team leaving Marble Bar, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 15 July 1911 |
The Comet Gold Mine (originally named Halley’s Comet Gold Mine because it was a once-in-a-lifetime event) was founded in 1936 by Tommy Starr, Harry Boyd and Bill Robertson.
Today the Comet mine is a tourist stop and museum, with intact crushing mills, roasters, cyanide plant and copper treatment plant. Claude de Bernales, associated with the Great Boulder Mining and Finance Ltd, bought a controlling share in this mine.
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| Children's Fancy dress Ball at Marble Bar, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 11 February 1911 |
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| Marble Bar, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 13 January 1912 |
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| GEORGE W. MILES and CO., WINE. SPIRIT, AND GENERAL MERCHANTS. COMMISSION AND FORWARDING AGENTS, MARBLE BAR.CASH BUYERS OF TIN AND COPPER ORE. SKINS, HIDES, ETC. BRANCH STORES AT MOOLYELLA, WARRAWOONA, AND PORT HEDLANDWestern Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 13 January 1912 |
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| Aboriginal people at Marble Bar, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 13 July 1912 |
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| Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954), Sunday 19 October 1913 |
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| Marble Bar Winchester Rifle Club, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Friday 26 December 1913 |
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A PICTURESQUE SCENE IN THE INTERIOR-THE COONGAN RIVER, MARBLE BAR. WA. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Friday 17 April 1914
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| A motor lorry which runs between Marble Bar and Nullagine and the out stations, WA. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Friday 17 April 1914 |
WWI
In 1915, there were about 400 miners
in the area.
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Men Who Have Enlisted From the Pilbarra District: Back row: Privates R. Davidson, P. Phillips, L.J. Skipper, R. Keesing, D. Barron, P. Jackson, H. Power, G. Spence, W. barker, M. McGrath, A.F. Heaton. Second row standing: Privates L. Green, F. Atkins, C. Frisby, J. Pratt
F. Lucas, J. Gallop, J. Haywood. Third row sitting: Private J. Borsoff, T. Hogg, Corporal Styles, Corporal Saul (R.M.) Mr. G. W. Miles (chairman Marble Bar Recruiting Committee), Private V. Furhman (R.M.) Corporal McSwain,Private W. Pratt, Front row sitting: Privates N. Hansen, J. F. Kidd, J. Edwards, D. Messingham, A. Purcell, E. Jefferies, W. Thompson, E. F. Ronan. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Friday 11 August 1916 |
During the depression years of 1931, a Gold Bounty of £1 per ounce was introduced by the Commonwealth Government, which attracted many unemployed men to the region.
1920s
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| Group outside the Ironclad Hotel, Marble Bar, ca. 1920, SLWA |
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| Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 26 March 1925 |
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| "GREAT SNAKES !" : ONE OF THE CARPET VARIETY CAUGHT ON YARRIE STATION. MARBLE BAR. WA. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 2 April 1925 (actually 73 kilometres (45 mi) north east of Marble Bar) |
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| "Desert Aborigines" pictured at Marble Bar WA in the 1920s |
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| Cameleers carting firewood at Warrawoona, near Marble Bar, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 21 January 1926 |
1930s
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| First aeroplane at Marble Bar, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 23 July 1931 |
".....only one line runs inland —
from Port Hedland to Marble Bar, a
distance of 114 miles. The train runs
weekly as a rule, although during slack
times it may be cancelled in favor of
the "Kalamazoo," a motor-trolley
which carries mails, urgent parcels and
The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954) Sat 26 Aug 1933
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| Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), Saturday 18 March 1933 |
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| ABOUT twelve miles from Marble Bar in North Western Australia lie the alluvial tinfields. of Moolyella, probably the only industrial centre in Australia, that is entirely conducted by the natives Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), Saturday 18 March 1933 |
"ABOUT twelve miles from
Marble Bar in North
Western Australia lie
the alluvial tinfields. of Mool
yella, probably the only indus
trial centre in Australia, that is
entirely conducted by the natives.
True, there are two white men there
with their tiny stores. But they act
merely as buyers of raw tin from the
ninety or a hundred natives who are
actively engaged in "yandying" for it,
and who are entirely dependent upon
their labours for their subsistence."
Life On An Aboriginal Tin Field (1933, March 18). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954)
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| The Marble Bar-Port Hedland train tilting at a dangerous angle after becoming bogged last week, following the subsidence af part of the track. By digging from one side, the engine was placed upright, and driven out of the bog, but the carriages had to remain there temporarily. Inset: Water banked up onthe side of the permanent way. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 19 April 1934 |
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| Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950), Wednesday 21 August 1935 |
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| Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Saturday 5 September 1936 |
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| Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950), Saturday 10 September 1938 |
1940s and WWII
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| A section of Marble Bar township, WA, Narrogin Observer (WA : 1918 - 1955), Saturday 23 November 1940 |
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| Laying water mains in Francis Street, Marble Bar, Western Australia, about 1940s, SLWA |
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| West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Wednesday 19 March 1941 |
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| Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950), Saturday 14 June 1941 |
About 35 kms southwest of Marble Bar, are the ruins of Corunna Downs, a secret airfield. American and Australian Air Force units used Corunna Downs airfield during WW2, including 25
Squadron (City of Perth) RAAF and the 380th Bomb Group of the American 5th Air Force, which carried out bombing raids on Japanese bases and shipping.
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| Main Street of Marble Bar, WA, West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Wednesday 29 January 1941 |
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| Mirror (Perth, WA : 1921 - 1956), Saturday 3 March 1945 |
Pastoral Station Strike
Aboriginal men Dooley Bin Bin and Clancy McKenna, and Don McLeod, a unionist and former member of the Communist Party of Australia, led the strike.
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In Marble Bar township, without exception, all native workers, mennd women have withdrawn their
ervices. This is reported to the Star by Don McLeod of Nullagine. [Mr.cLeod was approached by the natives last July to act as their honrary inspector. He agreed to do so but his representations to the Deartment of Native Affairs on their ehalf was refused.—Ed.]. Already better wages and condirtions have been granted by a number of stations and in these cases the workers have gone. back.Workers Star (Perth, WA : 1936 - 1951), Friday 10 May 1946 |
There was a recovery in world tin prices after WWII and with the introduction of large machinery, there was
increased profitability for the low-grade ore deposits.
1950s
An effigy of the local member of Parliament tied to the front of the engine, the "Spinifex Express" steams away from Marble Bar on its last trip to Port Hedland in November 1951.
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| A train which took residents and workers from Port Hedland to Marble Bar and back by rail on the Spinifex Express from 1911, closed in 1951.West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Friday 2 November 1951 |
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| The Meekatharra - Marble Bar overland mail coming through the flooded Nullagine river after heavy rain during the summer. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 10 April 1952 |
The small tin boom centred around Marble Bar from 1957.
1960s
2010Marble Bar
became home to a world-first power station that combines renewable and traditional sources of generation. (solar-diesel power station)
2021
A 3.5-billion-year-old ultramafic dunite magnesium-rich rock from near Marble Bar, lands on Mars with NASA Perseverance rover. The rock will help NASA
discover whether there was past microbial life on Mars.
The power station at Marble Bar is set to move away from diesel, with wind and batteries.
Around marble Bar
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| Marble Bar Old Government Buildings, WA |
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| Marble Bar Old Government Buildings, WA, built 1895 |
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| Marble Bar, WA |
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| Comet Gold Mine and Tourist Centre near Marble Bar, WA |
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| Comet Gold Mine and Tourist Centre near Marble Bar, WA |
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| Comet Gold Mine & Tourist Centre, Marble Bar, WA |
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| Coongan River, Marble Bar, WA |
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| Iron Clad Hotel, Marble Bar, WA, built 1892 |
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| Coongan River, Marble Bar, WA |
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| A view of Marble Bar, WA |
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| Memorial Park, Francis Street, Marble Bar, East Pilbara - W A |
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| Government buildings, Marble Bar, WA |
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| Marble Bar, WA |
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| This is a sample from the oldest known definite fossil occurrence on Planet Earth. This is a stromatolite from the Paleoarchean of Western Australia. Locality: Normay Mine, North Pole Dome, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, James St. John |
Comet Gold Mine and Tourist Centre
