Paraburdoo is a mining town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The region is served by Paraburdoo Airport, which is situated 9 km from the town.

Etymology

The name of the town comes from an Aboriginal word said to mean "feathered meat", which could refer to abundant Little corella or flock pigeons. It could also mean Rock Cave (para means rock and buradoo means hole or cave) to refer to caves nearby.

Economy

Paraburdoo was developed in the early 1970s to support Hamersley Iron's (now Pilbara Iron) local iron ore mining operations, and was gazetted as a town in 1972. The town provides housing to workers of the three nearby Rio Tinto mines, those being the Channar, Eastern Range and Paraburdoo mine.

Geography

Paraburdoo is located 1528 km north of Perth, 24 km north of the Tropic of Capricorn, nearly 300 km from the coast, and 424 m above sea level.

Facilities

Most of the town's residents are employed by Pilbara Iron's mining operation and the supporting services. Facilities available for families include daycare, a primary school, and a TAFE. The nearest high school is Tom Price Senior High School in Tom Price, 81 km away. There are also skate parks, swimming pools, tennis courts, and netball, cricket and football fields. Paraburdoo has its own shopping facilities and medical centres.

Climate

Paraburdoo has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh). In summer, the days are very hot and the nights are warm. The mean annual maximum temperature is 46.0 C, and the all-time record high is 48.1 C, on 21 January 2024. There is an average of 72.2 days per year where the temperature rises above 40.0 C. In winter, the days are warm and the nights are cool. Precipitation is highly variable, coming from storms and tropical cyclones. It falls most often between December and March. Some years, summer months can see no rainfall, and other years over 200 mm of rainfall can come in a single month. Rainfall is sparse from July to November. The annual average rainfall is 317.8 mm which would make it a semi-arid climate except that its high evapotranspiration, or its aridity, makes it a desert climate.