What is the population of Karratha, Western Australia?

Karratha has a population of approximately 17,013 according to the latest available open data.

Where is Karratha, Western Australia located?

Karratha is located in Western Australia, Australia, at approximate coordinates -20.7370°, 116.8479°.

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Karratha

Western Australiacity

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Total population

17,013

Elevation6 m

Coordinates-20.74°, 116.85°

Demographic figures from Australian Bureau of Statistics. Overview below cites Wikipedia and may reference a different year.

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City facts

Elevation

6 m

Facts from Wikidata (CC0).

Overview

Karratha is a city in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, adjoining the port of Dampier. Located about 140 kilometres (87 mi) east-southeast of the site of three nuclear weapons tests by the British, it was established in 1968 to accommodate the processing and exportation workforce of the Hamersley Iron mining company and, in the 1980s, the petroleum and liquefied natural gas operations of the Woodside-operated North West Shelf Venture located on Murujuga. As of the 2021 census, Karratha had an urban population of 17,013. The city's name comes from the cattle station of the same name, which derives from a word in a local Aboriginal language meaning "good country" or "soft earth". More recently, Ngarluma people have indicated the name may actually relate to an early interpretation of Gardarra, stemming from the sacred site for the whale, located in the Karratha area, called Gardarrabuga. The city is the seat of government of the City of Karratha, a local government area covering the surrounding region.

History & geography

History

The land on which Karratha was established has been Ngarluma country for millennia. In traditional culture, the creation of the landscape occurred in a time called , meaning "when the world was soft". Francis Thomas Gregory led an expedition to the north west of Western Australia in 1861. Returning to Perth, he reported the area was suitable for agricultural purposes and a possible pearling industry. This was the major starting point for dispossession of Aboriginal lands across the Karratha area, as pastoralists flocked to the area to establish sheep stations. During this period of dispossession of Aboriginal people in the Pilbara, the Karratha area became a sheep station. Many Aboriginal people were forced into unpaid labour on the sheep stations, including Karratha Station. By 1946, after Aboriginal people had worked for rations (considered a form of slavery), the Aboriginal community demanded fair wages. Labour costs increased for the Karratha Station following the 1946 Pilbara strike, who were seeking fair pay and conditions after generations of Aboriginal people working on stations for very little or no pay and in poor conditions. Many Aboriginal people "walked off" Pilbara stations at this time. Archaeological dating suggests that Aboriginal people have inhabited the Pilbara region for the past 40,000 years. The traditional land tenure system of Aboriginal communities, including the Ngarluma people across the Karratha area, stands in contrast to the European notion of land ownership. Instead of individuals possessing exclusive rights to utilise and sell parcels of land, Ngarluma lands were collectively owned by social groups. While certain family groups might inherit rights and responsibilities concerning particular territories, ownership primarily rested on…

Geography

Karratha, an isolated city, is located approximately north of Perth and west of Port Hedland on the North West Coastal Highway. It is at the south central end of Nickol Bay, which has had settlements on the bay since the 1860s. The city is roughly rectangular in layout and is located on flat land adjacent to Nickol Bay. Tidal salt flats and areas of mangrove separate the city from the sea. Immediately to the south of the city lies a line of low hills. Karratha has a hot desert climate (BWh) classification. Temperatures are warm to hot all year round, with low rainfall, most of which falls in late summer due to the influence of tropical cyclones and the monsoon, although there is a second rainfall peak in early winter as the northern edges of cold fronts occasionally cause rain in the region. It is very rare for any rain to fall in the period from August to December. Winter temperatures rarely drop below 10 °C, while maximums stay in the mid to high 20s and days are sunny with low humidity. Summers are very hot and usually dry although the erratic influence of the monsoon can cause periods of high humidity and thunderstorms. The record high temperature is 48.4 °C (119.1 °F), which was set 13 January 2022, while the record low is 6.9 °C (44.4 °F). The highest monthly rainfall on record was 348.8mm (13.7 in) in February 2011, owing to the passage of Cyclone Carlos and several other monsoonal lows over Karratha; the highest daily rainfall was due to the passage of Cyclone Sean on 20 January 2025.

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Excerpted from the corresponding Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA).