The Pilbara Experience – Heat of the Pilbara

When we started the first day of work…that’s the first day we get the heat of the Pilbara. Hot. Your body just white from the salt. Clothes stiff like starch.

John Culear Kennell Snr, ex railway worker, Island Fettlers (film), 2006

**Caption: Railway construction required high levels of concentration and skill. The iron rails had to be placed correctly in order to prevent them from buckling in the fluctuating temperatures.**
Credit: State Library of Western Australia, 142411PD

I thought that the darker skin colour will never ever sunburn but everyone had skin peeling off. People were taken back to camp with heat exhaustion.

Danny Blanket, ex railway worker, 2006

The extreme heat of the Pilbara presented working conditions unlike anything most Torres Strait Islanders had experienced before. Physically and mentally demanding construction work continued through blistering 40+ degree heat with little to no reprieve in the evenings. Many workers wore only shirts and thongs, with little to no protective gear.

**Caption: The sun was so hot, the steel on the railway track burnt the workers’ skin. Dampier to Tom Price Railway, 1965.**
Credit: Rio Tinto Collections of Photographs, BA2817/1749, State Library of Western Australia

The main problem was the lack of shade. Workers would lie underneath the trains to escape the sun, sometimes resulting in a loss of limb (or life) when the trains moved.

For many Torres Strait Islanders, thoughts of supporting their family and children back home on the islands kept them going through the oppressive heat and isolation.

“Always have, always will have connections to the Islands”

Sonya Stephen, daughter of ex railway workers, 2018

The workers cooled off by the trains to escape the scorching sun. This presented its own risk, as trains could start moving with little warning. Port Hedland to Mt Newman Railway Line, 1968.

Railway construction required high levels of concentration and skill. The iron rails had to be placed correctly in order to prevent them from buckling in the fluctuating temperatures.