Onslow, Western Australia

History

Onslow was gazetted on 26 October 1885 as a town to serve the port at Ashburton Roads, at the mouth of the Ashburton River, exporting wool from sheep stations of the Pilbara hinterland. It was named after the Chief Justice of Western Australia, Alexander Onslow.

Wool continued to be the major industry for the next 80 years, despite the extremes of drought and flood that characterize the region and are related to the passage or absence of cyclones.

Although a large jetty was built at the original site of Onslow (Old Onslow), repeated cyclone damage and the silting up of the river caused increasing problems with the loading and unloading of visiting ships. The cargo was transferred by lighter from the ship in Ashburton Roads to the jetty, then by horse-tram from the jetty across 6 km of marshland inland to the town. This led the state government in 1923 to develop a new town and jetty 18 km north-east at Beadon Point. The new townsite was gazetted on 10 January 1924, and the residents of Old Onslow moved across in 1925. The new location for Onslow's jetty was better protected from storm damage with the townsite more conveniently located on the coast.

On 15 May 1943, Onslow became the most southerly town in Australia to be bombed by Imperial Japan in World War II, when a single plane bombed the airfield. However, there was no damage or casualties.

Since the war, the declining purchasing power of wool has, despite consistently good rainfall on the inland sheep stations since the late 1960s, led to a change in focus of Onslow's economy from wool to tourism. It is an access point for Coral Coast activities, such as scuba diving on the coral reefs offshore from the town.

Climate

Onslow has a hot desert climate (BWh) having low year round rainfall with most of it falling in the first half of the year. Only a few months have average highs below 27 °C (80.6 °F). Onslow registered the highest temperature ever recorded in Australia (along with Oodnadatta in January 1960) at 50.7 C on 13 January 2022. |Jan record high C = 50.7 |Feb record high C = 48.3 |Mar record high C = 47.2 |Apr record high C = 43.4 |May record high C = 39.0 |Jun record high C = 33.5 |Jul record high C = 33.4 |Aug record high C = 37.7 |Sep record high C = 41.7 |Oct record high C = 46.0 |Nov record high C = 45.5 |Dec record high C = 49.2 |Jan record low C = 16.3 |Feb record low C = 15.1 |Mar record low C = 16.0 |Apr record low C = 10.9 |May record low C = 7.5 |Jun record low C = 3.1 |Jul record low C = 4.0 |Aug record low C = 5.4 |Sep record low C = 7.9 |Oct record low C = 8.9 |Nov record low C = 12.9 |Dec record low C = 15.6 |year record low C = 3.1

During Onslow's long history, the town has gone through the extremes of heatwaves, heavy rains and cyclones. For example, in 1912, Onslow received only 14.5 mm of rainfall and during 1935-36 combined only 126 mm fell. While in 1961 a record 997.9 mm was recorded, most of which fell between late January and early March, a result of three cyclone impacts within five weeks. These cyclones brought heavy rain and destructive winds to Onslow, resulting in flooding and damage to buildings. A major long-term drought between 1935 and 1941, during which time only one cyclone hit (in April 1937) and did not produce rain on the inland sheep stations, led to a decline in Onslow's fortunes.

Cyclones

Numerous cyclones have impacted Onslow over the years, the first recorded by white colonists was in 1880. On 28 March 1934, a severe cyclone hit the town, with the new jetty nearly destroyed. All the buildings suffered damage, with some destroyed. At the time, the wind gust recorded at Onslow was the highest recorded in Australia.

Transport

A seven kilometre tramway ran from the original townsite to carry cargo.

References

References

1. [https://abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/SAL51181 Onslow] [[Australian Bureau of Statistics]]
2. "Onslow to Cane".
3. [https://web.archive.org/web/20200105002821/https://www.slp.wa.gov.au/gazette/gazette.nsf/searchgazette/5CBE015F685D58A848257DA5000B03F7/$file/Gg049.pdf Onslow] [[Western Australian Government Gazette]] 29 October 1885
4. (12 August 1884). "A trip to the Ashburton". [[The West Australian]].
5. (November 2011). "Onslow Hot Spots Land Supply Update". [[Western Australian Planning Commission]].
6. "Onslow - Western Australia". WANowandThen.com.
7. "Historical Towns Directory". Heritage Australia Publishing.
8. Jabyn. (12 July 1923). "Beadon - The New North-West Port". [[Western Mail (Western Australia).
9. "History - Shire of Ashburton". Shire of Ashburton.
10. [http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalextremes.html Global Measured Extremes of Temperature and Precipitation.] {{Webarchive. link. (25 May 2012 [[National Climatic Data Center]]. Retrieved 21 June 2007.)
11. (1 April 2009). "Australian Temperature Extremes". [[Bureau of Meteorology]].
12. (13 January 2022). "Onslow in the Pilbara reaches 50.7C, equalling Australia's hottest day on record".
13. (13 January 2022). "Australia equals hottest day on record at 50.7C". [[BBC News]].
14. (2022-01-13). "Australia matches its hottest day on record as Western Australia town goes above 50C".
15. "Climate Statistics for Onslow Airport". Bureau of Meteorology.
16. "Climate Statistics for Onslow". Bureau of Meteorology.
17. "Daily Rainfall for 1912 - 005016 - Onslow". Bureau of Meteorology.
18. "Daily Rainfall for 1935 - 005016 - Onslow". Bureau of Meteorology.
19. "Daily Rainfall for 1936 - 005016 - Onslow". Bureau of Meteorology.
20. "Daily Rainfall for 1961 - 005016 - Onslow". Bureau of Meteorology.
21. "Tropical Cyclones Affecting Onslow". Bureau of Meteorology.
22. "TC Trixie Report". Bureau of Meteorology.
23. North-west Coastal Tramways: Onslow ''[[Light Railways]]'' issue 51 Autumn 1975 pages 9-15
24. [https://web.archive.org/web/20101015043909/https://www.pets.org.au/pets10ot.html Onslow] [[Perth Electric Tramway Society]]