Newman

Newman, originally named Mount Newman until 1981, is a town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is located about north of Perth, and north of the Tropic of Capricorn. It can be reached by the Great Northern Highway. In the 2011 Australian census, its population was 5,478. Newman is a modern mining town, with homes contrasting with the surrounding reddish desert.The Hickman Crater is north of Newman.HistoryNewman was established as Mount Newman by Mt. Newman Mining Co. Pty Ltd (a subsidiary of BHP) in 1966 as a company town to support the development of iron ore deposits at nearby Mount Whaleback. The town takes its name from nearby Mount Newman, named in honour of government surveyor Aubrey Woodward Newman, who died of typhoid at Cue on 24 May 1896, while on an expedition from Nannine to the Ophthalmia Range. William Frederick Rudall then took charge of the expedition and named Mount Newman to honour his deceased leader.Aboriginal occupation of the area extends to around 26,000 years. The Martu people comprise about a dozen language groups that extend across the Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts. The Martu progressively lost their land and nomadic lifestyle as European expansion crept inland from the late 19th Century. Western exploration, the establishment of Christian missions, and gold discoveries at Marble Bar and Wiluna led to Indigenous people moving from their traditional lands.