Wickham, Western Australia

Wickham is a town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is located on the coast, about 1,572 kilometers (977 miles) north of Perth. Wickham is part of the City of Karratha.

 Work 
The town was built to house workers for the nearby port. The port is called Cape Lambert. It is one of the biggest ports in the world for shipping iron ore. Many people who live in Wickham work at the port or for the mining company Rio Tinto.

 History 
Wickham was started in 1970. It was named after John Wickham, a captain in the British Royal Navy who explored the coastline in the 1840s.

 Population and Climate 
Wickham has a population of about 2,300 people. Aboriginal people made up 17.2% of the population, 5 times the state average. The weather is very hot and dry because it is in the Pilbara region. The average temperature in the summer is about 35°C (95°F), and in the winter it is about 28°C (82°F). The town gets very little rain, especially from May to October.