About Pilbara News

Pilbara News

The Pilbara News is the regional weekly newspaper of the Pilbara, published in Karratha, Western Australia by Seven West Media. As the West Australian's Pilbara local, the paper is the region's paid weekly: the news, sport and features of Australia's resource heartland, printed for the towns the iron ore and gas industries built. The ACMA Register of eligible news businesses lists pilbaranews.com.au as the paper's domain.

Overview

Karratha — the Pilbara's major city, the service centre for the North West Shelf gas fields and the Hamersley iron-ore mines — is the Pilbara News' home: the regional weekly for the North West. Owned by Seven West Media — publisher of The West Australian and the state's regional weeklies — the Pilbara News is the corporate local: the West's reporters, the West's resources, the Pilbara's stories. The City of Karratha's welcome pack lists the Pilbara News among the local media: the paper the newcomers meet.

History

The Pilbara's press history runs from the gold-rush papers — the Pilbarra Goldfield News (1897–1923, Marble Bar then Port Hedland), the goldfields' earliest publication — through the modern resource era: Karratha's development from August 1969, the Hamersley workforce towns, the North West Shelf gas transformation. The Pilbara News is the modern weekly: Seven West Media's Pilbara title, the regional paper for the resource boom's communities. The paper carries the West's regional-newspaper tradition into the North West: the weekly that covers the towns the mines built.

Content

The Pilbara News publishes the regional weekly mix: the Pilbara's news, the resource-industry stories, the community features, the sport — the North West's week, in print. The paper's journalism is the regional-weekly formula: the council decisions, the project announcements, the community events, the sporting results — Karratha, Port Hedland, Newman, Tom Price, the region's towns. The West Australian's resources stand behind it: the Perth newsroom, the regional network, the state's largest newspaper group.

Coverage and Audience

The Pilbara News' footprint is the Pilbara: Karratha, Port Hedland, Newman, Tom Price, Paraburdoo, Dampier, Wickham, Onslow — the resource region's towns and the corridors between. Its readers are the Pilbara's residents: the miners, the gas workers, the contractors, the FIFO families, the Traditional Owners, the service-town communities. The weekly serves the region the nation depends on: the iron ore and LNG that fund the economy — the Pilbara's news, for the Pilbara's people.

Ownership

The Pilbara News is published by Seven West Media — the ASX-listed group behind The West Australian, The Sunday Times, the Community Newspaper Group and the regional weeklies. As the West's Pilbara title, the paper sits in the state's largest news organisation: the corporate resources, the group advertising, the regional-newspaper portfolio. The Pilbara News is the West in the North West: the local paper with the metropolitan parent.

Digital Presence

The Pilbara News' digital home is pilbaranews.com.au — the domain the ACMA Register lists for the paper — carrying the weekly's Pilbara news online: the resource stories, the community features, the North West's week. For the region's readers — and the FIFO diaspora keeping touch with the Pilbara — the digital paper extends the weekly: the resource heartland's news, in print weekly and on the screen.

The Resource Region's Paper

The Pilbara — the iron-ore ranges, the LNG plants, the ports that ship the nation's wealth — is the Pilbara News' beat: the resource stories that move markets, the project announcements that shape towns, the community consequences of the boom. The paper covers the industry and its people: the mine expansions, the gas developments, the royalty flows, the housing pressures, the FIFO rosters — the North West's economy, reported for the North West's residents. No other region's paper carries such economic weight: the Pilbara News reports the industry that funds the federation.

The Goldfields' Press Heritage

The Pilbara's press heritage — the Pilbarra Goldfield News (1897–1923), the Marble Bar gold-rush paper that moved to Port Hedland in 1912, the goldfields' earliest publication — is the Pilbara News' lineage: the resource press, reporting the extraction economy since the 1890s. The Goldfield News lobbied for the Port Hedland–Marble Bar railway and was quoted by the Perth papers on Pilbara matters: the resource region's voice, a century before the Pilbara News. The modern weekly inherits that role: the Pilbara's advocate, the North West's witness.

The West Australian's Regional Network

The Pilbara News sits in Seven West Media's regional-newspaper network: the Countryman, the Kalgoorlie Miner, the regional weeklies — the state's rural and remote press, under the West's masthead. The network gives the Pilbara title its resources: the Perth newsroom, the group's printing, the corporate advertising, the digital platforms. The paper's readers get the local weekly with the metropolitan backing: the Pilbara's news, the West's strength.

The Towns the Mines Built

Karratha (developed from August 1969), Newman (gazetted 1972), Tom Price, Paraburdoo (1972), Wickham (1971), Pannawonica (1972) — the Pilbara News' towns are the company towns, built for the workforce, now the region's communities. The paper covers the towns' transformation: the company housing becoming suburbs, the transient workforce becoming residents, the FIFO camps beside the family streets. The weekly records the resource towns' maturation: the Pilbara's communities, finding permanence.

The Community's Weekly

For the Pilbara's residents — the permanent families, the long-term contractors, the Traditional Owners, the service workers — the Pilbara News is the community's weekly: the councils, the schools, the sporting leagues, the events, the achievements. The paper balances the resource coverage with the community's life: the junior footy, the art awards, the festivals, the local identities. The North West's week isn't only the mines: the weekly tells the rest.

The Digital North West

The pilbaranews.com.au digital edition — the ACMA-listed domain — carries the Pilbara's news to the readers the print can't reach: the FIFO workers on swing, the families who left, the investors watching, the nation curious about the boom. The resource region's stories — the projects, the prices, the communities — travel on the screen: the Pilbara News, the North West's weekly, in print and online.

The Boom and the Bust

The Pilbara's cycles — the iron-ore price surges, the LNG construction booms, the downturns that empty the rentals — are the paper's economic weather: the weekly that reports the boom's benefits and the bust's costs. The housing crises, the cost-of-living pressures, the service shortages, the community strain: the Pilbara News covers the resource economy's human price. The paper is the region's advocate in the cycles: the North West's voice when the prices fall and the projects pause.

The Region's Advocate

The Pilbara News' advocacy — the infrastructure demands, the service gaps, the royalty debates — continues the Goldfield News' lobbying tradition: the resource region's paper, pressing the region's case. The North West's distance from Perth — 1,500 kilometres, a different economy, a different climate — needs its press advocate: the weekly that tells the capital what the region needs. The Pilbara News is that advocate: the resource heartland's paper, the North West's voice, published weekly in Karratha.

The North West's Record

Each week, the Pilbara News records the North West: the project milestones, the community events, the sporting triumphs, the local identities. The weekly issues — the front pages, the photographs, the advertisements — are the resource region's archive: the Pilbara's modern history, in newsprint. For the towns the mines built, the weekly is the memory: the Pilbara News, the North West's paper, reporting the region that powers the nation.