Wickham celebrates its 50th birthday in style at Wickham Oval with locals remembering the town’s history

A mining town in the Pilbara commemorated its golden Jubilee over the weekend at Wickham Oval with celebrations including live music, fireworks, a strong man and tug of war contests. Wickham was established by Cliffs Robe River in 1970 and is named after the HMS Beagle captain John C. Wickham, who surveyed the North West Coast in 1840. The town, 33km north of Karratha, was established with the aim of creating a processing plant for the iron ore mined at Pannawonica, a port at Cape Lambert from which to ship the produce and a town to house the associated employees. Since then the town has grown with 2022 residents making up a close-knit community that loves fishing and sports. The celebrations kicked off at Wickham Oval on August 13 with live music from Jokeria, strong man Brawlin’ Billy Domino, tug of war, laser tag and headline performers Pinstripe. The evening also saw a video commemorating the growth of Wickham over the last 50 years with residents recounting their stories and experiences in the community. City of Karratha deputy mayor and councillor for the eastern corridor ward Kelly Nunn said the town had developed into a close and caring community. “From my perspective, it’s because I’ve lived here for 15 years and we have this amazing community that pulls together in the really tough times,” she said. She said a highlight for her was hearing the stories of older residents from the 1970s to 90s. “They grew up here, they were born here. They’re just always so excited to talk about Wickham,” she said. She said a series of strikes by workers in the mining industry in the mid 1980s caused a tumultuous time that shaped the community. “I think it’s been that progression of it was a really close community where you only lived here if you worked on site and then it kind of has slowly expanded to what we have today where we have a pretty open town,” she said. “People can choose to live here, we have these great sporting facilities and so much opportunity for our kids.”