The town of Derby is located on the tidal mud flats on the edge of the King Sound in WA's Kimberley region (approx. 2400 km north of Perth). It has the highest tidal range of any port in Australia with the highest tides for Derby reaching 11.8m. More information about Derby's amazing tides can be found here. Tide charts are available from our Reception and from the Derby Visitors Centre.

Located on an ancient sand dune, surrounded by intriguing mud flats, Derby is ideally located to explore amazing natural wonders. Adjacent to the might Fitzroy River and only a short distance from the Gibb River Road (taking in sights of Windjana Gorge, Tunnel Creek and Bell Gorge) and Buccaneer Archipelago, Debry is an ideal spot to begin your Kimberley adventure.

Derby's wide street hark back to days gone by when large mule and camel teams visited the town and port. The boab tree is a major feature of Derby, particularly down its streets. It has been used as a street tree for many years and many of the larger growing natural specimens have been preserved. The famous Boab Prison Tree is belived to be approx. 1500 years old; it is located 7 kilometres south of town.

Population
The town has a population of some 4,500 people. Half of the population are Aboriginal Australians, with three different Aboriginal languages.

A high proportion of the population are employed in State and Commonwealth Departments or Instrumentalities such as Main Roads WA, Health Services and the Water Authority, and in providing services to outlying Aboriginal Communities. The remainder are small business people employed in servicing the mining, pastoral and tourism industries.

Climate

Derby has a tropical climate which is pleasant for most of the year. With warm Winters and hot, humid Summers, the temperature is hardly ever cold. The town is subject to cyclones between December and February, however the warm, torrential rain is a great feature of the wet season. In Summer (December to February), the average maximum temperature is 36°C with an average minimum temperature of 25°C. In Winter (June to August), the average maximum temperature is 32°C with an average minimum temperature of 18°C.

From November to April (the Wet Season) the humidity is high to very high and an average of 600mm of rain falls in tropical downpours from thunderstorms and cyclones. The Broome Meteorological Office of the Bureau of Meteorology provides climate information (observations, warnings and forecasts) for the Kimberley District and local towns.

History
The Derby region was first explored in 1688 by William Dampier. This statement, now widely accepted, is, in part, one of those strange cases of the rewriting of history. Dampier was one of the crew of the Cygnet which sailed around the King Sound area for three months in 1688. The Cygnet was actually under the command of Captain Read but it was Dampier who, upon his return to England, published A New Voyage Round the World and thus was incorrectly credited as leading the expedition which anchored in Cygnet Bay and sailed around King Sound.

Local pastoral and mining industries originally supported the establishment of the town of Derby, a relationship that continues to this day. The area was first explored by Alexander Forrest in 1879 and the town mainly developed as a port to service the pastoral properties along the Fitzroy River.

In 1883 Derby was officially named a townsite (unlike Broome which remained vacant) and was occupied by a Government Resident and a police detachment. Derby developed slowly as a small town serving local tenacious pastoralists who settled in the area despite the isolation and harsh conditions.

In 1880, sheep stations were built nearby at Yeeda and a landing port was built. The massive 11 metres (36 feet) tides, rips and scattered islands of the Dampier Archipelago made a port necessary for the development of the West Kimberley outback. It is interesting to note that Yeeda Station ’s wool, awaiting shipment, was swept away by a tidal wave resulting from the Krakatoa volcanic explosion in Indonesia. By 1884 a hotel, jetty and tramway were being constructed - all firsts for the Kimberley. The 1886 gold rush at Hall’s Creek led to thousands of settlers in the region and to a boom in development.

The pastoral and mining industries and administration and tourism continued to be the main impetus in the town. Minerals found in the hinterland include oil at Blina, diamonds in the Phillips Range, facing stone from the King Leopold Ranges and lead and zinc from Cadjebut. In 1997 the Derby wharf, which was closed in the 1980s, was re-opened for barging operations for the export of the lead / zinc concentrates. A tidal power plant is being considered for using the tidal flush of Doctor’s creek near the town.

The Derby Leprosarium on the outskirts of the town was one of two in Western Australia that helped to contain an epidemic of the disease from the 1930s to the 1960s. You can visit the Leprosarium as part of the Derby Discovery Tour by the Derby Visitors Centre. Although Hansen’s disease still occurs throughout the Kimberley, it is now controlled with the use of modern medicines. The Leprosarium closed in 1989 and is now used by local Aboriginal people as a training resource.

Derby is the main base for the Royal Flying Doctor Service in the Kimberley. The base was established in Derby in 1955. It is also a base for the station owners in the outback to carry their beef from the remote outback stations via the Gibb River Road to abattoirs at either Derby or Broome in the West Kimberley, or the Wyndham in the East Kimberley.

Communications have always been important for such an isolated town. Derby was famous in the 1920s as the terminus of the first scheduled aviation service in Australia. West Australian Airways Ltd. run by Norman Brearley, began this service with a first flight on December 5th, 1921. At one time the Perth to Derby service was the world’s longest passenger airline route. Wharfinger’s House museum tells the story of the aviation history of the town as well as the history of the Port. Although Derby still has an operating airport, the main passenger services now fly to Broome, 200km west of Derby.