Rodney Campbell's Blog

Derby is a town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Along with Broome and Kununurra, it is one of only three towns in the Kimberley to have a population over 2,000.

It’s located about 220 north east of Broome on King Sound. Derby has the highest tides of any Australian port, with the peak differential between low and high tide reaching a staggering 11.8 metres. That means there is an enormous amount of water rushing in and out every 6 hours!. It’s also the second highest in the southern hemisphere.

Derby Wharf

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28 mm, 1/200 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

Derby was famous in the 1920s as the terminus of the first scheduled aviation service in Australia, West Australian Airways Ltd. They began their service with a first flight on 5 December 1921. At one time the Perth to Derby service was the world’s longest passenger airline route.

Considering its remote location the town is surprisingly big, but very spread out. There’s a main road which sort of comes into town and snakes through and eventually takes you to the Derby Wharf. Just follow the boabs (you’ll understand if you ever see the main street).

The first wharf, built in 1894, was a wooden T shaped structure located at the northern end of the present steel and concrete jetty. It was linked to the town of Derby by a horse drawn tramway. The last passenger ship visited in 1973. Now-a-days, barges exporting lead and zinc concentrates from the Cadjebut Mine at Fitzroy Crossing and pleasure and tourist craft are the main vessels visiting the jetty.

Kite

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 300 mm, 1/320 sec at f/8, ISO 220

Old Derby Gaol

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28 mm, 1/30 sec at f/5.6, ISO 800

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