Cockatoo Island is an island in the Buccaneer Archipelago

Buccaneer Archipelago

The Buccaneer Archipelago is a group of islands off the coast of Western Australia near the town of Derby in the Kimberley region. The closest inhabited place is Bardi located about from the western end of the island group....

 off the coast of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 near the town of Broome

Broome, Western Australia

Broome is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. The year round population is approximately 14,436, growing to more than 45,000 per month during the tourist season...

.

Iron ore mining began at Cockatoo Island in 1951. BHP (now BHP Billiton

BHP Billiton

BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...

) operated the mine in the early 1950s and ran it as a complete town site until 1984 when the ore body had been mined to sea level. HWE Mining and Portman Mining Ltd re-opened operations in the 1990s by first retreating old BHP dumps, then forming a seaform and commencing mining below sea level.

The townsite formed by BHP contained a school, movie theatre, and even a lockup prison. During the 1980s businessman Alan Bond

Alan Bond (businessman)

Alan Bond is an Australian businessman noted for his criminal convictions and high-profile business dealings, including what was at the time the biggest corporate collapse in Australian history. Bond was born in the Hammersmith district of London, England, and emigrated to Australia with his...

 opened a tourist resort using the old mining village's infrastructure. This was sold and closed.

Koolan Island

Koolan Island

Koolan Island is an island off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia in the Buccaneer Archipelago. It is about 1,900 km north of Perth, and about 130 km north of Derby...

is a neighbouring island that was also mined by BHP for high grade iron ore.