WA mining town Roebourne battles food insecurity despite resource wealth
In Roebourne, a remote Western Australian mining town surrounded by billions in natural resources, fresh food remains scarce and expensive.
Roebourne, a small Aboriginal community in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, faces a stark problem: getting fresh food. Truckloads of fruit and vegetables must travel thousands of kilometres to reach the town, pushing up prices and making supply unreliable.
The only store in town closed in 2019, leaving residents to buy dehydrated goods from a service station for two years. In 2021, the Ngarluma Yindjibarndi Foundation reopened the store as a social enterprise, sourcing surplus food from major chains and industry partners.
Last year it distributed 16.2 tonnes of donated food to the community. A community garden at the back of the store now helps fill gaps when regular deliveries fall short.
Yet irregular deliveries and poor-quality produce still leave locals regularly without.
- Fewer than 1,000 people
- Population
- 16.2 tonnes
- Food distributed last year
- 13 kilometres away
- Distance to nearest supermarket
Why it mattersRoebourne shows how mining wealth can miss remote communities, and how local solutions can help fill the gap.
AustraliaFood insecurity in remote Australia affects thousands of people, and Roebourne's experience shows the gaps that government and industry have left in the supply chain.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 4 h ago
