Kwinana

▪ Western Australia, Australia

      town, southwestern Western Australia. It lies along Cockburn Sound, just south of Perth. The name was taken from a freighter wrecked offshore in 1922; it is an Aboriginal word meaning “young woman.” The place was a small resort until the mid-1950s, when a large oil refinery with associated port facilities was completed to receive oil shipments from the Middle East. Since then, blast furnaces and rolling mills have been built to process iron ore shipped to Kwinana by rail from Koolyanobbing, which lies 250 miles (400 km) to the east. An alumina works processes bauxite from the nearby Darling Ranges, and there is a titanium-oxide treatment plant. A refinery processes nickel concentrates from the Kambalda nickel field. The area has rapidly industrialized, with a power station and port development along the 14-mile (22-km) shoreline. Medina is among the growing residential areas. Pop. (2001) urban centre, 17,375.

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