Don Rhodes Mining and Transport Museum, Transport museum in Port Hedland, Australia.

The Don Rhodes Mining and Transport Museum displays an outdoor collection of retired mining equipment, locomotives, and transportation vehicles from Western Australia's industrial past. The exhibits include standard gauge railway engines alongside heavy-duty machinery that supported the region's mining operations.

The collection preserves machinery from the 1950s mining era, including the innovative Rhodes Ridley road train built to transport heavy crushing equipment across difficult terrain. These vehicles were engineered to meet the specific demands of remote mining operations in Western Australia.

The museum is named after Don Rhodes, a pioneer of the Pilbara mining and transport industries who commissioned the first modern Australian-built road train. Its centrepiece is the Rhodes Ridley, a 70-ton rig designed by chief engineer Harold Ridley and completed in 1958 to haul 100-ton crushing plants. The government refused to license it or allow it on gazetted roads, and it had done barely 3,000 miles (4,800 km) when forced to retire.

Most exhibits are displayed outdoors and accessible on foot, so wear comfortable shoes and bring sun protection. Plan to spend enough time walking between the scattered machinery and vehicles to get a full sense of the collection.

The collection features the first modern Australian road train, which traveled only about 3,000 miles before government licensing rules prevented its continued operation. This ambitious project failed not from mechanical problems but from regulatory obstacles of the era.