The CSR mill in Wittenoom Gorge

Abandoned mining equipment in Yampire Gorge

The town of Wittenoom from the air as it was in 1970

The bagging area of the wittenoom Gorge Mill. Note the asbestos dust on the floor

Airborne dust is visible coming from the Wittenoom Gorge mill in the early 1960s

Town pool, Wittenoom Gorge, a popular swimming hole used by miners

Fortescue Hotel before it was closed in 1992

Blue Asbestos tailings in Wittenoom Gorge

Wittenoom Gorge and mine site from the air today

Abandoned railway lines

The main street of Wittenoom today

Situated close to the popular Karijini National Park approximately 1,400 km north of Perth, the now vanished mining town of Wittenoom doubled for many years as a tourist town servicing visitors to the spectacular gorges in the area. What gave the town its life - and ultimately led to its death - was rocidolite, more commonly known as blue asbestos (below right), which used to be mined at Wittenoom Gorge, and the relatively rare cancer, mesothelioma, which has taken the lives of many who worked in the Wittenoom Gorge mine.

The asbestos industry at Wittenoom started in 1936 when mining magnate Lang Hancock reported blue asbestos deposits in the Wittenoom Gorges. Because of the 1938 world demand for long asbestos fibre, many prospectors mined the crocidolite fibres with a pick and shovel. With the beginning of World War I, there was a sudden demand for asbestos for use in tanks, planes, battleships, helmets and gasmasks.
In 1938 Hancock secured several mining leases in Wittenoom and in 1940 he began mining operations. Hancock and West Australian Blue Asbestos Fibres Ltd began producing milled crocidolite asbestos fibres in the Yampire and Wittenoom Gorges. The WA Government was keen for the industry to grow as it assisted in the opening up the north of the state for development. In 1941 West Australian Blue Asbestos Fibres Ltd closed down and in 1943 Australian Blue Asbestos Ltd (ABA) - parent company Colonial Sugar Refinery (CSR) - took over Hancock's interests.
In 1943 the Yampire Mine was opened. Production at the Yampire Mine to 1946 is estimated at 15,000 tons of ore for about 3,000 tons of asbestos fibre. In 1946 the Yampire Mine was closed and Wittenoom Mine was opened. Production to 1956 is estimated at 590,000 tons of ore from which about 20,000 tons of asbestos were recovered. In 1946 a small residential settlement was also established in Wittenoom Gorge, about one kilometre from the mine and mill.
The town of Wittenoom was established in 1947 to house the workforce of the Wittenoom mine and mill 10 km away. By 1951 the town had 150 houses and a population of over 500. There were horrendous dust levels recorded in the mines and mill and in time the diseases caused by this exposure (asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma) began to be recorded and publicised. Cases of mesothelioma have been recorded from people who lived in the town but did not work in the mines or mill. In 1948 CSR took over the asbestos project at Wittenoom as the parent company of ABA (now known as MIDALCO). Progressively new mines and mills were opened.
The climate at Wittenoom is hot and humid in summer, which made working conditions in the poorly ventilated, dusty mine and mill even more uncomfortable. Many workers often stayed in the town for short periods only. Although around 200 people were employed at a time, approximately 7,000 workers drifted through the mine in the 23 years of its operation. Nearly half these workers stayed less than three months. CSR had problems attracting workers to the mine and mill, and in 1951 wrote to the Department of Immigration asking for help as the Australian Government was still recruiting immigrants from post war Europe. CSR sent representatives to European countries, such as Italy, to recruit workers.
Many European immigrants unable to find work in their own country signed a two-year contract with CSR to work at the Wittenoom mine and mill. They were unable to leave Wittenoom before the end of their contract unless they paid back their fare to Australia, which for most was impossible. The wages paid by CSR were quite good but many of the immigrant workers did not speak or understand English very well, were poorly trained and were not aware of the health risks associated with the asbestos dust.
By 1966 the last operating mine had closed for economic reasons. Total production between 1943 and 1966 was 161,000 tons of crocidolite fibre. The town fell into decline and by 1994 Wittenoom's population had dwindled to around 40 (including one child) and the town depended almost entirely on tourism for its income. What remained were unsafe mine sites, huge dumps of tailings and a town extensively contaminated with asbestos tailings.

Asbestos Health Concerns

Strong concerns about the health hazards associated with asbestos have been expresssed from as early as the first century AD when the Roman historian Pliny noted that slaves wearing asbestos cloth sickened and died, and described the use of respirators made from animal bladders to protect them. In 1898 the Chief Inspector of Factories of the United Kingdom reported to the Parliament in his Annual Report about the "evil effects of asbestos dust". He reported the "sharp, glass like nature of the particles" when allowed to remain in the air in any quantity, "have been found to be injurious, as might have been expected". In 1906 a British Parliamentary Commission confirmed the first cases of asbestos deaths in factories in Britain and recommended better ventilation and other safety measures. 12 years later, an American insurance company produced a study showing premature deaths in the asbestos industry in the United States and in 1926 the Massachusetts Industrial Accidents Board processed the first successful compensation claim by a sick asbestos worker. He had contracted Asbestosis, a progressively disabling inflammation of the fibrous lung tissue that scars the lungs or thickens its outer coverings.
By 1930 it was recognised that asbestosis was a horrific disease frequently resulting from exposure to asbestos. The 1930 Merryweather and Price report to the United Kingdom Parliament is recognised as an important medical report. It included a report on the effects of asbestos dust on the lungs, on dust suppression in industry and it established that asbestosis was a serious disease from which asbestos workers suffered. In 1935 a WA Factories and Shops Inspector reported on the negative effect of asbestos dust on the lungs of workers in the James Hardie factory in Perth.
In 1943 the link between asbestos and cancer was confirmed by a report from a laboratory in New York, however Johns Manville (later the principal buyer of asbestos from Wittenoom) suppressed the report. Another report - on an asbestos mill at Zeehan in Tasmania (owned and operated by a CSR subsidiary) - identified asbestos dust as a health hazard and discussed ways of eliminating the dust. In the year the report was tabled, the Wittenoom mines were first opened. In 1944 Mines Inspector Adams reported on the dust menace at Wittenoom and discussed the need to reduce dust levels, and the WA Assistant State Mining Engineer reported on the dangers of the dust being generated at Wittenoom. Within three years of the Wittenoom mine's opening, the first known asbestosis case there was reported. By this time, the known asbestos toll worldwide was 235 in Britain, 16 in France and 30 in Italy.
In 1948 Dr Eric Saint, a Government Medical Officer, wrote to the head of the Health Department of WA warning of the dust levels in the mine and mill, the lack of extractors and the dangers of asbestos and risk of asbestosis. He warned that the mine would produce the greatest crop of asbestosis the world has ever seen. He also advised the Wittenoom Mine Management that asbestos is extremely dangerous and that men exposed would contact chest disease inside six months. A year later, Dr McNulty reported the dirty, dusty conditions throughout the mine and mill to the Health Department of WA.
By the mid 1950s there was extensive, severe crocidolite fibre contamination in the town of Wittenoom and surrounding areas. The Yampire, Colonial and Wittenoom mine sites and mill were also contaminated with fibres and tailings from the mining and milling processes. There were large tailing dumps in the Eastern and Western Gorges, which have spread into the Joffre Creek and surrounding areas. The tailings have washed into the beds of nearby creeks that eventually flow into the Fortescue River. These sites are still popular tourist sites.
During the 1950s and into the mid 1960s crocidolite tailings from the tailings dump were spread around the town as cheap gravel and sand substitute as there was very little sand around Wittenoom. Australian Blue Asbestos spread the tailings around its buildings in Wittenoom and the town's State Housing homes. The tailings were also used by the Shire of Ashburton, the Public Works Department and the Main Roads Department on local roads around the town, at the golf course, race course, airport, drive in cinema and caravan park. Tailings were also used for concrete slabs and pads for houses. Residents spread tailings around domestic driveways, gardens and yards. Domestic activities like mowing the lawn, children playing on the ground or pets digging stirred up the dust. The airport was very hazardous because of the dust from aircraft taking off and landing. Numerous attempts were made to ban the use of the tailings but it was considered safe to incorporate the tailings into concrete as they were sealed. This practice later ceased as transporting the tailings into the town for this purpose was deemed hazardous.

Winding Down Wittenoom

Legal proceedings insitituted by victims of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases have attracted the attention of the media in recent times and maintained the high profile of asbestos and Wittenoom since the mine was closed. This has contributed to the pressure to prevent even low exposures to asbestos.
Wittenoom's contamination with crocidolite appears to be unique to the town as the extensive use of large quantities of milled crocidolite as land fill and in construction has not occurred any where else in the world. Thus there was no prior experience with similar situations to provide guidance on appropriate courses of action. Over the years, the Shire of Ashburton has made a number of attempts to clean up the town by removing contaminated land fill, installing kerbing and resealing roads.
In 1978 the State Government began phasing down activity in the town of Wittenoom. It encouraged residents to relocate out of Wittenoom voluntarily through the purchase of their homes, business and property and included a contribution to their relocation costs. The Shire of Ashburton and many Wittenoom residents were opposed to closing the town. They lobbied hard to have the town cleaned up and developed as a tourist attraction but their calls were not heeded.
In 1993 the Government commissioned a feasibility study for cleaning up the town site which found there was still extensive contamination. A recommended systematic clean up of the town was not undertaken. Members of the Interdepartmental Committee on Wittenoom believed it was unlikely the town could be satisfactorily cleaned up and the benefits of attempting to clean up the town were not in proportion to the costs or the risks involved. The legal implications of encouraging people to live in a town contaminated with crocidolite (even after clean up) were enormous. If residents or visitors contracted an asbestos related disease at some point in the future, it was very likely they might initiate legal action against the Government or organisations involved in such a project.
Up until the end of 1991 over $1.4 million was spent on phasing down Wittenoom, with the result that the town's population fell from over 90 in May 1984 to about 45 in March 1992. Between 1986 and 1992 around 50 houses and other buildings were demolished by the Government. The Fortescue Hotel was closed in 1992. When the population decreased, the school, nursing post and police station were closed, with alternative services being provided primarily from Tom Price. In 1993 the airport was closed and the Government advised the Wittenoom residents they would not be forced to leave, but new residents would not be encouraged to the town.

Wittenoom Today

By June 2007, when the town was officially wiped off the map, its population had fallen to seven. The few buildings that still remain are owned by people who have refused the Government's offers to purchase their properties and re-locate them. Kangaroo shooters stay in the town during the wet season when there are plenty of kangaroos around the area. The residents in the town no longer pay rates to the Shire of Ashburton, as they do not receive any services from the Shire. Telstra provide a telephone service through a solar powered unit located outside the town. In 2006, electricity supplies to the town were turned off, mail deliveries stopped and police patrols halted. At that time, 30 of the then 37 remaining residents left Wittenoom. Shopping requires a 140-kilometre drive to the next town - Tom Price - on the other side of the range so residents prefer to grow vegetables and hunt for most of their meals. When one person in the town goes shopping, they do so for everybody else.
The few residents now left argue that the current level of airborne asbestos in Wittenoom is seven times less than the level recorded in Perth in 1978. However, this is not the view of the Shire of Ashburton and the Health Department of Western Australia which clearly advocate the avoidance of the Wittenoom area. They consider airborne blue asbestos fibres in and around Wittenoom to be a clear risk to residents and to people working in the area. Although the threat to short-term visitors is much lower, it is considered a risk nonetheless. There are signs located at the entrance to the Karijini National Park warning tourists of potential health risks in the gorges and the town. The Shire of Ashburton and the Western Australian Government have a policy of not encouraging people to visit the town.

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