(Credits: Far Out / Michael Theis)

Australia’s vastness means that many places off the beaten track are easily forgotten, slipping into memory or obscurity. Yet, like its spiritual and economic cousin, America, this relatively young country was built rapidly on colonialism and industrialisation—forces that shouldn’t be forgotten, especially by those most impacted by them. Take the last residents of Wittenoom, for instance, a handful of people recently evicted from the ghost town, often referred to as Australia’s version of Chernobyl. They clung to their ancestral rights despite facing exceptional danger.

Wittenoom is a former town and contaminated site found 1,420 kilometres (880 mi) northeast of Perth in the Hamersley Range in the Pilbara region of western Australia. While there was no explosion at a nuclear power plant like the one in Ukraine in 1986, another deadly substance is at play here: asbestos.

You might well say you thought asbestos was a thing of the past, and it is for most places, but not Wittenoom or the Aboriginal Australian Banjima people. They lived in the area for tens of thousands of years before the town evolved out of a mining station founded by white men looking to line their coffers with profits from the deadliest form of asbestos, crocidolite, or blue asbestos, as some know it.

Like many places in Australia, it was mainly pastoral and only lived by the Banjima until the 1930s. Major mining started in 1939 in the Yampire Gorge before work moved to the Wittenoom Gorge in 1943. In 1947, the company town was constructed at Wittenoom, named by mining magnate Lang Hancock after his partner Frank Wittenoom. The townsite was officially gazetted in May 1950. 

During the decade, it was the Pilbara region’s biggest town, and in a show of the sparse nature of the area, it had a peak population of 881 in June 1961. In this period, it was also Australia’s sole supplier of blue asbestos. However, things would change dramatically, and in 1966, the town was shut down due to rapidly falling profits and growing health concerns due to asbestos mining. This was symptomatic of the world waking up to the dangers of the substance.

Things for the town were much worse than anyone could ever have imagined when it closed. Wittenoom, at the foot of the deep mining gorge, has since earned the characterisation of being the “largest contaminated site in the southern hemisphere”. The effects of mass asbestos mining have meant that even breathing the air there is deadly.

As the Banjima people hold Native Title over the area, making it their land under common law, they have borne the brunt of the devastating consequences of mining there. Although mining operations ceased in 1966, the responsibility for removing the three million tonnes of carcinogenic waste—piled over 40 metres high into the gorges—has remained unclear. The sheer scale of the task, combined with the complexities of bureaucratic red tape that seemingly shields accountability, meant it took years before any meaningful action was even considered.

As of 2024, it is claimed that more than 2,000 of an estimated 20,000 former mine workers and residents of Wittenoom have died of asbestos-related diseases. Those affected included the late Banjima elder, Maitland Parker – who fought for native title for 15 years – and later suffered mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer caused by being exposed to asbestos fibres. It’s so aggressive most sufferers don’t live longer than two years. He was one of the most vocal figures, wanting the area cleaned up. 

As the traditional owner, Parker sought to have the site cleaned up so his people could fulfil their cultural obligation to care for the land. However, this has proven impossible, with asbestos contaminating everything—from the wind to the rivers and streams. The fibres continue to spread, escalating the public health risk. Parker believed that the former asbestos mining companies, now worth billions, should bear at least partial responsibility for removing the toxic waste. Tragically, he passed away in January 2024 without seeing his dream realised.

In March 2022, the western Australian parliament passed the Wittenoom Closure Bill. It gave officials the power to forcibly purchase and demolish the remaining 14 buildings in the town. Most strangely, it gave them the power to finally expel the remaining residents and stop the tens of extreme tourists visiting it weekly. It remains a question of how people would stay there given the very obvious hazards. Still, given that extreme tourism is now a serious topic, it says much about humanity and its relationship with danger. This followed its official removal from the map in 2007 in the hope of stopping people from going there. However, given its Chornobyl-like status, people are attracted.

Ironically, the bill does not address restoring and cleaning up the ‘Wittenoom Asbestos Management Area’, the extensive contaminated site of 46,000 hectares.

In September 2022, the final resident was evicted, and that month, the site was finally classified as deserted and closed to the public. However, a bushfire hit in December of that year, causing damage to the remaining buildings and stifling the demolition plans. The project began in mid-2023, and a specialist crew undertook it. Government ministers said all demolition material was to be buried on the site. Despite this work, no one has committed to cleaning up the land. There are calls that a decision needs to be made either way in light of the very threat it poses elsewhere.