Despite the fact that the government has officially “de-gazetted” the town of Wittenoom from all maps of Australia as well as cut off its electricity and water supplies, eight stalwart citizens of the tiny enclave refuse to leave, saying the rhetoric concerning thedangers of blue asbestos in the town has been greatly exaggerated.
From 1943 until 1966, blue asbestos was mined in a gorge near the town. According to an article in The Independent, about 20,000 residents lived in Wittenoom during that era and thousands worked at the mine. But today, only eight remain and the town has been dubbed Australia’s worst industrial disaster ever. Hundreds have already died and Wittenoom and Western Australia now has the highest rate of mesothelioma – asbestos-caused cancer – in the world.
Not only did the dangerous asbestos affect mine workers and their families, but also myriad residents who had nothing to do with the mine. These individuals were exposed to this most toxic form of asbestos because tailings were used to pave the streets and as fill in the town’s playgrounds.
Yet the eight remaining citizens of Wittenoom say they’re staying put. “This is my home, and I’m not going anywhere,” says Frank Tmewell, aged 72. “There’s nothing wrong with me, and I’ve been living in the area for 40-odd years.” Timewell and his wife say “they could not be happier.”
“The policy now is that everything here is contaminated,” says Mario Hartmann, 44, who moved to Wittenoom 18 years ago. “But it’s the psychological battle that they’re playing – burying things in front of us that were part of our town. They want to pretend the place never existed,” says Hartmann, who claims the government offered to buy his home for what he calls an “insulting” amount.
Robert Vojakovic, president of the Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia, is angered by the statements of the Wittenoom 8. “These are people who parachuted in after the mine closed and bought a house for nothing, seeking to profit from the notoriety of Wittenoom,” he says. “They’re luring other people into an unsafe environment.”
But the remaining residents just want to stay in their homes and be allowed to live their lives, they say. “We’re not harming the environment, and we’ve got everything here that we need,” says Gail Malcolm. “We’ve got Utopia here. So leave us alone, we’re happy as we are.”
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