Wittenoom: a town destroyed by asbestos

The town asbestos built

Asbestos mining began on a small scale in the late 1930s. By the early 1940s Australian Blue Asbestos (ABA), a CSR subsidiary, began formally mining and milling asbestos.  In the years following the Great Depression, many people were willing to travel for work, and soon, a township was created with a growing community.

Around 20,000 people would spend time living in Wittenoom between the 1940s until the passing of the Wittenoom Closure Bill in 2022. This bill enabled the compulsory acquisition and demolition of the 14 remaining privately-owned properties in the former town.

The mining and milling in Wittenoom resulted in the deadly dust spreading throughout the town and the surrounding areas. Asbestos was used in the town’s buildings and infrastructure – even its roads. Tailings were spread on children’s playgrounds, backyards, the local racecourse and on the airport’s runway.

As a result of the Wittenoom mining industry, over 2,000 people would go on to develop an asbestos-related disease. This included miners, their families, their children, and people who passed through and lived in the town who had no connection to the mining industry. Sadly, this is likely a conservative number given many Wittenoom miners were migrant workers who returned to their countries of origin and whose deaths may therefore not be included in official statistics.

Further, the deaths at Wittenoom disproportionately affected Aboriginal workers, as they were more likely to be allocated to the most dangerous and dirty jobs within the mines. 

The coverup of asbestos-related cancer

Wittenoom was Australia’s biggest asbestos mine, with material being used in various domestic and commercial products throughout Australia – and in the period of economic expansion following World War II, construction was booming.

While the workers and families of Wittenoom were being exposed to these deadly fibres, CSR was also exporting raw fibres domestically and internationally, further exposing hundreds of thousands of people including workers, residents and the general public throughout Australia and overseas.

There had been growing awareness within government and industry confirming the risks of asbestos inhalation in significant quantities as early as the 1930s. Research and articles published in the early to mid-1960s confirmed that shorter or lighter exposures to asbestos could cause mesothelioma, a deadly and aggressive cancer.

In the 1960s, Dr. Jim McNulty made the town’s first diagnosis of mesothelioma. However, despite these findings, the mine continued to operate until 1966.

Following the mine’s closure and despite industry knowledge regarding the health risks, products containing asbestos continued to be heavily used throughout Australia up until the late 1980s and in some brake products until the early 2000s. Employers and major manufacturers of products containing asbestos turned a blind eye, prioritising profits before people. As a result, hundreds of compensation claims have been issued on behalf of asbestos victims and their families.

It was not until late 2003 that an Australian-wide ban on all asbestos was enforced.

The lasting legacy of a deadly industry

In 2023, the government of Western Australia finally began to demolish Wittenoom and bury its structures. However, the deadly asbestos fibres mined in Wittenoom remain both within the contaminated site and throughout Australia's built environment.

It is currently estimated that over 4,000 Australians die annually from asbestos-related diseases. Exposure to asbestos can cause a range of diseases including mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, asbestos-related pleural disease and pleural plaques.

Approximately 6.4 million tonnes of asbestos materials remain in Australia’s built environment and 1 in 3 homes across Australia contains asbestos. These products are commonly found in wet areas such as internal wall linings or compressed floor sheeting, eave linings and corrugated roof sheeting.

Wittenoom’s legacy has reached far beyond the town and mine site. It continues to have a devastating impact on Australian families and pose significant risk to future generations.

If you or someone you care about has been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, we encourage you to get in touch to talk about your options with one of our specialist dust diseases lawyers.