Wittenoom Blue Asbestos Tragedy

Date: 1936 to 1966
Location: Wittenoom, Western Australia, Australia

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Wittenoom Blue Asbestos Tragedy, 1936-1966

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Map Co-ordinates: 22° 24′ 49.21″ S and 118° 27′ 02.88″ E
GPS Coordinates: Lattitude: -22.41367, Longitude: 118.4508

This page is subordinate to https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Space:Australia_-_Health_-_Asbestos

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Summary

From the 1936 discovery of commercially-exploitable crocidolite (asbestiform riebeckite, or "blue asbestos") in Wittenoom Gorge to the closure of mining thirty years later, over 20,000 people including 7,000 children were exposed to hazardous levels of blue asbestos fibres, which are known to cause asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. More than 2,000 former workers and residents from Wittenoom are known to have died from asbestos-related diseases. The toll continues to rise because of the long gap between exposure and the development of disease, which can be between 20 and 70 years. A song written about the tragedy had the refrain, "Who's going to save me?":^[1]

But if I work all day on the Blue Sky mine
There'll be food on the table tonight
Still, I walk up and down on the Blue Sky mine
There'll be pay in your pocket tonight

History

Crocidolite (Blue Asbestos)

Lang Hancock, then managing Mulga Downs Station, discovered crocidolite (blue asbestos) on the property in 1936 and showed a sample to Islwyn (Izzy) Walters and Walter (Len) Leonard at nearby Nullagine goldfields, who advised of its value. Hancock and partner Peter Wright formed the Australian Blue Asbestos Pty. Ltd. (ABA) to mine, bag, and distribute Wittenoom Gorge crocidolite.

Leo Snell, a Mulga Downs kangaroo shooter, pegged a claim some 20 km southeast in Yampire Gorge, where even more blue asbestos was visible. Workers detonated the rocks and chiseled out asbestos by hand, packing it in sacks transported by mule team wagons to the coast at Point Samson. By 1939, all asbestos mined was promptly bought by the British to meet surging war needs. In the meantime, Walters and Leonard purchased Yampire Gorge from Snell, moved a treatment plant there, and began mining and bagging the fibre. They cleared the way into Yampire Gorge by blasting the biggest rocks and pulling them aside with camels. By 1940, twenty-two men were employed at the Yampire Gorge workings producing about 375 tons of asbestos fibre.

In 1943, CSR Limited (Colonial Sugar Company) purchased both the Wittenoom and Yampire Mines and operated them through subsidiary ABA (later Midalco Pty Ltd.). Mining continued at Yampire Gorge until 1946, when larger-scale mining at Wittenoom commenced.^[2] From 1947-1948, the town of Wittenoom was constructed at the entrance to Wittenoom Gorge, 10 km from the mine and mill. CSR also worked the Colonial Mine in Wittenoom Gorge between 1953 and 1960.

Blue Asbestos Milling, 1960's

Mining operations lasted until 1966. Over two decades, CSR employed 7,000 people (indicating high turnover for a 200-person operation), and 13,000 dependents, including 7,000 children, resided at some point in Wittenoom (pop. 2,000).^[3] All were exposed to hazardous levels of blue asbestos fibres, which are known to cause asbestosis ^[4], lung cancer and mesothelioma^[5]. Concerns that miners and millers at Wittenoom were being exposed to dangerous levels of asbestos were raised by the Public Health Department of WA as early as 1948. The first known case of mesothelioma at the mine was diagnosed in 1961 (the man died), and by 1966, CSR had ceased mining the site.

When common lawsuits by former Wittenoom workers began in the 1970s, CSR claimed that its subsidiary Midalco Pty. Ltd., a company with no significant assets, was responsible. Initial cases starting in 1978 were unsuccessful, but in 1988 the Victorian Supreme Court awarded substantial damages against Midalco. Then a 1988 Western Australia Supreme Court case found against CSR as well as Midalco, piercing CSR’s corporate veil. After accepting liability, CSR began settling claims out of court. In 1989 the Wittenoom group settlement was agreed in which CSR paid $18,266,000 to 200 Wittenoom claimants. And the cases kept coming. The Wittenoom asbestos is believed to have killed more than 2000 workers, residents, and downstream users, and counting.^[3][6]

Like other employers whose workers handled asbestos, CSR faces ongoing liabilities. CSR includes in its financial statements a product liability provision covering all known asbestos-related claims and reasonably foreseeable future claims. This provision is reviewed every six months based on independent expert advice in relation to the future incidence and value of asbestos-related claims. As of 31 March 2023, the asbestos provision fell to $193.4 million (previously $201.8 million as of 30 September 2022). This provision included a prudential margin of $36.6 million.^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ Midnight Oil. 1990. “Blue Sky Mine.” Blue Sky Mining. Songwriters: Rob Hirst, Jim Moginie, Peter Garrett, Martin Rotsey, Bones Hillman.
2. ↑ Markey, Melita, ed. 2022. “Asbestos and Wittenoom – A Chronology of Events”, Asbestos Diseases Society Of Australia Inc. Accessed July 12, 2023.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Markey, Melita, ed. 2022. “The Wittenoom Tragedy”, Asbestos Diseases Society Of Australia Inc. Accessed July 12, 2023.
4. ↑ Asbestosis is a chronic lung disease caused by inhaling asbestos fibres. Prolonged exposure to these fibres can cause lung tissue scarring and shortness of breath and puts a person at increased risk of developing pulmonary hypertension, mesothelioma, or lung cancer. There is currently no cure.
5. ↑ Mesothelioma is an aggressive and deadly form of cancer that occurs in the thin layer of tissue that covers the majority of your internal organs (mesothelium) such as lungs, heart, stomach, etc. There is currently no cure,
6. ↑ “Wittenoom – Mining Legacies”, website, Mining Legacies - Images and impacts from mining in Australia, Mine: Wittenoom, Yampire Gorge and Colonial, Western Australia, Historic, Blue asbestos.
7. ↑ CSR. “Asbestos Information”. Website, CSR Limited, 31 March 2023, accessed 8 July 2023.

See also:

• Ashton P, Wittenoom Airborne Study, 1986, Department of Conservation and Environment, Perth.
• Australian Asbestos Network. “Asbestos History -Battling CSR”, website, The Australian Asbestos Network, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia.
• Davies N, Report of Inspection Visit by Officers of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to Wittenoom and Surrounding Areas Affected by Asbestos Contamination, 1990, EPA, Perth, unpublished.
• Hansen J et al, 1992, "The Epidemiology of Asbestos and Mesothelioma" in Henderson DW et al (eds), Malignant Mesothelioma, New York, Hemisphere. Health Dept. Western Australia, 1978, The Health Hazard at Wittenoom.
• Hills Ben, Blue Murder, 1989, Melbourne, Sun Books.
• Markey, Melita, ed. 2022. “Permanent Memorials”, Asbestos Diseases Society Of Australia Inc. Accessed July 12, 2023.
• McNulty, Dr. J, "Blue Ruins" in Australian Safety News, Vol 66, Issue 4, May 1995.
• Mining Editor. “Mining Safety History - Blue Murder at Wittenoom”, Australasian Mine Safety Journal (amsj.com.au), 6 May 2014, accessed 8 July 2023.
• Nixon, Hon. M.D. (Chairman). “Seventh Report of the Standing Committee on Constitutional Affairs and Statutes Revision In Relation to a Petition Concerning The Town of Wittenoom”, Parliament of Western Australia, 7 April 1994, accessed 8 July 2023.
• Report of the Select Committee Appointed to Inquire into Wittenoom, 1994, Western Australian Legislative Assembly. State Law Publisher, Perth.
• Rogers A, 1992, "Predictions of Mesothelioma in Former Wittenoom Asbestos Workers", Letters to the Editor, British Journal of Industrial Medicine, Vol 49, p 451-52.
• Safe Work Australia, National Code of Practice for the Safe Removal of Asbestos [NOHSC: 2002 (2005)]
• Snell, Beryl, and Langley, Dr. Jeffrey. The Wittenoom Disaster. State of Western Australia. WorkSafe Safety Line Institute (www.worksafe.wa.gov.au/institute), Occupational Health & Safety Practitioner Reading, West Perth, W.A., January 2009, accessed 8 July 2023.
• WA Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984. WA Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996.