Early history
The area was originally resided on by the Panyjima, also known as the Banjima, an Aboriginal Australian people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. They hold native title over the area, known by its people as Ngambigunha.[14][10][11]
In 1917, the Mines Department first recorded the presence of blue asbestos in the Hamersley Ranges. In the early 1930s, Lang Hancock discovered Wittenoom Gorge, on the Mulga Downs property. In 1937, Hancock showed samples of blue asbestos (crocidolite) that he had picked up in the Gorge to Islwyn "Izzy" Walters and Walter Leonard, who were mining and treating white asbestos at Nunyerrie, and at Lionel near Nullagine. When Hancock learned the fibre would fetch £A70 per ton, equivalent to A$ per tonne in, he immediately pegged the best claims in Wittenoom Gorge.Leo Snell, a kangaroo shooter on Mulga Downs, pegged a claim on Yampire Gorge, where there was a lot more blue asbestos. Walters and Leonard purchased Yampire Gorge from Snell, moved their treatment plant there, and began mining and treating the fibre. When Leonard cabled London that 2 mi of asbestos were in sight at Yampire Gorge, they cabled him back saying he should take a holiday. Leonard had to send a photograph before it was believed Yampire Gorge contained that much asbestos.
The area around Wittenoom was mainly pastoral until the 1940s when mining for blue asbestos began. Walters and Leonard cleared the way into Yampire Gorge by blasting the biggest rocks and pulling them out of the way with a camel team. Even after that, it took them seven hours to drive their truck the 15 mi from the workings to their treatment plant. By 1940, twenty-two men were employed at the Yampire Gorge workings and about 375 LT were mined and transported by mule team wagons to the coast at Point Samson. During World War II, communications with England became difficult, and de Berrales acquired an interest in the mines.
Asbestos mining
By 1941, major mining began in Yampire Gorge, which was closed in 1943 when mining began in Wittenoom Gorge. In 1943, the Colonial Sugar Company, through its subsidiary, Australian Blue Asbestos Ltd., took over both the Wittenoom and Yampire Mines. In 1947, a company town was built and, during the 1950s, it was the Pilbara's largest town. The peak population, as recorded by the Australian census conducted on 30 June 1961, was 881 (601 males and 280 females).[15] During the 1950s and early 1960s, Wittenoom was Australia's only supplier of blue asbestos. The mine was shut down in 1966 due to its unprofitability, and growing health concerns from asbestos mining in the area.[16]
Lang Hancock, who watched his station property transform to a town, stated in 1958: "Izzy Walters was the man who stuck it and produced the market that made Wittenoom of today possible." Walter's partner, Len Leonard, put it this way in 1958: "but for his (Islwyn Walters) sheer grit and hard work there would be no such thing as Wittenoom. We have him to thank for that." Due to a lack of profitability however, the mine at Wittenoom was closed in 1966.[17] As of 2024, more than 2,000 of the approximately 20,000 former mine workers and residents of Wittenoom had died of asbestos-related diseases.[18]
Closing of the town
About 100 people were still living in the town by 1979, despite the State Government proposing to close the town.[22] The former townsite no longer receives government services. In December 2006, the Government of Western Australia announced that the town's official status would be removed and, in June 2007, Jon Ford, the Minister for Regional Development, announced that the townsite had officially been degazetted. The town's name was removed from official maps and road signs, and the Shire of Ashburton is able to close roads that lead to contaminated areas.
In November 2006, a report by consultants GHD Group and Parsons Brinckerhoff evaluated the continuing risks associated with asbestos contamination in the town and surrounding areas, classing the danger to visitors as medium and to residents as extreme. In December 2006, Minister for the Pilbara and Regional Development, Jon Ford, said that Wittenoom's status as a town would be removed and, in June 2007, he announced that the townsite status had been officially removed.[23]
Both the Department of Health and an accredited contaminated sites auditor reviewed the report, with the latter finding that the detected presence of free asbestos fibres in surface soils from sampled locations presented an unacceptable public health risk.
The traditional owners of country where Wittenoom is situated, the Panyjima people ("Banjima"), have petitioned the Western Australian Parliament to not only remove all of Wittenoom's remaining buildings, but to remediate the land so that it is no longer contaminated.[37][9][10][11] In February 2026, the Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (BNTAC) formally launched a compensation claim in the Federal Court in Melbourne.[11] BNTAC is pushing for court orders to seal three mines, remove tailings dumps, and demolish asbestos structures in Wittenoom, whilst also demanding clean-up of polluted waterways on Banjima country; in total estimated to cost over .[11] The case will be split; first addressing remediation, then seeking damages for asbestos harm and alleged government involvement in the Banjima people’s dispossession.
