An article regarding the tragedy caused by asbestos mining at Wittenoom.
One thing that perplexes me is just how Jamie Hardie ended up carrying the can for the most of the problems caused by asbestos products when they only manufactured them but CSR, who both operated the mine at Wittenoom and manufactured asbestos products, seems to have come up practically smelling of roses.
Even the Midnight Oil song “Blue Sky Mining” regarding Wittenoom specifically refers to “The sugar refining company” but CSR appears to have generally got a “get out of jail free” card.
Admittedly they did take some financial hits and receive some adverse publicity concerning asbestos but nothing like James Hardie which ended up a corporate pariah.
But not the only problem with asbestos in the Wild West. In January 2013, we were driving to Yanchep and took a wrong turn down a track in a forest reserve only to discover how some locals dispose of their asbestos.
The song is more explicit than that. The spoken radio news commentary briefly appearing at the beginning of the song explicitly mentions “CSR Company faced tough questioning at the company’s annual …”
The number of people affected by the mine is orders of magnitude fewer than the number of people potentially affected by the various manufactured asbestos products sold.
