Paul Barry's Walkley Award nominated Four Corners story - 'Blue Death' (1988) 

Thanks Paul Barry, you`re efforts here really helped.

I can remember being appalled at the time this report came out. Now all these years later - and after such a dreadful battle of another 20 years for remaining victims to get justice - it’s even more shocking and appalling…

Thank you for this documentary. It's very sad, but honest. I have friends now dying from this, who didn't go to Wittenoom, but a lot of houses and fences were built from this material.

We have a town named Asbestos here in Québec, Canada. The two major asbestos mines still functioning in the province (and in the whole country) were shut down after 130 years in 2011. In 2018, the government finally banned the use and mining of Asbestos in Canada. However, Asbestos is still heavily mined in Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Brazil and Zimbabwe.

A shameful and disgraceful chapter in Australian history. The corporates and their greed knowingly sending people to theiir deaths for the sake of profit. And even worse, the denial of compensation to workers and residents is diabolical.

I'm 24 years old and only just finding out about this. That's why I'm so glad this video was posted, this is a dark part of Australian history. I would never have known about if it wasn't for the victims and supporters keeping this cause alive. Justice for all who were affected by this industrial genocide...

I heard about the dangers of asbestos in the 1980s as kid. The idea always frightened me. The idea of having a 'wonderful' material that turned into a slowly ticking time bomb. And I did not understand why they kept using it while it was known to be so dangerous. The material is still scary to me, and I still don't understand why it was in use for so long.

Thank you for reposting this- it's a powerful documentary. Such a sad story. Wittenoom was once a happy and thriving town of thousands. In September of 2022 the last resident was finally evicted- 81 year old Lorraine Thomas, who ran the gem shop in Wittenoom for many years. The Hancock family, Blue Asbestos Australia and CSR should have all been charged with criminal negligence, there's no question in my mind of that. RIP to all who lost their lives through asbestosis and mesothelioma, and to the town of Wittenoom itself. My hope is that the site is cleaned up and returned to Indigenous ownership. The government owes that much, IMHO.

My father was a deputy shire president with shire of Ashburton and at the time him and premier Ernie bridge tried to shut down the town and worse of it the telstra workers climbed in houses in Wittenoom and fixing telephone cables and if I was the prime minister of our country of Australia and I would tell to last people to get out and block the mine tunnels

Believe the science they said.

Paul Barry, of Media Watch fame

Years ago I worked on a hard waste collection truck , back when you literally hung off the back of the truck , we pulled up in one street , and the guy I was working with said don't take those roof sheets It was corrugated asbestos roof sheets , we never heard of the council fined the people for putting them out , I guess some sort of hazardous waste contracting crew had to remove them , asbestos is evil and the world would have been a better place without it , so much unfair suffering because of it ,and a greedy corporate giant didn't care ..

This is absolutely disgusting, this is why I have boycotted CSR and encourage my family to do the same.

Oh shit omg and the Australian federal government shut Wittenoom down once for all

The Banjima people have been asking for Wittenoom to be cleaned up for years now. I read a figure recently of estimate $350 million to clean up the tailings, so probably make that $1 billion. Government (State / Federal) will never get off their arse anytime soon being infested with wallopers who have no concept of the term "ownership". Wittenoom will never be safe, regardless of any cleanup operation, but something needs to be done to remove the tailings.

The things company's do for money at the cost of innocent people trying to earn a living. My uncle died of asbestosis working for a company that made brake linings. Sad sad way to die. May they rest in peace.

The fact that we STILL buy CSR sugar though!!! NEVER. AGAIN.

The Australian government should clean it up but I pm Morrison should do something about this

I can't believe this happened in Australia, I'm ashamed

Please censor the child nudity at 14:27

How was it allowed to happen? The knowledge that the general community have today about the danger of asbestos was not around 60-70 years ago, it is that simple. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it will not allow you to undo what has happened in the past. To me this "how was it allowed to happen" was highlighted in the last few minutes of the documentary when the 2 boys were filmed climbing the tree, as that was acceptable and expected behavior in 1988, but today we have councils removing playground equipment in fear of being sued if kids get injured while playing. People change, society changes, time changes, everything changes but is it always for the better? .... who knows, but in the future, it will be easier to judge today's actions.