Wittenoom and the Pilbara Region
The region known as the Pilbara is vast, hot and arid covering 500,000 sq klms.It was explorers like Gregory and Newman that opened up this land for large sheep and cattle stations to exploit after a period of 20,000 years of indigenous occupation.
The Pilbara is a region of amazing diversity from the Spinifex clad peaks and ranges and tawny grassed tablelands of the inland to the spectacular gorges cut by rivers as they drain the vast areas beyond.
The rivers are generally seasonal and are pock marked with cool, deep water holes like Weeli Wolli spring, Wanna Munna and other riverbed “oasis” showing quite often-Aboriginal art carved into the rock faces.
The Hamersley Region which includes Karijini National Park and towns such as Newman, Tom Price, Paraburdoo are all mined heavily for iron ore and other minerals.
All this mining activity for iron ore which includes blue asbestos fibre, allows it to become 'free', therefore a good degree of caution should be exercised.
Wittenoom was named after Sir Edward Wittenoom (1854 – 1936) a pastoralist and politician.The town of Wittenoom was built in 1947 to house workers at the asbestos mines and is located off the Great Northern Highway and northern side of the Hamersley Range ……not far from the Newman to Port Hedland Highway.
Wittenoom owes its existence to mining of crocidolite, which is commonly called blue asbestos.
Asbestos was extracted from several localities in the Hamersley Range before mining commenced in Wittenoom Gorge in 1938.
Developed at the mouth of the Gorge the town prospered, with shops, hotel, bank, cinema, community Club hall and tennis courts, golf range, race track, churches, two primary schools, hospital, police station/court house and airport for the population of 1500.A thriving town for almost 20 years, its decline was rapid after closure of the mine in 1966 due to lack of ore reserves and high production costs.
Asbestos production in the Hamersley Range to the end of 1966 was 152,466,94 tons valued at $33,496,664.98, making blue asbestos the State's fourth most valuable mineral product after gold, coal and iron ore.During its flourishing years the industry supported the largest inland town in the north of the State and the facilities provided for it have helped the tourist industry and greatly assisted the later search for iron ore in the Hamersley Range.
By the end of the 60's the remaining residents had created new prosperity for the old mining town. Due to the town's central location in the Hamersley Range gorges, the main income now was from services provided for the many visitors to the magnificent area. Additions to the Hotel, a Motel, Shire office/library and hall were built and another service station and caravan park opened.
The population and its supporting businesses continue to increase until 1979, when the Western Australian Government adopted a policy to have the town closed and has since been joined in those attempts by Agencies and departments under its control, and the Shire of Ashburton.There is much to see in the region, with majestic and forever changing colourful scenery.
Birds and wildlife of all sorts are prolific in and about the fast becoming deserted townsite. It's a gemstone fossicker's paradise with semi precious stones including agate, chalcedony, jasperite and tigereye to be found in the gullies and creeks.
Today about 30 residents remain to supply a range of accommodation and limited services in catering for numerous visitors to the scenic Gorge and National Park each year.
The Hamersley Range area now called Karijini National Park includes towns like Tom Price and Paraburdoo that are deposits of Iron which rose from the seabed billions of years ago, then weathered down to form the red, very dry, flat topped mountains as they appear today.
Lang Hancock history.
The ancestry of Lang Hancock's Pilbara experiences goes back to John Hancock who sailed from Fremantle in the Sea Ripple, a three masted schooner of 187 tons.
The destination was Tien Tsin, (Cossack) named after a barque that carried the first settlers in 1863.[In its early years Cossack was also referred to as Port Walcott, North District and The Landing. It was not until 1871 after a visit by Governor Weld in HMS Cossack that the town's name was finally chosen.]
Accompanying John Hancock were Fanny Hancock, (John's sister) Emma Withnell (also a sister) with her husband and two sons and, Robert Withnell who was Emma's brother in law.
Cossack (Port Tientsin) is over 1500 klms from Perth, and the small vessel loaded with sheep and provisions was becalmed several days from their destination.
A storm then drove them some 150 klms past the Port and they ran aground on a reef.
“In the next few days, with the schooner aground and listing so badly that many of the sheep in the holds suffocated while the men made repairs.
They refloated their ship and reached Cossack, and with John Withnell went up the Harding River where they erected their tents and found a place for a homestead.
It was he that 'founded' Roebourne”.'Lang Hancock was born in Perth on June 10th 1909.
He went to Hale School in Perth, and it was there that he met Peter Wright, later to become his business partner. Lang Hancock's father would have liked him to enter one of the professions, but Lang wanted to get back to the land'.
Lang's father was manager of a run down station called Mulga Downs owned by the Wittenoom family, which he changed to become an excellent sheep property.“Lang Hancock and his wife Hope were flying south from Nunyerry Mine in November 1952. Heavy clouds caused Lang to descend into a gorge and the dramatic flight through the valley of the Turner River enabled him to see that the walls were made of “solid iron”.
It was not by chance that Lang Hancock recognised the deposits for what they were. He flew back after the “wet season” and landed amongst the Spinifex and collected samples over many kilometres.
He had them analysed and read literature on iron ore mines from around the world and realised that his find comprised ore that was at that time 2% higher than the standard blast furnace feed in the United States, then the world's greatest steel producer. He initiated and perfected a technique which has led to the discovery in the Pilbara of more than 500 separate deposits of iron ore and which earned him the title of “The Flying Prospector”.
Lang Hancock later named his iron ore discovery at Hope Downs after his wife Hope”.With the discovery of iron ore deposits by Lang Hancock following his surveys over the area in the early 1950's the area changed virtually overnight and now is one of the world's greatest iron ore deposits.
Because of the Australian Gov't embargo on iron ore and steel exports after World War 2, mining was not commenced until the early 1960's.
Source: Ackn. To “Hancock and Wright” by John F Moyes
Health Issues
Asbestos is a general term given to a group of magnesium silicate minerals that occur in fibrous form and which have a number of common qualities – they are light, durable, flexible, hear resistant and have high tensile strength with good binding properties.Crocidilite is found in South Africa and in the Hamersley Range, WA where it has been mined from several locations including Wittenoom Gorge from 1938 to 1966.
Blue asbestos (Crocidolite) in the Karijini region has contributed to the closure of mining at Wittenoom where the town once thrived from the 1940's to the 1960's.
The dust from the asbestos is said to have settled around the mining areas, walls of the houses and schools, roads and gardens and to have caused the lung disease called Mesothelioma and contributed to many deaths as a result.
It was not apparent until after the mining ceased, due to a downturn in the market, that dangers became evident.
The West Australian government, the mining company, under threat from litigation and Insurance companies facing 'pay outs' caused the total closure of Wittenoom where once 20,000 people lived and worked.Just a few people remain today!
For further information about the history of Wittenoom write to;
Wittenoom Tourist Information Centre, Sixth Ave. Wittenoom WA 6752 or phone/fax (091) 897 096 or The Wittenoom Gem Shop P O Box 24 Wittenoom WA 6752
Sources: Lorraine Thomas, also www.scoptraveller.com, www.allsydney.com and Wittenoom Progress Assoc.