Australia's Secret Chernobyl
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- čas přidán 21. 10. 2023
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This is the tragic story of Wittenoom - a highly toxic city that was once populated by thousands.
fern is a joint venture by:
@romulushoog
@simplicissimus
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Sources:
docs.google.com/document/d/1g...
Music:
Artlist:
Alon Peretz - A Forest Dark
Amit Werner - Mountain of Doom
ARYEH - Inner Soul (Instrumental Version)
Frank Schlimbach - Art Of Dead Man
Jordi Dalmau - Mystery
O P Baron - Shimmy With The Boogie Man
Theater Of Delays - Outer Limits
Tiko Tiko - Echoes Of Tomorrow
3D Models:
Sketchfab (CCA):
jimbogies - Generic Business Building
Mateusz Woliński - House
BoredPain666- Farm House
simple and extensive design - agricultural factory building
ElectricLeo - Factory Large Buildings
LucasPresoto - Bank Old West
Leo013 - Stylized Building
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Armchair documentaries, almost weekly - Zábava
It's wrong on so many levels that a company is directly involved in the deaths of so many people, and the punishment is just a tiny portion of their revenue.
The company should pay everything it can until it ceases to exist.
Such companies should be shut down.
@@Lotschi the sad thing is they could easily pay to clean it up, this is a pretty big company in construction, mining and even selling fucking sugar ive heard that steps are being taken to clean up but im not sure whos paying or if its actually happening
And all that while people are getting thrown into jail cells for nothing evil like not beeing able to pay a fine for driving without a train ticket or something like that because of poverty… 😔
FR. Things like this should be the END of companies, not just this slap on the wrist. This isn’t even a punishment for any individual involved in those terrible decisions, just a slight dip in the profit margins.
these big corporation's crimes nearly always go unpunished, the system is set up that way;( profits over people
The government really needs to hold CSR accountable for their problems, first by giving compensation to mesothelioma victims from their asbestos mine, which they already seem to have done, but also by being forced to pay to clean up the mess that they left behind in Wittenoom. It baffles me how a company can just leave toxic substances strewn around and not have to clean up after themselves.
The govt. needs to hold itself accountable for lack of initiative to prevent CSR from ever going so far, the blame for this negligence fall onto many who would rather line their pockets with money than to be saving lives
moneyyy. the should be held accountbale for not taking action, but they didn't because of moneyyy
The higher ups who knew that the working conditions kill the workers and did nothing against it, should be in prission
Lol the government was. Hahaha
@@OutlawMaxVboohoo
My family immigrated from Europe to Wittenoom after the war, my Dad, Aunt and Uncle were all born here and used to play in the tailings when they were kids. Their dad was the town baker but had also worked in the mine for several years. He died of Mesothelioma the year before I was born and my uncle died of it in the late 90's. Due to the high risk Dad, my aunt and Nan have to be tested every 6 months just in case they also develop it.
I find it really fascinating that some people get it and some don't. Like they literally played in piles of asbestos dust and are fine. The human body is mysterious indeed, we don't know nearly as much as we think.
@@faithful451 It takes a micro particle of it to get deep enough. Those that dont get it are lucky in that context. VERY lucky.
Sorry to hear. I hope they live long lives
Why test for it? If they develop mesothelioma, there's no treatment or cure.
@@faithful451 My uncle developed mesothelioma. It appears that it might be triggered by SV-40 which was a virus from polio shots, because they were incubated in monkey livers.
It APPEARS that people who don't have SV-40 in their system, don't get mesothelioma. There's some pretty good evidence for this.
I’m an Australian born and raised in Broome with friends and family in Kalgoorlie, and I’m honestly amazed I had never even heard of Wittenoom, let alone realised just how close it was to my home town
You should get a check up.
Asbestos, Thalidomide, DDT, Leaded petrol. All products approved by the government that ended up being disastrous to human life.
Maybe it's an age thing as everyone my age knows about this. Midnight Oil wrote a popular song about it called Blue Sky Mine.
Broome is a long way from Witternoom, my parents took us there as kids 😅
@@clairebear169 To Broome or to Wittenoom?
Just a reminder folks if you're thinking of boycotting CSR sugar products in the supermarket, that this is now a "different" CSR to the company in this video. They were originally one & the same. They originally started in sugar in Queensland's colonial days (the name stands for Colonial Sugar Refineries), but later got in to mining, construction & producing building materials (like Asbestos panels!!) This proved to be more profitable than sugar so they sold off their entire sugar business to singapore-based company Wilmar International in 2010. Wilmar kept the CSR name because of its enormous brand value, at least in the supermarkets. So when you buy CSR sugar, your money is still supporting the Australian sugar industry & its workers. The profits might be going to Singapore, but maybe that's better than to the shareholders & executives of the real CSR of today.
Thanks for adding this.
The amount of neandrathal sydney university students ready to cancel a generations old sugar industry is shockingly scary. Wait till a Jims test tag is at fault for a house burning down, the entire failed gene pool will flock to boycott the garden service because they have jims in the name too
2010 sounds way too late, but yeah ok.
I did think wait a minute?
Great comment I would of just assumed one in the same, and not even though more than... Shit ah that's a bit f.cked lol
imagine if they would find asbestos in the sugar, lol sorry
I've never heard of this, and I live in Australia. Absolutely devastating and disgusting that it was been covered up
Do you mean you've never heard of Whitenoom?
While the event has been covered up, the actual asbestos has not.
That dust will blow forever until it is actually buried.
There also hasn't been a cover up. It's been in the News.
I take it you aren't much of a Midnight Oil fan czcams.com/video/Ofrqm6-LCqs/video.html&ab_channel=MidnightOilVEVO
@@Biglight127try learning to spell
My mum was there as a 4 year old in the 1940s. I went there in the seventies. She died of asbestos cancer , only a few weeks after her diagnosis. Makes me so angry I lost my mum who was so healthy and living her best life. She wasted away to nothing in weeks. Miss her forever ❤
My heart is with you
I'm sorry for all the pain. That should have never happened.
A crazy thing is, this town is likely much more deadly still today than Chernobyl's exclusion zone, which you can freely book tours through and is still inhabited by a few very stubborn people. Afaik, the population is even rising again
Really puts into perspective just how dangerous asbestos is
I just came from Kyle Hill's video explaining that the Fukushima evacuation orders caused more harm than good, not to mention that plants and animals are thriving in Pripyat undisturbed by human activity.
Then you realise that radiation eventually decays, whereas asbestos will remain deadly forever...
That is if you ignore the left over russian landmines and I am pretty sure that tours are suspended due to the proximity of chernobyl to belarus
@@deus_ex_machina_ you tend to forget that there are still a lot of places in chernobyl you can't go. Like the black forest, additionaly a lot of animals in the region are highly mutated (frogs, butterflies) or born with defects. Also there are reports of russian soldiers digging trenches in chernobyls soil after the start of tge war. Those soldiers developed acute radiation poisening and likely died. The real danger of chernobyl is still there, just covered under a layer of new soil
@@MrPy55555 The Black Forest is in Germany, I think you mean the Red Forest. Within the exclusion zone the soviets dug up the topsoil (i.e. the contaminated part) of the open fields and buried it under giant earthen ramparts. You can actually see them as you drive toward Pripyat - they are massive and everywhere. The claims Russia built trenches in the area come from the Ukrainian side and really reek of propaganda. It also makes little sense, the Russian forces came from the east, the radiation cloud went west (where the red forest is).
@@MrPy55555 at least action has been taken to build an actual massive dome over the main site, and loads of work into cleaning, dispersing, and reducing the effects. as said in this video, the abestos will *only* get worse, due to australia's failing government action. while chernobyl will only get better
As an Indigenous American, just wanted to let people know that too many journalists ignore how Indigenous communities are impacted by hazards like these.
Showing an indigenous elder speak for his community is exactly what Allyship (and good journalism) needs to do
i agree with you there government and the company responsible with should clean the mess even it cost millions of money
Agreed
I'm honestly amazed they interviewed anyone from the First Peoples; I may be across the Tasman in Aotearoa, but my entire life I've seen the absolute disdain the Australian society and powers have for their indigenous folk. I'm absolutely glad they were interviewed, don't get me wrong, it's just so much more common to see a white Australian speaking for them :(
you are playing race card , all people are impacted by any biohazard.
@@charlesrichter3854actually that party got less than 10% of the vote, with the greens ranking higher. national are racist af but have already backed down due to public pressure.
anyway, nowhere did i indict all australians, but you're obviously very touchy about it 👀
I assumed this disaster was better known, having learned of it from Midnight Oil's 1990 song Blue Sky Mine. As an American, taking the time to unpack the lessons in their lyrics has been a master class in the real history and culture of Australia.
That group is left wing nuts. Trust them as much as any politician or media organization.
I never heard of it (I live in WA), I feel like it depends on what media you saw and the region you live because I saw somebody say that in Perth a school talked about it but not for me. And I wouldn't imagine people would always be thinking about something that happened ages ago even though it should be relevant to the climate crisis stuff. It's weird how you can think something is obvious but then your basically the only person who knows about it.
Same here. Knew about it from Midnight Oil from the 90s. The "sugar refining company won't save you"
Is that what they were singing about!!
i am a midnight oil fan, i thought it was more known too
In 1979 we went on a high school-sponsored bus trip up to Broome. Along the way, we camped at Whittnoom and I can remember us playing sliding down the tailings. Teachers and tour guides did not mention that the site was dangerous at all. It is appalling that they still haven't cleared it up after all this time.
Must have had some ignorant teachers. I grew up in Marble Bar in the 70s, close to Wittenoom (by Pilbara standards), and it there common knowledge of the dangers of asbestos and Wittenoom by then. The mine had shutdown in 1966, and the use of the blue asbestos mined there banned in 1967 (other “safer” asbestos types were used until much later).
Wtf do you mean playing sliding down the tailings.
How stupid were you people regardless if you knew it was a toxic material or not?
Why would you think sliding down a mountain of dust and debre would be fun wtf?
@@butterphli3zdude they were highschoolers in 1979 i dont think its that surprising
@@butterphli3z I don't know man. If it wasn't for the fact that the asbestos is toxic, that sounds like it could be fun
@@butterphli3zwho doesn't like a good bit of adventure in their youth, mate?
Australian band Midnight Oil wrote a really good song about Wittenoom, CSR and asbestos mining. The song is called Blue Sky Mine.
It's a banger of a song too, really catchy. Perfect for the serious message they were making to stick in your mind
I haven't even hit the lyrics yet, and I'm already enjoying this. Thanks for the rec!
And nothing’s as precious as a hole in the ground
These videos are so good. I would honestly pay for a feature length dokumentary in this style.
This is just the start for you "worldwide followers" - if you'd only knew what top tier high quality docus they did in german previously… 🤯 there is coming so much good content for y'all, trust me
@@dreamshots_PIB As if I haven't watched all of those already. But the cooperation with hoog has elevated the quality to a whole new level.
Eh, people gotta stop calling to paywall everything. I know its meant to be a compliment, which it is but high quality free CZcams is good for society and if the video is truely good the algorithm should do it’s job and get the creator paid
@@feelincrispy7053 just donate to simply 😉 problem solved
You also could play their german videos from the 2 OG channels in the background, while hans gets zhe flammenwerfer, so they could generate some more income from youtube ☺️
@@TheZerbio so true, as i follow them for years and just love their videos, i have to admit that they took it to another whole level with the "fern" channel 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼
But i didn't knew about the collaboration 😅
Schöne grüsse digga 😁
The entire state of Western Australia is covered with up to four types of asbestos, and in most situations its very safe, because its layered underground.
Mining exposes it and makes it dry out causing it to become airborne.
As someone trained to remove asbestos safely, i know of two companies that just buried the asbestos out of sight.
One being Alcoa in 2008, and i know because I was on the removal team.
Here you what most people don't know in asbestos contaminated buildings its taken down then double black bagged loaded into the house or demolition teams then taken to the local land fill where the D5 grader or equivalent has dug a trench its checked by the landfill team and then just slid off then covered with waste ....I know I drove the tippers
@@TheSilmarillian What?
@@thethirdman225 What did you think happens to it? That it is magically transformed into hundreds and thousands to put on your children's sandwiches? Nah man, it all get buried, simple as that.
@@woopimagpie I’m not an idiot. I was simply hinting to the previous poster that his comment was hard to understand. I’m happy to read what people say but I don’t decode.
@@thethirdman225 I "translated" it with chatgpt. Hope this helps.
"What most people don't understand is that in buildings contaminated with asbestos, when they are demolished, the asbestos is first carefully removed, then sealed within double-layered black bags. These bags are then loaded onto trucks by the house or demolition crews and transported to the local landfill. At the landfill, a D5 grader or a similar machine has previously dug a trench. The landfill team checks the asbestos-containing bags before they are slid off the truck into the trench, and then they're immediately covered with waste. I know this process because I was the one driving the trucks that carried the bags."
I went to Wittenoom in 1986 and there were still quite a lot of people living in the town. I drove up the gorge to the mine, I recall the mineral to be more fibrous than dusty, but that's memory.
I worked in the steel industry back then and still do, we used asbestos in both sheet form and its soft, soapy, fluffy form for electrical and heat insulation. To this day we still find and remove asbestos.
My bathroom and kitchen in my house are still lined in asbestos sheeting. I have worked with numerous men that have Mesothelioma, two presently. We are nowhere near the end of this story.
Asbestos is in a fine needle form. It doesn't have to be visible to be dangerous
I went to this ghost town in 2021 and met Lorraine, it's a very interesting place. She was in complete denial about the adverse health effects of asbestos, although it's pretty incredible that she didn't appear to have any illnesses despite living there for over 40 years.
Is this near karjini national park?
Yes right next to Karijini
@@jamiereekie9342 if you're going you'll wanna take a car with good suspension for the whole area cause the roads are corrugated
@@giacomoc4858 I've an 80 series, she'll be alright 😂 so it is in karjini?
@@giacomoc4858 is it (somewhat) free to go there or is it not a good idea to get of the car?
The Western Australian government won't remediate the former town because it was complicit along with the former minesite owner, Colonial Sugar Refining Company of the contamination of the site. The government didn't legislate for CSR to adhere to any form of environmental controls during the operation of the mine and turned a blind eye as the contamination was being carried out. Now due to the prohibitive cost of remediation, the government have decided that an 'out of sight out of mind' approach is the best solution. If you were to contaminate a small area no larger than a single housing block without the government being complicit, they would prosecute you to the highest level, but when they're complicit in the process it's a different story, then it becomes okay.
@@Joe-sg9llbro it can spread. Also, thousands of people died!
@@Apq1esnyolk It's practically a self contained problem now. It is so far and isolated from any population centre it could not pose any harm to humans. Thousands of people may have died, but that is now all in the past. The best we can do is learn from the past generation mistakes. In which we currently learn about Whittenoom in many classrooms around Perth. The only people nowadays that might be affected are those lucky few and the dumbass travellers who think standing on tailings is cool. Fern has only stoked the flames of outrage, against something set in stone. It is not a tragedy Whittenoom is gone. As there are countless other ghost towns in Western Australia which have been lost to time. It was bound to happen one way or another.
Who is going to remediate the area? It is so hazardous it would be foolhardy to sign up for this task.
Only when robots and drones can complete the job would it be worthwhile. And then it would still be dangerous to visit if anyone tried
drove through there last year, easy to get to no access is blocked. It's a very heavily used road by Rio Tinto and trucks going in and out all day.@@Magikfred
@@Magikfredwhat about the indigenous people of the area?
Also that seems like a short sighted view - out of sight, out of mind. It surely won't be long before the asbestos dust spreads through the environment due to erosion and affects wildlife. It's not just humans we should be concerned about.
Typical. A company makes a lot of money from a wonder material. The wonder material is found to be toxic. The people, who have a voice, are given meager compensation. The environment, without a voice, is ignored. I can't believe how many stories there are like this. We really need to change the law to better protect our environment. The clean up cost shouldn't be an excuse for inaction. I'm sure CSR made that amount of money,or more, from selling asbestos. Hold them accountable!
Capitalism is designed to put profit above people every single hour of every single day or every single year.
If we want change, we have to change the system.
Here here!
Unremediated mines leaking toxic stuff everywhere is one of the larger pending environmental and economic disasters Aussies are facing. Weak legislation means mining companies just sell their mines to “fake” companies which then go “bankrupt” so they get out of their legal cleanup obligations. Which the taxpayers then has to fund….
The environment without a voice, where tf do you think the asbestos came from. Wittenoom and the surrounding areas are thriving without human activity. There is more airborne asbestos in cities than the current levels of asbestos around Wittenoom
It was over half a century ago and the company isn’t even the same thing anymore
Drove through there last year, you can get to it easily. Bumpy dusty road that is constantly destroyed by an iron ore mine very close by - Rio Tinto. They don't manage the road very well so it was the dustiest drive we've ever done.
Today, many of our house fences here in the cities (Perth) still have their asbestos fences and ceiling eaves built from asbestos sheets. They crack apart and will release dust if you drill into them. So there's a lot of training around that HOWEVER... it costs an absolute fortune for me to pay specialist removalists to remove them from our properties. So, we simply don't remove them unless an insurance incident such as a storm blows them down. It costs so so much to remove it, the government should be taking control of the costs to remove it for us - it wasn't us who installed them.
Many people don't realise that silica dust is really bad as well - this is mined all day every day in Iron Ore pits, it's no bloody different. My Dad died of lung cancer, more than half of his shift of workers (He worked with for over 30 years) have lung cancer and they all worked at BHP Iron Ore in Port Hedland (Close to Wittenoom). One day, I hope.. many years in the future I'll be able to fight for the life my Dad lost from being exposed to dusts that are silent killers.
I was driving from Karijini National Park to Port Hedland in 2016 and accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up going through Wittenoom. I put my AC on recirculation, wound up the windows and just gunned it through the town. Didn’t want to stick around. I don’t think i was exposed. But Asbestos is throughout the built environment in Australia as it was only banned in 2003. Most fences of the period until 1990 were asbestos and it was used to add strength to concrete, packaging for asbestos (hessian sacks) were repurposed as carpet backing/underlay. I think I would be more likely to have been exposed in those circumstances than my accidental detour.
The production quality of these videos is unreal, genuinely some of the best work on this website. And thanks for spreading stories from my country - the more people who hear about this kind of stuff the less likely it is to happen again
Yeah I must say that this was a great and informative vid.
Don’t count on it, look at Covid19 and the VAC!! It was and is a genetic bio weapon made to kill a specific people’s tailored to DNA.
It's outrageous that neither the company nor the Australian government is willing to take measures cleaning up or at least sealing the asbestos. Millions aren't that bad, I thought it would be billions rather... Now, the poisonous dust will continue to spread. And I can hardly imagine the pain for the indigenous people who lost their land, their holy places, their home, because one company destroyed it and made it uninhabitable.
Australia doesn't care about it's Indigenous (Aboriginal) people, as evident from the following:
On 14 October 2023, Australians voted in a referendum about whether to change the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing a body called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. It was the first referendum of the 21st century. The referendum did not pass.
Neither it's people not it's government care about them.
They are when you consider our government wastes money of bullshit referendums that they know won't work
It's a cost result decision. The amount of money needed to clean vs. Leaving it out there, "we've got so much land."
There are hardly any Abbo tribes left nowadays. Only those who "claim heritage" or have never lived the life they claim to care about.
Do you have any idea how big the Australian outback is? This company did not destroy the entire Australian outback. They destroyed a single small patch of land and a tiny town of their own creation. Aboriginals have the entire outback as their home - thousands of kilometers that remain untouched by anyone. They didn't "lose" anything.
Also, what "holy places"? A hill and some rocks?
Thank you for your time in putting this video together. As an Australian we (stupidly) often think our government (and companies) are too dumb to be this dumb. Unfortunately, as your video shows, we're as capable of utter, mind blowing stupidly than any other country. Just sad, particularly for all the families that lived there. 👍🇦🇺
It's not stupidity, it's that nothing matters but profits, and no concern for "collateral damage " . Decent humans find it difficult to see the evil that exists and that's why it continues...
Sue the Devils
5:02 - Asbestos filters in cigarettes... my father worked for Johns-Manville for 42 years. About 1963 he had been smoking since he was 15 or about 18 years at that point. JM put out material that showed that working with asbestos products were very, VERY bad for you if you smoked since smoking shut down the mechanisms for expelling nasty things from your lungs, and offered to help in any way to get the employee to stop smoking. My dad put down his cigarette that day and never picked on up again...
What makes me mad is the fact that when we walk down the supermarket aisle to buy sugar, CSR is still there, dominating all other brands. How is it possible that CSR was allowed to keep operating after committing mass-murder?
lobbyism, I bet...
@FatalError-um9nm To be fair they are quite strong. Big companies have more power and leverage than you think.
playing devils advocate here: No one would benefit from CSR being shut down. Many employees would lose their jobs without having done anything wrong. Imo the few bosses who were in charge back then and who ignored the scientists should be in jail for 20+ years and the relatives of the victims should be compensated. But destroying the company doesn't benefit anyone
@@doemaeries Companies produce profit. This mine, and death was profitable. The company should forfeit profit until everything is repaid and recovered.
Known decision makers should be charged, but that's a separate measure for the courts.
The company should pay, or the insurance should pay. This is not a government issue.
If the company cannot pay, then it should be bankrupted and the resultant funds used to cover whatever costs.
@wills_turtles This. It can't be that the government has to pay for the failures of the company.
It always breaks my heart to hear about companies prioritizing their profits over people's lives ... it's terrifying how disgusting humans can be
Yay Capitalism...
Greed always corrupts. Always harms others. Our only hope is to severely restict, if not outlaw, greed. That means there has to be a limit on individual and corporate wealth. Its the only way to stop the psychopaths exploiting the hell out of everyone else.
I bet you are jabbed...
@@Tim_Bo_what does that mean?
@@sunflower50sun who profited from the COVID plandemic?
I tried to find a news article from the 80s or 90s in Perth, where the offices of the asbestos disease society were robbed of case files for those who were suing while everyone was at the funeral of a person who passed away from asbestosis. The police never call anyone and apparently there wasn’t any evidence that would indicate that somebody had broken in. So, I think that you’ve got another video about asbestosis to investigate.
A similar situation is happening with silica bench tops. Silicosis has occurred amongst underground miners for many years & Government Mining Regulations used to stipulate regular medical checks including Chest Xrays, to detect the disease. Emphysema, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary (airway) Disease was very common. Breathing apparatus & extraction fans/filters underground have probably lessened the lung diseases. But in Wittenoom, people breathed, lived & played in the 'dust' everyday...😢
"They begin to mine a blue mineral"
Oh... oh no...
"They begin to mine a blue mineral"
Me, Clueless: Hmm.. I wonder what could it be.
Me, After: ... What.
I went there when I was a kid with my dad, it was so different I have been to many abandoned places in Australia but this one just hits different. We were going to go to the mine in the gorge but when we sore the piles of tapllings we decided we didn’t want to get lung cancer. Great video it brought back memories and I had no idea what had happened there until now.
U guys are zionist, aborigins deserved that land
Haha I went in 2021 and it does hit different. A town, removed from google maps, houses and cars just abandoned and rotting away, cut off from electricity and water supply - though, still just recently I was interviewing a lady sitting in as it seemed her front yard, she said it was all a lie and the asbestos had been long gone and it‘s totally safe to live there now. She said she was just visiting a "friend" though, probably to avoid any problems with being forced out there again. I remember her having Dutch heritage and a strong Dutch accent.
And last but not least the gorges around it are just STUNNING! I also tried to go inside with my 4WD but I stopped at some point and reversed all the way out cause it got too unmanageable 😅 straya mate love ya 🫶🏼
@@manueld37 still a number of people living in Wittenoom but they tend to hide from the authorities.
Spend enough time there or pass through often enough and you see them around but very cautious about who sees them.
There's another issue at hand about the town though.
That's the value of the land that the town resides on, but nobody wants to talk about this scam due to wanting to get rich.
It’s not removed from google maps. It’s there.
The reveal of what the "blue dust" really was gave me chills. The musical sting really drove it home
It was truly chilling
This was an amazingly made documentary, props to you for your attention to detail and amazing animation. 👏
What a unique and beautiful way of animating the video. Jonas, Paul, Thomas and Nora truly made something mesmerizing in this video. Even apart from the haunting story that kept me focused for 13 minutes and 20 seconds
Mich auch!🤗
This is absolutely horrifying. It’s terrifying how absolutely carelessly companies treat these workers.
It's not carelessness.
They just don't care because they're getting rich on those deaths.
@@rogerramjet6429 if they don't care: carelessness
We recently had work done on our house done that involved the workers needing to have us not enter our 3rd floor due to the asbestos in our attic, which had been used in our house’s construction in 1926. Later that year, my parakeet living near the 3rd floor died. We think they were related. I can’t imagine that on such a massive scale.
Birds are way more sensitive to air quality issues because of how much they need to breathe to sustain flight.
Having actually been to Wittenoom, It is refreshing that someone has spoken out about it.
I think it's kind of funny, how Kent found a way to make cigarettes even more deadly by putting asbestos into them 💀
Asbestos cigarette filters...man the filters are supposed to make that better not worse by a order of Magnitude!
Ironies can be worse than fiction itself.
No filter has ever made the smoke less dangerous, and the industry knows this. But yeah, this one is quite funny.
@@ez45 thats actually wrong, nowadays filters filter out a lot of bad shit, its still absolutely not healthy, but way better than without filter.
В России, в свердловской области, ещё в 1889 году был основан город Асбест. Название города отражает его суть - добыча асбеста. И то что асбест вызывает поражение лёгких было известно с того времени. Почему правительство Австралии вообще допустило подробную ситуацию совершенно непонятно.
Some things belong in the ground
This situation, and the terrible aftermath, reminds me of something that happened halfway around the world in northeastern Oklahoma. Look up Pitcher, Oklahoma and "chat piles." The parallels are eerie.
"Too expensive" since when is keeping people safe something we have to pinch pennies on? If it was a nuclear disaster, it would have been addressed, but aerosolized cancer? Oh that's fine 😒 this is why we need robust regulators states and severe punishments for people/companies that knowingly put peoples lives and safety on the chopping block for profits. Sickening.
Yeah, people say "countries don't have infinite money" the state makes millions every year and only spends a small portion of the overall profit because obviously they need that extra money but they can absolutely spend about 100 million dollars on the safety of the people of WA. They can cut back on spending and spend 200 million instead of 100 million one time and there you go. Just search up on google the range of what WA spends and you get a number range that allows for this to be a possibility!!! I HATE THIS!!! We have paper straws and taxes but the government doesn't want to spend our tax money on our future safety and instead the safety of sea turtles (and us but asbestos is way worse than microplastics).
Am I the only one who finds the voice so satisfying?
German accent :)
@@lynespeters1299 yee, I follow their german account too lmaoo
for real, they should start an asmr channel
I do prefer David’s voice in all of their channels
Yeah, he speaks for the german channel "Simplicisimus" which makes the same kind of vids, just in german
it affected miners and minors.
It did in fact affect adults and children.
As a western Australian I’ve never heard of this before, it’s crazy what the government will cover up
Extremely well done. A topic like many others.. of corporations getting away with a little bit of their pocket money gone, while literal thousands have died, a much larger number has had and will have their health affected, and hundreds more will likely die from it in the future.
Incredibly well done. Great story telling and hauntingly beautiful animations.
Cool video, good information, etc. but what I’m really impressed with is the visuals. This video LOOKS phenomenal. I actually can’t wait to watch it on my big TV instead of my phone. First time viewer, and I’m hooked. Kudos!
When I was a kid my parents took me on holiday camping trip which included a stop at Wittenoom Gorge. An absolutely stunning gorge with water so clear you could see straight through it.
I also remember the blue asbestos rocks all around the place as well. My dad did explain the danger of it but assured me that it was only a dangerous risk in dust form (likely an understatement).
Its such a shame about the health risks because the rocks are also really beautiful. It's like no other blue rock you've ever seen.
Not only the cinematography, the animation, the story telling, the voice-overlay, but the sheer amount of information in this video is insane to me. Well f'cking done, mate!
Honestly if wasn’t for the disease, asbestos was a fricking wonder material. Also CSR is very alive and well, practically unaffected by lawsuits
it could be relatively safe is like the asbestos panels they used to make were covered by some impenetrable plastic coating
Not sure about practically unaffected. It was once on if Australia's largest companies, and is no longer close - and mostly in construction materials these days (not sugar as mentioned above)
And has paid out lots of $$s in compensations. Similar to James Hardie.
Far better for the unfortunate victims of asbestos for these companies to remain successful so they can fund compensation, instead of going bankrupt like many of the US asbestos companies have leaving victims with nothing.
@@krisstopher8259 If something breaking causes a chemical hazard or something similar, it isn't a good idea. Just like mercury light bulbs.
It's not the same company anymore and the victims didn't get compensation afterwards because that's not how this works. @@mark123655
If you go on google earth wittenoon its still there and google earth had them balls to have street view
This should be taught in school. First time I've heard of it being Australian. History is doomed to repeat itself if we don't learn from our mistakes.
I knew asbestos was dangerous but this is the first time I heard about this incident. I was born in Australia in 1981
Radiation will decay, eventually. Asbestos remains as it is.
Never heard of this town before. I wonder by which means this substance could be brought under control, especially as the particles can be stirred up and spread everywhere by the slightest move you make... dump tons of liquid concrete onto it?
Bags, vacuums, wet wipes and a lot of time. Or they bury it and ignore it for even longer but that would be better than just leaving it there for a storm to pick up.
To people who are shocked that this has happened - I'd like to inform you that you have a shit-ton of microplastic in your blood. Good luck to us all...
and that your descendants will have lung disease (if they live in WA)
@@calcium_skeleton why
@@akertree wind doesn’t just stop happening
I keep saying in cases like this, where leaders knew what they were doing, they should go to prison. These are dangerous people to society.
I'm not sure about CSR, but the other big company in Australia who worked in asbestos (James Hardie) had several top executives jailed and/or fined big time, and the company was sent broke by the compensation cases. CSR still exists as a company today but they're not the same company, they only distribute sugar and some building materials these days, their mining exploits are well and truly over, no doubt due to the compensation they had to pay out for what went on in WA.
The problem is if they ignore evidence hard enough they get to feign ignorance and the courts can't find them guilty of "knowingly" doing it. So it gets bumped down to an "accident" and they just have to pay some fines.
Asbestos took my father from me in 2015 and I miss him everyday. The story of this town breaks my heart knowing what asbestos does to a human.
Im so sorry for your loss
I hope one day I can fight for the loss of my Father's life from BHP. half of his crew have lung cancer - he didn't survive his.
Heard never before about this. Never asked myself "Where did Asbestos come from? How was it produced?". I knew someone who died of Lung Cancer caused by Asbestos. When he was diagnosed, Doctor asked what Job with Asbestos he did because it was so clear that his cancer was caused by Asbestos.
Asbestos is mined along with talcum powder
Keep this incredible quality up!
This is a good piece of education, ive been here my whole life and never heard of the site. Of course I do know asbestos, still being safely and cautiously removed from old properties today. Just hope other materials being used in construction now are not as bad.
It’s literally a thing in Australia where some buildings cannot be demolished due to the presence of asbestos
i watched Literary every video you guys ever did with simplicissimus, and im not gonna lie, i think this is the best video you guys ever made.
So great storytelling, so good animations
Love the animation! Done a great job with this video I had to subscribe 🔥
I heard "not radiation" and instantly thought "Hey Lois, asbestos!"
That material is the 2nd fastest way to make everyone get outta town.
Great video, I had no idea about this and I’m Australian. I’m surprised that so many of the places near this area are still open to tourists …
You can still drive there
Ironically CSR also stands for Corporate Social Responsibility, "a business model by which companies make a concerted effort to operate in ways that enhance rather than degrade society and the environment".
Task, successfully failed.
Really great production value. Informative.
This vid is so well produced! Awesome job
This was a very well done video! I had never heard of the blue type of asbestos. My uncle died of mesothelioma decades after working with the common asbestos in the US. This production was fascinating and highly frustrating. I feel so sorry for the indigenous people in the area, especially.
You keep making better and better informational videos. Congrats!
No Wonder If they git an German ACC that ist over 5yrs old (Simplicissimus)
fern is simplicissimus@@Auzdoo
I live Australia so I found this video really interesting 👍👍👍
The cinematography on this is amazing. love this doc for bringing light on this subject 🙏 thank you! Your work is greatly appreciated !
These videos are fantastic, I just adore the style.
Even better, they are incredible documentaries!
Thanks for making me *extremely* glad that I live in Western Australia! ❤
Jokes aside, it’s terrible to hear this story. It is devastating the the CSR DID NOT take ANY action at the time of crisis, even though they knew that the mines were dangerous. May the people of Wittenoom and anyone who died from from asbestosis Rest in Peace. Amen.
*asbestosis.
@@rogerramjet6429 thanks I didn’t realise I made an error
worse still is that they probably knew but kept the mine open still
@@calcium_skeletonyeah
These animations are so clean and keep the audience engaged
I love this animation style with 3D models of different objects and people, where you actively get an idea of the size of things.
How professional and interesting can a documentary be?
fern: Yes
Fantastic video, Fern! Very informative, already 5 minutes in! ❤
Another place worth reading about, similar to here is Libby, Montana. The vermiculite mine was contamiated with Tremolite asbestos which locals used for everything as well. People still live there and costs the US government millions of $'s a year to clean up.
Australia’s news is always making my smile *upside down*
My grandfather was in the Army and worked somewhere in remote South Australia after the second world war. I remember seeing an old pic of him in full uniform with some aborigines with spears in full makeup and the only clothing they had just covered their privates. There was a period over about 2 years where I remember him getting phone calls where many of his friends died. When I got older I realised it had something to do with Maralinga.
Great video once again. Terrible how a corporation can get away with murder by giving these families what for them is pocket change.
Yeah, the government can be brutal in Australia and they sometimes get morally, ethically, and intellectually a bit odd.
Really good editing skills!!!
the production quality on this is brilliant!
Its actually a worse Situation Then chernobyl. Radioactivity is decreasing over Time at least
Salting the earth
It takes an astonishingly long time to decay so it’s bad too
Such nice and good quality. Also the graphics are so amazing ❤
I live in Sydney and went to school in the North Shore side and lots older building were found with asbestos were found in the art building but this was the white one which was less dangerous when not disturbed since it was an active building. the school had to close the building up to get rid of asbestos. This is quite recent of 2019, so thankful we have the best understanding of this dangerous substance
There was a whole section in the Australian museum last time I was there about the horrors of asbestos. Really disturbing and confronting how people kept quiet about it’s affects at the expense of so many lives
Such an amazing video it could have been an hour long I would have watched it at once. So extremly facinating and just great. Thank you team of fern for this viedeo.
It's always a great day when Fern uploads ❤
Awesome work on this!
Ah yeah, we learnt about this in my construction class in like 2019. Genuinely horrifying knowing pretty much everyone who lived there is dead.
Mining company management in WA to this day is genuinely evil.
The town hasn't been removed from official maps. The road signs were covered to stop people heading into the designated contamination area.
It is tragic however that neither the Commonwealth or State governments pursued CSR to make the area safer or at least done it themselves.
The dust keeps spreading mainly Eastwards, I'm sure that a much larger area than shown is highly contaminated.
Another great video. Well done
I used to work at Solomon minesite, for FMG.
It's only about 50 kilometers away from Wittenoom.
I heard nothing about environmental testing for blue asbestos and when I bought up the subject on weekly safety toolboxes it was just ignored and not looked into at all.
Beds are burning by Midnight Oil is about Wittenoom.
I was a kid in the 1980s when all this was happening. This was maaaaassive. Pretty much everyone who had anything to do with the mining industry knew someone who were affected or had family who were affected by this.
thank you for showing the indigenous people and their suffering!
great video, i never knew
This was a horrifying video, and very sad. Your animations and editing style are excellent. I wish the best for all of those affected, this was a painful one to listen to emotionally..
Well told, and your graphics are second to none too.
nice job of putting that together
The moment he said it was used in construction I thought of aspestos already °'° it has been used in so many countries for construction and you never really know if it has it until it's being tested, often only done when it will get torn down