Tourists are advised to visit Wittenoom with caution

Friday, July 13, 2018

But that ill repute has turned out to be a major tourist drawcard for the toxic ex-asbestos mining town of Wittenoom, deep in remote Pilbara region of Western Australia.

 
Approximately 20,000 people lived there in its peak seasons all through the 1930s to 1966, carting around deadly blue asbestos.

 
Over 2,000 deaths have been associated to the mining activity at Wittenoom and the entire town is a confirmed contaminated site.

 
However, in spite of large, eye-catching signs littered all around the town cautioning of a serious hazard to human life, thousands of inquisitive travelers still visit every year.

 
The local shire explained it has been told some WA tourism operators were even offering guided visits.

 
“We’ve just heard on the Pilbara grapevine that there are groups going out there,” Ashburton Shire CEO, Rob Paull said.

 
It’s a conspiracy that provides itself to a form of “extreme tourism” attracting thrill-seeking travelers.

 
Queensland Photographer Jenny Rush visited Wittenoom at the time of a caravan trip around northern Australia and found it to be an exciting experience.

 
“It’s probably one of my favourite places actually, it’s beautiful, it’s spectacular,” she said.
“Nothing really prepared us for the eeriness of it, or the beauty of it, it was bizarre.”

 
She said she was captivated by ghost towns.

 
“There’s a fire engine sitting there, there’s a sign from the old shop and there’s an old bus that still has salt and pepper and sauce bottles on the table,” she said.

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