Wittenoom is a ghost town located in the Hamersley Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It's the site of Australia's greatest industrial disaster. The area around Wittenoom was mainly pastoral until the 1930s when mining began in the area. In 1947 a company town was built. During the 1950s and early 1960s Wittenoom was Australia's only supplier of blue asbestos. The town was shut down in 1966 due to unprofitability and growing health concerns from asbestos mining in the area. Today, travelling to Wittenoom presents a public health risk.
Today, eight residents still live in the town, which receives no government services. In December 2006, the Government of Western Australia announced that the town's official status would be removed, and in June 2007, Jon Ford, the Minister for Regional Development, announced that the townsite had officially been degazetted. The town's name was removed from official maps and road signs.
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