Romance blossoms in Australian asbestos ghost town

By James Regan

WITTENOOM, Australia (Reuters) - Of the 20,000 people who once lived in this outback mining town in western Australia, at least 1,000 are dead of asbestos-related diseases. Just about everyone else left long ago.

But if Mario Hartmann, an Austrian immigrant who moved to far western Australia to shoot kangaroos and herd cattle ever had any intention of leaving too, that changed 10 months ago when he met the love of his life, Gail Malcom, on what's left of Wittenoom's main street.

"We couldn't imagine living in a place more peaceful and beautiful than this," said Hartmann, 44, smiling at his partner and gesturing towards the foothills of the magnificent Hamersley Range.

"Cancer is a throw of the dice. Some people get it and some people don't," he said.

In the 18 years Hartmann has lived - some would say survived - in Wittenoom, current population 8, he's watched most of his friends and neighbors leave, some sick and all heeding the government's warning to get out or possibly die from one or more lung ailments linked to asbestos.

Some moved to Perth 1,500 kms (930 miles) south on the Indian Ocean, others to nearby settlements and aboriginal camps that pepper the stark land-locked region known as the Pilbara.

One of the last to leave was an American who for years ran Doc Holiday's Cafe, Wittenoom's only restaurant.

The asbestos mine on the outskirts of town closed in 1966 as the dangers to humans became clearer but it was too late for many in the town who worked in the mine or used the plentiful supplies of asbestos to pave roads and schoolyards.

Asbestos waste from the mine was even employed to help build the town's airstrip.

From 1950 to the early 1960s, Wittenoom was Australia's only source of asbestos and the town thrived, attracting thousands of mine workers and their families with the promise of high-paying jobs.

Years later, in a failed clean-up attempt, parking lots were scraped and resheeted, roads resealed and yards covered with clean fill. Still, the Western Australian government recommends avoiding Wittenoom. If you must go, it warns on road maps and Web sites, stay in your car and keep the windows closed.

Asbestos fibers enter the body through the lungs. Exposure to asbestos has been shown to cause lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma, a cancer that affects the protective lining that covers the body's internal organs, including the lungs and chest.

A CLEAR HEALTH RISK

Hartmann, a chain smoker, says he shows no symptoms of any of these. Malcom is the only person to actually move to Wittenoom in decades, at first taking up residence across the street from Hartmann in an old Catholic convent and providing lodging for the odd intrepid tourist drawn by the natural beauty of the ranges and brave enough to stay in the town for a night or two.

"I don't think there is any risk as long as you stay clear of the mine tailings, especially when it's windy," Malcom said.