Australian media reported on December 27 that in a small town heavily polluted by asbestos in Australia, a meteorologist became the last resident to stay there.
In most countries, asbestos is a mineral material used in almost all construction. Wittnom was once a thriving town in Australia's western desert that made its fortune by mining asbestos.
But as mining pollution increases, more local residents and migrant workers die of cancer, and the deadly effects of asbestos have left the town abandoned and people fleeing.
▲ Today's Wittnom, a desolate place
To this end, the local government demolished the emptied houses and buried rubble in an attempt to reduce pollution, but the once prosperous town was reduced to a "ghost town", and even the place eventually disappeared from the map – from the verifiable records.
By earlier this year, only three stubborn residents remained who refused to leave, and now there is only Mario Hartman, the last weather observer left behind.
An online documentary shows Mario Hartmann moving from Austria to Australia in the 1990s and has been living in Wittnom ever since. When he arrived, the coal mines that had closed in the 1960s had long since disappeared, and there were only 50 people left in the town that once housed 1,000 people.
Hartman started out working at the local power company until the electricity was cut off; then he worked as a postman until there were no letters to deliver, and later he made ends meet by hunting kangaroos.
Mario Hartman is now a local meteorologist
Today, Hartman is a local weatherman who records local weather data and sends it to Perth Airport, which uses it to plan flight routes.
Hartman works 20 minutes a day and receives a monthly salary of 850 Australian dollars (about 4150 yuan). Measurement work is a daily necessity, and if he is sick or needs to leave town, he will find friends from other places to help him temporarily.
Flagging asbestos contamination killed 80 percent of people who lived or worked in Witnom, but Hartman wasn't worried about that.
"It's like cancer, some people will get it, some people won't. Big mess is in the canyon (the old mine is right there) and I think as long as you don't dig out things like asbestos, the town is fine. Hartmann once said to a German documentary filmmaker, "Well, I like it here." ”
Hartman loved the tranquility of the place, and he cleaned up his house and hung pictures of his family. He feeds electricity on rooftop solar panels, a tank with running water, a vegetable garden, and even a homemade swimming pool.
Asked if he had nostalgia for modern civilized life, Hartman replied, "Well, there's nothing to miss." ”
"I think there are still too many houses here. If there were no asbestos, it would be a very popular tourist attraction, full of people... Then maybe I won't be here. ”
However, Hartman acknowledges that life in Wittnom is tough and needs to be planned to cope with inaccessible transportation and hot temperatures. At one point he dislocated his shoulder and was rescued hours later.
Western Australia Lands Minister Ben Wyatt, who is primarily responsible for Australian Aboriginal affairs, introduced a bill to shut down Wittnom in 2019 to oust the remaining residents.
"More than 2,000 workers and residents have died from asbestos-related diseases in Wittnom, the largest pollution point in the Southern Hemisphere." Ben Wyatt said at the time, "While there is precious natural beauty there, unfortunately it is also a deadly place." Even if the state invests billions of dollars in clean-up projects, the area is unlikely to be a safe place for human habitation. ”
But Hartman managed to stay, and had previously vowed not to go unless the government gave him a big enough return.
"I don't want to leave here, let me give up my lifestyle here, they have to pay me more than $1 million in compensation." Hartman previously told Australian media.
Wittnom, where Hartman lives, is an abandoned city
But even for the last resident, Hartman wasn't always alone, as tourists flocked to the abandoned town despite posting warning signs everywhere.
The Doug Holiday Cafe, which has fallen into disrepair, jewelry shops with collapsed roofs, abandoned cars and houses, and the barren land on which it sits, have become popular photo spots.
From the photos people post online, you can see families who come to vacation, friends who camp, tourists swimming in nearby lakes, and sometimes pets with them.
▲Tourists who come here to take photos in defiance of warnings
Many also shared photos of warning no-entry signs, but most of the photos had titles that didn't mention deadly pollutants in the air or didn't think about the problem at all.
According to Ben Wyatt, there are still large amounts of asbestos in the air, and when the Wittnom coal mine closed in 1966, it left 3 million tons of asbestos slag, or tailings, in the canyon and surrounding areas. Just touching one fiber of tailings can kill you.
▲ Warning signs in multiple languages, including Chinese, erected in the town
Pollution is permanent, and no matter how much money or how much time it takes, it is impossible to clean up a small town to the point where humans can live.
To anyone who curiously wants to go to Wittnom to find out, Ben Wyatt simply wants to say, "Don't go!" ”
"It's very silly to travel to Witnom, and the warning signs aren't for you to decorate your social media pages or punch card collections, they're a real reminder that your life is at stake when you go there."
(Tan Xiaoting)