'Where is better than here?' Last six residents of Wittenoom resist efforts to close asbestos mining town

The Western Australian government wants to close down the town linked to deadly mesothelioma risk, but a few still cling to their 'beautiful' place

Western Australia is threatening to pass legislation to evict the last six residents refusing to leave the mining town of Wittenoom, infamous for a deadly asbestos mine that has been connected to a toll of more than 2,000 cancer deaths.

The town, about 300km south-east of Karratha, was founded to house the workforce for two blue asbestos or crocidolite mines, which were shut down in 1966, four years after Australia's first case of mesothelioma was diagnosed in one of the mine workers. The state government began to "phase down" the town in 1978 and has made repeated attempts to encourage the final few residents to move on, most recently in 2013.