Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name and image of a First Nations person who has died.

WHEN Notre Dame nursing student Axel Tan proposed screening a documentary about an Indigenous elder’s fight to preserve his Pilbara homeland from the deadly effects of asbestos, it hit home for the uni’s First Nations support officers.

“I lost one of my grandfathers through mesothelioma,” says Denise Groves, whose language group is Nyiyaparli from the Pilbara.

Her colleague Jason Hunter’s language group is from the Nyikina and Nyul-Nyul nations of the West Kimberley – a thousand kilometres from the mines of Wittenoom – but he also has a personal connection to their deadly legacy.

“My girlfriend’s mother passed away from mesothelioma in 2008,” Mr Hunter said.

“To watch a loved one be afflicted by such a terrible disease is traumatic; she can’t even watch the film.”

• Late Banjima Elder Maitland Parker (left) with his wife, Margie (right) in the film Yurlu | Country. Photo: Supplied, Illuminate Films.

Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a cancer almost exclusively caused by exposure to asbestos.

It hangs like a deadly shadow over Banjima elder Maitland Parker in the documentary Yurlu | Country as he reveals the extent of the contamination of his traditional home and the battles he has to fight to get rehabilitation and compensation.

The effects of asbestos mining in Wittenoom alone resulted in the deaths of more than 2,000 Western Australians, according to the Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia, and according to a University of WA study, First Nations people were disproportionately affected.

Despite the industry being banned for 60 years, Wittenoom and its surrounding areas were declared a contaminated site by the WA government in 2008 over fears of the deadly fibres hanging in the air. 

This has rendered 115,700 acres of land inaccessible to its traditional owners.

Mr Hunter says the current state of Wittenoom represents part of the dark history of the Pilbara.

• Jason Hunter, Denise Groves, and Axel Tan. Photo: Logeenth Rao.

“The history of the north of this state is traumatic: what happened to Aboriginal people in that space is not a happy story, and is still not a happy story today,” Mr Hunter said.

Mr Tan said the Nursing Society hosted the screening this week to raise awareness of the issue amongst his classmates.

“The asbestos mining and the effects are not very well known,” he said.

Ms Groves said it was important for medical students to know the local history so if they became involved in local healthcare they had a better understanding of First Nations culture and its people.

Initiative

“The fact that a young non-First Nations student took up the initiative to host the screening is pleasing,” Ms Groves said.

Mr Parker and his neice Johnnell Parker travelled to the United Nations with documentary director Yaara Bou Melhem to highlight the asbestos contamination in the Pilbara.

Ms Groves said this was an example of the strength and unity of First Nations people.

“As First Nations people, we’ve always mobilised; we use whatever resources that we have access to.”

Ms Parker’s visit to the UN coincided with a $1.5d billion legal claim by the Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation against the WA Government over its inability to clear the asbestos waste within the area.

Mr Tan says the legal claim should be seen as an opportunity to make people aware of First Nations issues.

“Our job is not to advocate for a lawsuit or highlight that: one of the agendas is ‘if you know that’s happening in your neighbour’s backyard, are you not going to stand with your neighbour’,” he said.

“The film is about our shared humanity, commonness and connections to the land that we will continue to have, Indigenous or not.”

by LOGEENTH RAO