2009
On the edge of town
in the heart of the amazing Hamersley Range
the 4 wheel drive rolls to a stop.
A large sign reads:
| DANGER ASBESTOS TAILING RISK AREA. INHALING ASBESTOS FIBRES CAUSE CANCER. AVOID DUSTY SITUATIONS DON’T LET CHILDREN PLAY IN THE TAILINGS. |
Shops
Boarded up. Cinema
derelict. Schools closed.
4 remaining residents.
Ghost Town.
Handy Definitions:
Asbestosis: widespread thickening scarring of lungs.
mesothelioma: lethal tumour of the lining of the lung.
1954
He was considered lucky
getting a job as a bagger
for Australian Blue Asbestos
his pants and shirt were stiff
after the twelve hour shift
& his wife had to beat his
clothes to soften them before
the wash. The town folk used
the tailings for top soil for
growing grass. They used it
for road surfacing. They
dumped it in school play
grounds, on roads at the airport.
They used it in gardens as a
contrast to the monotony of
the interior’s red soil. The dust
oozed out of their skin, their fingers,
toes, even their stomach. During
the dry season the winds whipped
up the long slender fibers lodging
them deep into their lung linings
& abdominal cavities.
A brief official history
The mine was closed in 1966 because it became uneconomic.
the land of fixed speed
cameras & drug sniffing
dogs in restaurants the
hateful disc jockey rant
a boatful of refugees sunk
the crude semantics he is
regretful but not sorry the
empathy of a smiling slug
the trademark sneering
contempt each mean note
an extension of the last
like shrill knife thrusts to
to the hopes of the power
less the shards of razor wire
weave to the future how history
will judge his mealy mouthed
vision of kicking the small &
as sheriff shiting on our garden.
The author can be found at GeorgeDAnderson.blogspot.com.