order to help the government develop policies about how to deal with asbestos that still remains in the country and reduce the incidence of mesothelioma in the future. The Wittenoom Closure Bill was reintroduced to the Western Australian Parliament in August 2021, and was passed on 24 March 2022. The bill enabled the compulsory acquisition and demolition of the 14 remaining privately-owned properties in the former townsite. The traditional owners of country where Wittenoom is situated, the Panyjima people, have petitioned the Western Australian Parliament to not only remove all of Wittenoom's remaining buildings, but to remediate the land so that it is no longer contaminated. The Wittenoom Closure Bill was passed by the Western Australian Parliament in March 2022, allowing the government to permanently close Wittenoom by compulsorily acquiring the remaining private properties and removing all infrastructure from the town. In September 2022, the last resident was evicted. As of September 2022, the town was classified as deserted, and closed to the public. A bushfire reportedly hit the area around 26 December 2022, causing damage to remaining buildings and disrupting plans to demolish the site during the 2023 dry season. Legacy The 1990 Midnight Oil song, "Blue Sky Mine" and the group's album, Blue Sky Mining, was inspired by the town and its mining industry, as were He Fades Away and Blue Murder by Alistair Hulett. The town and its history are also featured in the novel Dirt Music by Tim Winton. Digital poet Jason Nelson created the work Wittenoom: speculative shell and the cancerous breeze, an interactive exploration of the town's death. It won the Newcastle Poetry Prize in 2009. In the thriller novel The Dead Heart, by Douglas Kennedy, the plot involves an imaginary location called Wollanup, which corresponds to Wittenoom. The Dead Heart was adapted as a comic by Kennedy and the illustrator Christian de Metter, under the title Dead Heart. See also Love Canal, New York Picher, Oklahoma Times Beach, Missouri Cassiar, British Columbia Clinton Creek References Bibliography Further reading External links Wittenoom: Asbestos contamination and management (Western Australian Government) The Asbestos Disease Society of Australia Ghost towns in the Pilbara Mining towns in Western Australia Company towns in Australia 1950 establishments in Australia Hamersley Range 2007 disestablishments in Australia Environmental disaster ghost towns 2007 in the environment Shire of Ashburton Asbestos mines