Fortescue Falls and Dales Gorge, Karijini National Park, near Wittenoom Western Australia. | Hoodoo Gurus

A 1953 photograph from Wittenoom, Australia, shows two four-year-old boys—Philip Noble and Ross Munroe—playing in an asbestos-filled sandpit. At the time, asbestos dangers were not well known, and children often played unaware of the long-term risks. Tragically, both boys later developed mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer caused by asbestos exposure. Noble died at 36 after a football career, while Munroe, who became a school principal, passed away at 38—both stories underscoring the hidden dange

Wittenoom in Western Australia is a ghost town at the centre of what's considered the biggest contaminated site in the southern hemisphere. Traditional owners are calling for the clean up of an estimated three million tonnes of deadly blue asbestos tailings. | 7.30