Sydney- Australians like resourceful types who go their own way in the wide brown land, thumbing their noses at authority and getting as close to nature as they can. They call them larrikins and think of them as being top people. Austrian-born Mario Hartmann, 43, has the attributes of a local hero. He's one of eight people remaining in Wittenoom, a once-vibrant mining town 1,500 kilometres north of Perth. The eight are fighting a state government edict for them to leave.
Officials have been pushing to close Wittenoom since 1978. Fears the fibre deposits that are the legacy of asbestos mining threaten residents and visitors with the fatal disease mesothelioma sparked the decision to close the town.
Hartmann fell in love with Wittenoom when he passed through as a backpacker 18 years ago. It's a dead-set beauty spot. Near the glorious Wittenoom Gorge and in the shadow of the majestic Hamersley Range, its everything an outback oasis ought to be.
Last year the power and water was switched off, leaving the recalcitrants relying on pumps and generators. The dirt road off the main highway is left in disrepair. Without a shop, the gang of eight are obliged to drive 140 kilometres to the mining town of Tom Price to get their groceries.
This year the campaign intensified. Wittenoom was gazetted as no longer existing. It's been taken off the map, its road signs taken down. Officials have also armed themselves with a report declaring the town an "extreme" health risk to those who live there and those who pass through.
A resettlement package of 40,000 Australian dollars (30,000 US dollars) awaits those of the eight who run up the white flag and agree to leave. Hartmann, the local postman, vows to stay put even if the offer is increased tenfold.
Meg Timewell, 61, insists that the asbestosis danger passed with the closure of the mine and that the authorities are wrong in fearing compensation claims from tourists passing through who may subsequently contract lung disease.
"There is no significant health risk in this town," Timewell, who moved to Wittenoom 30 years ago, told national broadcaster ABC. "We do believe that there is a hidden agenda."
Timewell claims an iron ore mine is set to open the moment the last person leaves. She says the locals are being moved on to make way for a mine.
With no-one moving in, and Wittenoom's population down to eight from over 200 in the 1980s, the gang say they should be left in peace.
Paul Fitzgerald, the town's Catholic priest in the 10 years to 1972, also insists he is staying put. "There's no where else I would wish to live," the 77-year-old says.
Just how lovely life in Wittenoom can be for outdoor types is illustrated by the daily dip Hartmann takes with compatriot Walter Prummer in a rock pool at the gorge. Prummer, 46, spends half the year in Wittenoom and half the year working in the city as as a house painter.
