TEARS well in David King’s eyes as he reels off the names of former work mates who died of cancer after working with radioactive oil and other toxic chemicals at a Newport site.
There are community calls for the site – Jack Madigan Reserve on the corner of Challis and Mason streets – to be considred for use as a community garden.
Mr King, 57, has cancer, too. Of his 27 former workmates, he says 16 died from cancer, along with his wife, who washed his dirty work clothes.
During World War II, Australia’s navy used the site to store ship oil underground. According to public records, the site was later used as a solid landfill tip.
Mr King, who worked as a driver for the defence department, transporting chemicals from Williamstown’s former dockyards to the site, says this information is “totally wrong”.
“I went to the EPA in the early ’90s and I had a list of all the chemicals that went into that hole and told them,” he said. “They said they couldn’t do anything because it was a defence force site.” Chemicals on the list included mercury and radioactive oil.
“And many, many drums of chemicals and paints that were out of date in rusty tins … when they were thrown in there, they just burst open on impact in the bottom of the hole,” Mr King said.
“If people wanted to look at the fire brigade’s records, they’d find that there was an underground chemical fire there [in the 1980s] caused by the mixture of the stuff that was in the ground.
“In the early ’90s I got sick, went off . . . to hospital and was diagnosed with cancer – carcinoid syndrome, which is very rare.
“Another thing that worries me is that I used to come home in my overalls . . . with, like, asbestos and things on my clothes, and played with my children, who were young at the time. And my wife also washed those clothes. She died two years ago of cancer.”
Hobsons Bay council and the Environment Protection Authority have given conflicting information about whether the site poses a public health risk.
The council said an independent environment audit had been done with a final report submitted to the EPA in April.
Mayor Angela Altair said: ‘‘Jack Madigan Reserve does not pose a threat to community safety.’’
She said the auditor found ‘‘that the gas release was minimal and the asbestos has been cleaned from the surface’’.
But the EPA said the audit was still under review.
Transition Hobsons Bay member Jenny Mitchell, who organised a community meeting on Saturday to discuss options for reopening the site for recreational use, said she was shocked at the revelations.
“Will the capping contain whatever is under there,” she asked. “Will those chemicals be getting into the water table?” Mr King has met Prime Minister Julia Gillard to discuss the health and environmental concerns about the site. Ms Gillard’s office was not able to respond to the Weekly’s call for comment by deadline.
