From the ABC:
Up until earlier this year, Wyndham — the gateway to the East Kimberley, had revelled in the mining boom.
“Yeah, we had that boom period and it was good, a bit like having a party for a while and now we are just back to normal again,” Wyndham Port Authority’s Steve Forrest said.
…At the peak of the boom the big miners — BHP and Rio Tinto — employed about 2,000 Indigenous locals each.
For Douglas Lewis, who started out helping to load the ships, it was his first ever job.
“We had a good crew, the boys had a laugh, you know. Good to have them around. They enjoyed it too,” he said.
“They looked forward to going to work every day.”
Christine Williams, a teacher’s aid at the local school, said Wyndham’s prosperity changed people’s lives.
“You could see that the kids were proud of their dads working,” she said.
“They were at school early because dad had that routine.”
…In February this year, KMG placed its Ridges mine into care and maintenance — essentially shutting it down.
Now it looks like Wyndham’s short-lived prosperity will dry up.
Mr Lewis said the change from work to no work was a big one.
“The town just looked, it looked more healthy,” he said.
“Like they weren’t drinking every day. There wasn’t any fighting. The boys were all set to work. And we were all together and it was good.
“But now it’s gone back to that again. And it’s gone downhill. It’s not good.”
And it will get much worse as well as widespread as WA enters a recession so long and deep it will likely be viewed as a depression in retrospect.
