Fifty years ago, a radical idea saved historic mining town from dust
Dust storms would blanket the sky and send people running indoors in this outback mining city. Fifty years ago, one man arrived in town with a radical idea that changed Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
In the 1970s, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, a mining town in Western Australia, battled severe dust storms that disrupted daily life. Dr. Doug Daws, a local, remembered how dust would force people to quickly seek shelter indoors. In response, Julian Grill, a newcomer from Broken Hill, proposed planting wood chips, planting trees, and creating reserves to mitigate the dust.
Despite skepticism, Grill's idea led to the formation of the Goldfields Dust Abatement Committee, which protected 3,500 hectares of forest. Over two decades, the dust storms significantly diminished, reducing to levels well below national air quality standards. Today, the committee, now called Kalgoorlie-Boulder Urban Land Care Group, continues to focus on greening efforts and maintaining the forest reserves.
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