bronwen duke, on the tragedy of wittenoom. and the story of uzi even, a former israeli intelligence colonel. it was uzi who, in the 1990s, led the battle for equal rights for gay and lesbian soldiers in israel's military. ijoined the military and i served in the formal service and then as a reserve officer for almost 20 years. i was up to the level of colonel in intelligence. the law at the time was that if you are known to be gay, you cannot have access to classified information. because of the belief that they were prone to extortion. the atmosphere in israel was such that you didn't talk about gays, like something to be ashamed of. i had to live like that, in the shadows. it's not a pleasant way of living. being in the closet is very difficult. in 1982, in a standard security clearance check, people came here and asked about how i lived here. at that time, i had a lover with me, living together. and that was enough to cause an avalanche of events that ended in my being demoted to a low—ranking clerical position. no reasons

bronwen duke lived in the town as a child, and she has been speaking to witness.eriously until they started to die. i lost both parents, both grandparents, my brother, three uncles, and about four cousins that ican think uncles, and about four cousins that i can think of, and that isjust uncles, and about four cousins that i can think of, and that is just the immediate family in my world. i was born in 1958 in the far north of western australia in a little town called wittenoom. the asbestos mine was the genesis of the town. asbestos is a naturalfibre was the genesis of the town. asbestos is a natural fibre that is encased in box. they would extract the asbestos out of the mind, and the asbestos out of the mind, and the mail would actually bent back it ready for ship meant and it was shed —— sent to places all around the world for the various things they use asbestos for. by arista distinct insulating product known as asbestos isa insulating product known as asbestos is a piece of rock. the practical uses of asbestos are numerous, 18,000 articles are made of it, l

bronwen duke lived in the town as a child. she has been speaking to our history programme, witness.t taken seriously until people started to die. all lost both parents, both grandparents, my brother, three uncles, four cousins and that is just the immediate family in my world. i was born in 195080 in the far north of western australia in a little town called wittenoom. the blue asbestos mine was the genesis of the town. it is encased in rocks. they would extract the asbestos out of the mind and they would make it and it was ready the shipment, sent to all places around the world for the various things they used asbestos. a sound intimating product, asbestos is a piece of rock. the practical uses are numerous. at least 18,000 articles made from it. linings from friction services, the bolters for aeroplanes. there were a lot of immigrants that came into australia after the second world war and a lot of them were just looking forjobs and there were jobs to be had of them were just looking forjobs and there werejobs to be had in wittenoom. my dad was one of them. he was a jack of all tr