What a powerful evening at Windsor Cinema on Monday night.

NCARD’s special health-focused screening of YURLU | COUNTRY drew a wonderful crowd, with NCARD staff past and present joined by colleagues from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital for what proved to be a deeply moving night.

Directed by Walkley Award-winning filmmaker Yaara Bou Melhem and co-created with Banjima Elder Maitland Parker, YURLU | COUNTRY follows Maitland’s final year as he fights to heal his ancestral lands in the Pilbara, home to the largest uncontained contaminated site in the world. For eighty years, blue asbestos mining and its waste have poisoned Banjima Country, and Aboriginal communities in Western Australia experience some of the highest mesothelioma death rates in the world.

The post-film Q&A with Professor Gary Lee, Dr Melvin Chin, Coreen Parker, Johnnell Parker and filmmaker Yaara Bou Melhem sparked important conversations about clinical care, research and advocacy in the context of asbestos-related disease.

This film reminds us of the importance of NCARD’s work in supporting communities affected by asbestos exposure and advancing research to improve outcomes for those living with mesothelioma.

Thank you to everyone who came along to walk with Banjima and support the Clean Up Wittenoom campaign.