Gina: a real life Succession story, episode 7

Gina Rinehart’s father, Lang Hancock, is well known as a pioneer of Australia’s iron ore industry but few realise Hancock started his mining career on a smaller scale and digging for a different substance – blue asbestos. Hancock and his partner started the mining operation at Wittenoom in the 1940s before selling it to CSR, which mined the area for 20 more years. Wittenoom has become synonymous with the tragedy that unfolded for the thousands who lived and worked there after exposure to asbestos fibres. In this episode of Gina, we interrogate some of the stories her family chooses to celebrate – and others they don’t