Nearly 20 years after an unexplained cancer cluster forced the evacuation of a major workplace, a new chapter has begun on the site where dozens of women and their families were left searching for answers.
The riverfront block on Coronation Dr in Toowong, Brisbane, was evacuated in 2006 after an unusually high number of breast cancer diagnoses among female employees and has now been transformed into two apartment towers known as Monarch Residences.
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The 224 apartments have sold out, with the final residence reportedly fetching $4.1 million ahead of the project’s official opening on Thursday.
The site was home to Queensland’s main ABC radio and television operations for more than 50 years before it was abandoned in 2006 after a workplace health investigation.
Former ABC sports presenter Ian Eckersley, who worked at the site for 18 years and was among staff involved in a dramatic walkout that sparked the investigation, said it was important the history of the site was not forgotten.
“I think it’s important on days like this that people don’t forget that this site was home to women and men from ABC Queensland, broadcasting from here for over 50 years,” he said.
The broadcaster’s Toowong headquarters became the focus of national attention after a growing number of female employees were diagnosed with breast cancer.
“It was two, then it was four, then suddenly it was creeping up into almost double figures,” Eckersley recalled.
“All young women, that was the other remarkable thing. So many under the age of 40.”
In June 2006, staff staged a walkout after the 12th woman was diagnosed with breast cancer, demanding answers and action from management.
The cluster ultimately affected more than 20 women, according to Eckersley, with several later dying from the disease.
“There was a lot of fear, uncertainty, people grappling for answers,” he said.
An expert investigation examined a wide range of possible causes, including soil, water and air quality as well as electromagnetic fields within the building, but failed to identify a definitive explanation.
However, the inquiry did conclude the statistical likelihood of the cluster occurring by chance was about one in a million, a finding prompting ABC managing director Mark Scott to evacuate and abandon the site in December 2006.
Eckersley said the decision dramatically altered the broadcaster’s Queensland operations.
“The ABC Queensland was changed forever because it had to evacuate the site literally on a few hours’ notice,” he said.
Twenty years on, the cause of the cancer cluster remains unknown.
Developer Consolidated Properties Group said extensive due diligence and testing had been undertaken before construction of the residential project.
“Absolutely safe. That was the first thing we looked at when we did our due diligence on the site,” executive chairman James MacGinley said.
“We read every report there was to read, did our own testing.
“We hope that Monarch Residences becomes a real centrepiece of the Toowong community.”
The development of the two 15-storey towers mark the first major redevelopment of the site since the broadcaster’s rushed departure.
The riverfront block covers about 1.5 hectares and includes the heritage-listed Middenbury House, which predates the broadcaster’s occupation by almost a century.
