- One Tree explosion, 27 September 1956, part of the Operation Buffalo test series. Photo courtesy of Alan Parkinson
- Maralinga (the Taranaki test site) after the detonation of the 1.4 kt Marcoo test on 4 October 1956. Photo courtesy of Alan Parkinson
The United Kingdom conducted 12 atmospheric tests between 1952 and 1957 on Australian territories at Maralinga, Emu Field, and Monte Bello Island, six atmospheric nuclear tests on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, and three tests on Malden Island in the central Pacific Ocean. A number of the bombs tested were more powerful than those dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During the testing period, roughly 16,000 Australian civilians and servicemen were involved in the tests and 22,000 British servicemen were exposed to nuclear fallout.
Maralinga test site
Seven nuclear tests were carried out at Maralinga in South Australia between 1955 and 1963 (Operation Buffalo and Operation Antler) at various sites including Kuli, Taranaki, the TM area, and Wewak. Many of the Maralinga Tjarutja indigenous population, who were relocated, continued to move throughout the region at the time of the tests. It was later discovered that a traditional Aboriginal route crossed through the Maralinga testing range.
“Minor trials”
Considerable contamination resulted from the “minor trials” at Maralinga, as detailed by Alan Parkinson in Maralinga: The Clean-Up of a Nuclear Test Site. The trials were designed to test the safety and security of British nuclear weapons in case of an accident and to improve the trigger mechanisms, which were subjected to chemical explosions, heat and other tests. The resultant destruction produced plumes of radioactive material in the form of fine particles. These particles fell to Earth over a wide area of the test range and in some cases, beyond it. There were up to 600 minor trials, which contaminated Maralinga with approximately 8,000 kg of uranium, 24 kg of plutonium, and 100 kg of beryllium, according to Jim Green’s report on Radioactive Racism in Australia. Plutonium, one of the most toxic radionuclides with a half-life of 24,000 years (see Chart 1), remains scattered around a huge area. The effects were not only radiological: the indigenous population’s forced relocation from their traditional lands also caused psycho-social and cultural problems.
- Map showing nuclear test sites in Australia
Monte Bello Islands
The nuclear tests conducted at the Monte Bello Islands off the coast of Western Australia spread radioactivity across large portions of mainland Australia. Considerable publicity in Australia in the early 1980s about the health and environmental impacts led to the setting up of the McClelland Royal Commission in 1984. The Commission concluded that: “The presence of Aborigines on the mainland near Monte Bello Islands and their extra vulnerability to the effect of fallout was not recognised by either [the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment - UK] or the Safety Committee. It was a major oversight that the question of acceptable dose levels for Aborigines was recognized as a problem at Maralinga but was ignored in setting the fallout criteria for the Mosaic tests”, which were conducted in mid-1956 and involved the detonation of two weapons at the Monte Bello site.
Vulnerability of indigenous populations
Authorities paid little or no attention to the vulnerability of indigenous people to the radiological effects of the tests. Factors such as inadequate clothing, ingestion of food contaminated with radioactive material, movement patterns, language barriers (many indigenous people could not read the English warning signs), and general health status rendered them susceptible to the effects of nuclear testing.
In addition, Aboriginal people usually lacked amenities such as piped water, hard permanent dwellings with dust proofing, and bathroom and drainage facilities, which would have afforded them more protection from the fallout.
Test shrouded in secrecy
The general public had little knowledge about the British nuclear testing programme since it was confidential. The remoteness of the tests from major population centres also meant that public opposition and awareness of the risks involved were very slow to develop, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology in A Toxic Legacy: British nuclear weapons testing in Australia.
