Between 1956 and 1963, the United Kingdom conducted seven
nuclear test
Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected by ...
s at the
Maralinga
Maralinga, in the remote western areas of South Australia, was the site, measuring about in area, of British nuclear tests in the mid-1950s.
In January 1985 native title was granted to the Maralinga Tjarutja, a southern Pitjantjatjara Aborigi ...
site in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, part of the
Woomera Prohibited Area
The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility and operation located in South Australia, approximately north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a di ...
about north west of
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
. Two major test series were conducted: Operation Buffalo in 1956 and Operation Antler the following year. Approximate
weapon yields ranged from . The Maralinga site was also used for minor trials, tests of nuclear weapons components not involving nuclear explosions. Kittens were trials of
neutron initiator
A modulated neutron initiator is a neutron source capable of producing a burst of neutrons on activation. It is a crucial part of some nuclear weapons, as its role is to "kick-start" the chain reaction at the optimal moment when the configuration i ...
s; Rats and Tims measured how the
fissile
In nuclear engineering, fissile material is material capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction. By definition, fissile material can sustain a chain reaction with neutrons of thermal energy. The predominant neutron energy may be typ ...
core
Core or cores may refer to:
Science and technology
* Core (anatomy), everything except the appendages
* Core (manufacturing), used in casting and molding
* Core (optical fiber), the signal-carrying portion of an optical fiber
* Core, the central ...
of a nuclear weapon was compressed by the high explosive shock wave; and Vixens investigated the effects of fire or non-nuclear explosions on atomic weapons. The minor trials, numbering around 550, ultimately generated far more contamination than the major tests.
Operation Buffalo consisted of four tests; One Tree () and Breakaway () were detonated on towers, Marcoo () at ground level, and the Kite () was released by a
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(RAF)
Vickers Valiant
The Vickers Valiant was a British high-altitude jet bomber designed to carry nuclear weapons, and in the 1950s and 1960s was part of the Royal Air Force's "V bomber" strategic deterrent force. It was developed by Vickers-Armstrongs in response ...
bomber from a height of . This was the first drop of a British nuclear weapon from an aircraft. Operation Antler in 1957 tested new, light-weight nuclear weapons. Three tests were conducted in this series: Tadje (), Biak () and Taranak (). The first two were conducted from towers, while the last was suspended from balloons. Tadje used
cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, pr ...
pellets as a tracer for determining yield, resulting in rumours that Britain was developing a
cobalt bomb
A cobalt bomb is a type of "salted bomb": a nuclear weapon designed to produce enhanced amounts of radioactive fallout, intended to contaminate a large area with radioactive material, potentially for the purpose of radiological warfare, mutual as ...
.
The site was left contaminated with
radioactive waste
Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons r ...
, and an initial cleanup was attempted in 1967. The
McClelland Royal Commission
The McClelland Royal Commission or Royal Commission into British nuclear tests in Australia was an inquiry by the Australian government in 1984–1985 to investigate the conduct of the British in its use, with the then Australian government's p ...
, an examination of the effects of the minor trials and major tests, delivered its report in 1985, and found that significant radiation hazards still existed at many of the Maralinga sites. It recommended another cleanup, which was completed in 2000 at a cost of
AUD
The Australian dollar ( sign: $; code: AUD) is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Isla ...
$108 million (equivalent to $ in ). Debate continued over the safety of the site and the long-term health effects on the traditional
Aboriginal
Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to:
*Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology
* Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area
*One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...
custodians of the land and former personnel. In 1994, the Australian Government paid compensation amounting to $13.5 million (equivalent to $ in ) to the traditional owners, the
Maralinga Tjarutja
The Maralinga Tjarutja, or Maralinga Tjarutja Council, is the corporation representing the traditional Anangu owners of the remote western areas of South Australia known as the Maralinga Tjarutja lands. The council was established by the ''Mara ...
people. The last part of the land remaining in the Woomera Prohibited Area was returned to free access in 2014.
By the late 1970s there was a marked change in how the Australian media covered the British nuclear tests. Some journalists investigated the subject and political scrutiny became more intense. Journalist
Brian Toohey
Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world.
It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meani ...
ran a series of stories in the ''
Australian Financial Review
''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...
'' in October 1978, based in part on a leaked Cabinet submission. In June 1993, ''
New Scientist
''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publishe ...
'' journalist Ian Anderson wrote an article titled "Britain's dirty deeds at Maralinga" and several related articles. In 2007, ''
Maralinga: Australia's Nuclear Waste Cover-up'' by
Alan Parkinson documented the unsuccessful clean-up at Maralinga. Popular songs about the Maralinga story have been written by
Paul Kelly and
Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil (known informally as "The Oils") are an Australian rock band composed of Peter Garrett (vocals, harmonica), Rob Hirst (drums), Jim Moginie (guitar, keyboard) and Martin Rotsey (guitar). The group was formed in Sydney in 1972 by ...
.
Background
During the early part of the Second World War, Britain had a
nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...
s project, code-named
Tube Alloys
Tube Alloys was the research and development programme authorised by the United Kingdom, with participation from Canada, to develop nuclear weapons during the Second World War. Starting before the Manhattan Project in the United States, the Bri ...
, which the 1943
Quebec Agreement
The Quebec Agreement was a secret agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States outlining the terms for the coordinated development of the science and engineering related to nuclear energy and specifically nuclear weapons. It was s ...
merged with the American
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
to create a combined American, British, and Canadian project. The British Government expected that the United States would continue to share nuclear technology, which it regarded as a joint discovery, after the war, but the US
Atomic Energy Act of 1946
The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act) determined how the United States would control and manage the nuclear technology it had jointly developed with its World War II allies, the United Kingdom and Canada. Most significantly, the Act rule ...
(McMahon Act) ended technical co-operation. Fearing a resurgence of
United States isolationism
United States non-interventionism primarily refers to the foreign policy that was eventually applied by the United States between the late 18th century and the first half of the 20th century whereby it sought to avoid alliances with other nations ...
, and Britain losing its
great power
A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power inf ...
status, the British Government restarted its own development effort, under the cover name "
High Explosive Research
High Explosive Research (HER) was the British project to develop atomic bombs independently after the Second World War. This decision was taken by a cabinet sub-committee on 8 January 1947, in response to apprehension of an American retur ...
".
![United Kingdom Minister for Defence, Mr Duncan Sandys on a tour of Australia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/United_Kingdom_Minister_for_Defence%2C_Mr_Duncan_Sandys_on_a_tour_of_Australia.jpg)
In the 1950s Britain was still Australia's largest trading partner, although it was overtaken by Japan and the United States by the 1960s. Britain and Australia still had strong cultural ties, and
Robert Menzies
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
, the
Prime Minister of Australia
The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...
from 1949 to 1966, was strongly pro-British. Most Australians were of British descent, and Britain was still the largest source of immigrants to Australia, mainly because British ex-servicemen and their families qualified for free passage, and other British migrants received
subsidised passage on ships from the UK to Australia. Australian and British troops fought together in the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
from 1950 to 1953 and the
Malayan Emergency
The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...
that went from 1948 to 1960. Australia still maintained close defence ties with Britain through the Australia New Zealand and Malaya (ANZAM) area, which was created in 1948. Australian war plans of this era continued to be integrated with those of Britain, and involved reinforcing British forces in the Middle East and Far East.
The Australian Government had hopes of collaboration with Britain on both
nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...
and nuclear weapons, and was particularly interested in developing the former, as the country was then thought to have no oil and only limited supplies of coal. Plans for nuclear power were considered along with
hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...
as part of the post-war
Snowy Mountains Scheme
The Snowy Mountains Scheme or Snowy scheme is a hydroelectricity and irrigation complex in south-east Australia. The Scheme consists of sixteen major dams; nine power stations; two pumping stations; and of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts that ...
, but Australia was not a party to the 1948 ''
Modus Vivendi
''Modus vivendi'' (plural ''modi vivendi'') is a Latin phrase that means "mode of living" or " way of life". It often is used to mean an arrangement or agreement that allows conflicting parties to coexist in peace. In science, it is used to descr ...
'', the nuclear agreement between the US and UK which superseded the wartime Quebec Agreement. This cut Australian scientists off from technical information to which they formerly had access. Britain would not share it with Australia for fear that it might jeopardise the far more important relationship with the United States, and the Americans were reluctant to do so after the
Venona project
The Venona project was a United States counterintelligence program initiated during World War II by the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service (later absorbed by the National Security Agency), which ran from February 1, 1943, until Octob ...
revealed the extent of Soviet espionage activities in Australia. The creation of
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
(NATO) in 1949 excluded Australia from the Western Alliance.
On 3 October 1952 the United Kingdom tested its first nuclear weapon in
Operation Hurricane
Operation Hurricane was the first test of a Nuclear weapons of the United Kingdom, British atomic device. A plutonium Nuclear weapon design#Implosion-type weapon, implosion device was detonated on 3 October 1952 in Main Bay, Trimouille Island ...
in the
Montebello Islands
The Montebello Islands, also rendered as the Monte Bello Islands, are an archipelago of around 174 small islands (about 92 of which are named) lying north of Barrow Island (Western Australia), Barrow Island and off the Pilbara region of We ...
off the coast of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
. A year later the first nuclear tests on the Australian mainland were carried out in
Operation Totem
Operation Totem was a pair of British atmospheric nuclear tests which took place at Emu Field in South Australia in October 1953. They followed the Operation Hurricane test of the first British atomic bomb, which had taken place at the Montebell ...
at
Emu Field
Emu Field is located in the desert of South Australia, at (ground zero Totem I test). Variously known as Emu Field, Emu Junction or Emu, it was the site of the Operation Totem pair of nuclear tests conducted by the British government in Octobe ...
in the
Great Victoria Desert
The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia.
History
In 1875, British-born Australian explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cross th ...
in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, with a detonation on 15 October and a second two weeks later on 27 October.
The Australian
Minister for Supply,
Howard Beale, stated in 1955 that "England has the know how; we have the open spaces, much technical skill and a great willingness to help the Motherland. Between us we should help to build the defences of the free world, and make historic advances in harnessing the forces of nature."
Maralinga site
Selection
Neither the Montebello Islands nor Emu Field were considered suitable as permanent test sites, although Montebello was used again in 1956 for
Operation Mosaic
Operation Mosaic was a series of two British nuclear tests conducted in the Monte Bello Islands in Western Australia on 16 May and 19 June 1956. These tests followed the Operation Totem series and preceded the Operation Buffalo series. The sec ...
. Montebello could be accessed only by sea, and Emu Field had problems with its water supply and dust storms. The British Government's preferred permanent test site remained the
Nevada Test Site
The Nevada National Security Site (N2S2 or NNSS), known as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until 2010, is a United States Department of Energy (DOE) reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of th ...
in the United States, but by 1953 it was no closer to securing access to it than it had been in 1950. When
William Penney
William George Penney, Baron Penney, (24 June 19093 March 1991) was an English mathematician and professor of mathematical physics at the Imperial College London and later the rector of Imperial College London. He had a leading role in the d ...
, the Chief Superintendent Armament Research, visited South Australia in October 1952, he gave the Australian Government a summary of the requirements of a permanent test site. In May 1953, the UK
Chiefs of Staff Committee
The Chiefs of Staff Committee (CSC) is composed of the most senior military personnel in the British Armed Forces who advise on operational military matters and the preparation and conduct of military operations. The committee consists of the Ch ...
were advised that one was needed. They delegated the task of finding one to
Air Marshal Sir
Thomas Elmhirst
Air Marshal Sir Thomas Walker Elmhirst, (15 December 1895 – 6 November 1982), was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force in the first half of the 20th century and the first commander-in-chief of the Royal Indian Air Force upon Indian indepe ...
, the chairman of the Totem Executive (Totex), which had been formed in the UK to coordinate the Operation Totem tests. He wrote to
J. E. S. Stevens
Major General Sir Jack Edwin Stawell Stevens, (7 September 1896 – 20 May 1969) was a senior officer in the Australian Army during the Second World War. He was best known as the commanding officer of the 6th Division from 1943 to 1945.
Earl ...
, the
permanent secretary
A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...
of the Australian Department of Supply, and the chairman of the Totem Panel that coordinated the Australian contribution to Operation Totem, and outlined the requirements of a permanent test site, which were:
* A radius free of human habitation;
* Road and rail communications to a port;
* A nearby airport;
* A tolerable climate for staff and visitors;
* Low rainfall;
* Predictable weather conditions;
* Winds that would carry the fallout safely away from inhabited areas; and
* Reasonably flat terrain;
* Isolation for security.
Elmhirst suggested that a site might be found in
Groote Eylandt
Groote Eylandt ( Anindilyakwa: ''Ayangkidarrba'' meaning "island" ) is the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the fourth largest island in Australia. It was named by the explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 and is Dutch for "Large Island" in ...
in the
Gulf of Carpentaria
The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary is ...
or north of Emu Field, where it could be connected by road and rail to
Oodnadatta
Oodnadatta is a small, remote outback town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia, located north-north-west of the state capital of Adelaide by road or direct, at an altitude of . The unsealed Oodnadatta Track, an outback road ...
, and where water could more easily be found than at Emu Field. Stevens rated both as unsuitable; Groote Eylandt was wooded and rocky, with a pronounced rainy season, no port facilities, and a long way from the nearest major settlements of
Darwin and
Cairns
Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
; while the area north of Emu Field had scarce water, few roads and was on the axis of the
Long Range Weapons Establishment
The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility and operation located in South Australia, approximately north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a di ...
(LRWE), which meant that there would be a competing claim on the use of the area.
Group Captain
Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...
George Pither conducted an aerial survey of the area north of the
Trans-Australian Railway
The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. As the only rail freight corridor between Western Australia and the easter ...
between
Ooldea
Ooldea is a tiny settlement in South Australia. It is on the eastern edge of the Nullarbor Plain, west of Port Augusta on the Trans-Australian Railway. Ooldea is from the bitumen Eyre Highway.
Being near a permanent waterhole, Ooldea Soak, th ...
and
Cook, South Australia
Cook is a railway station and crossing loop located in the Australian state of South Australia on the Trans-Australian Railway. It is about west by rail from Port Augusta and about north of the Eyre Highway via an unsealed road.(1927)''Trav ...
. This was followed by a ground reconnaissance in four
land rover
Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...
s and two four-wheel drive trucks by Pither,
Wing Commander
Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...
Kevin Connolly, Frank Beavis (an expert in soil chemistry),
Len Beadell
Leonard Beadell OAM BEM FIEMS (21 April 1923 – 12 May 1995) was a surveyor, road builder, bushman, artist and author, responsible for constructing over of roads and opening up isolated desert areas – some – of central Australia f ...
and the two truck drivers. An area was found north of Ooldea, and a temporary airstrip was created in two days by land rovers dragging a length of railway line to level it, where Penney,
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...
Charles Taplin and Chief Scientist
Alan Butement landed in a
Bristol Freighter
The Bristol Type 170 Freighter is a British twin-engine aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as both a freighter and airliner. Its best known use was as an air ferry to carry cars and their passengers over relatively sh ...
on 17 October 1953, two days after the Totem 1 test at Emu Field.
![Emu - Ooldea - Tietkens Well reconnaissance - Photo 22](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Emu_-_Ooldea_-_Tietkens_Well_reconnaissance_-_Photo_22.jpg)
The site, initially known as X.300, was nowhere near as good as the Nevada Test Site, with its excellent communications, but was considered acceptable. It was flat and dry, but not affected by dust storms like Emu Field, and the geologists were confident that the desired per annum could be obtained by boring. Rainwater tanks were recommended, and it was estimated that if
bore water
An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. An artesian aquifer has trapped water, surrounded by layers of impermeable rock or clay, which apply positive pressure to the water contained within th ...
could not be obtained, a water pipeline could be laid to bring water from
Port Augusta
Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...
. This was estimated to cost
AU £53,000 to construct and AU £50,000 per annum to operate. On 25 November, Butement officially named the X.300 site "Maralinga" in a meeting at the Department of Supply. This was an Aboriginal word meaning "thunder", but not in the
Western Desert language of the local people; it came from Garik, an extinct language originally spoken around
Port Essington
Port Essington is an inlet and historic site located on the Cobourg Peninsula in the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. It was the site of an early attempt at British settlement, but now exists only as a remote ...
in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
.
On 2 August 1954, the
High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Australia lodged a formal request for a permanent proving ground for multiple series of nuclear tests expected to be conducted over the course of the next decade and a preliminary agreement between the Australian and British Governments was reached on 26 August. A mission consisting of six officials and scientists headed by J. M. Wilson, the under-secretary of the UK
Ministry of Supply
The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...
(MoS) visited Australia in December to evaluate the Maralinga site, and reported that it was excellent. The new site was officially announced by Beale on 4 April 1955, and the
Australian Cabinet
The Cabinet of Australia (or Federal Cabinet) is the chief decision-making organ of the executive branch of the government of Australia. It is a council of senior government ministers, ultimately responsible to the Federal Parliament.
Minister ...
gave its assent on 4 May. A formal Memorandum of Arrangements for use of Maralinga was signed on 7 March 1956. It specified that the site would be available for ten years; that no thermonuclear tests would be carried out; that the British Government would be liable for all claims of death or injury to people or damage to property as a result of the tests, except those to British Government personnel; that Australian concurrence would be required before any test could be carried out; and that the Australian authorities would be kept fully informed.
Maralinga was to be developed as a joint facility, co-funded by the British and Australian Governments.
The range covered , with a test area. With savings arising from the relocation of buildings, stores and equipment from Emu Field taken into account, the cost of developing Maralinga as a permanent site was estimated to cost AU £1.9 million, compared with AU £3.6 million for Emu Field. The British Government welcomed Australian financial assistance, and Australian participation avoided the embarrassment that would have come from building a UK base on Australian soil. On the other hand, it was recognised that Australian participation would likely mean that the Australians would demand access to even more information than in Operation Totem. This had implications for Britain's relationship with the United States. Sharing information with the Australians would make it harder to secure Britain's ultimate goal, of restoring the wartime nuclear
Special Relationship
The Special Relationship is a term that is often used to describe the politics, political, social, diplomacy, diplomatic, culture, cultural, economics, economic, law, legal, Biophysical environment, environmental, religion, religious, military ...
with the United States, and gaining access to information pertaining to the design and manufacture of US nuclear weapons.
Development
![Temporary Access Road - Watson - Tietkens Well](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Temporary_Access_Road_-_Watson_-_Tietkens_Well.jpg)
A railhead and a quarry were established at
Watson
Watson may refer to:
Companies
* Actavis, a pharmaceutical company formerly known as Watson Pharmaceuticals
* A.S. Watson Group, retail division of Hutchison Whampoa
* Thomas J. Watson Research Center, IBM research center
* Watson Systems, make ...
, about west of Ooldea, and Beadell's bush track from Watson to Emu became the main
line of communications
A line of communication (or communications) is the route that connects an operating military unit with its supply base. Supplies and reinforcements are transported along the line of communication. Therefore, a secure and open line of communicat ...
for the project. It ran north to the edge of the
Nullarbor Plain
The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...
, then over sand hills and the Leisler Range, a
mallee,
spinifex and
quandong
Quandong, quandang or quondong, is a common name for the species ''Santalum acuminatum'' (desert, sweet, Western quandong), especially its edible fruit, but may also refer to
* '' Aceratium concinnum'' (highroot quandong)
* '' Peripentadenia mear ...
covered escarpment, rising to an altitude of . Range headquarters, known as The Village, and an airstrip with a runway were built near the peg. The track continued north over scrub-cover sand hills to the Teitkins Plain. There at a point that came to be known as Roadside, a control point was established for entry to the forward area where bombs were detonated.
The UK MoS engaged a firm of British engineering consultants,
Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners
Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners was a British firm of consulting civil engineers, based at Queen Anne's Lodge, Queen Anne's Gate and subsequently Telford House, Tothill Street, Westminster, London, until 1974, when it relocated to Earley House, 427 ...
, to design the test facilities and supervise their construction. The work was carried out by the Kwinana Construction Group (KCG) under a
cost-plus contract
A cost-plus contract, also termed a cost plus contract, is a contract such that a contractor is paid for all of its allowed expenses, ''plus'' additional payment to allow for a profit.[Fremantle
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...]
, and it was hoped that it could move on to the new venture immediately, but the delay in obtaining Cabinet's approval meant that work could not start until mid-1955, by which time most of its work force had dispersed. The need to create a new work force caused a cascading series of delays. Assembling a labour force of 1,000 from scratch in such a remote location proved difficult, even when KCG was offering wages as high as AU £40 a week ().
The Australian Government elected to create a tri-service task force to construct the test installations. The Australian Army's Engineer in Chief,
Brigadier
Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...
Ronald McNicoll
Major General Ronald Ramsay McNicoll, (15 September 1906 – 18 September 1996) was an Australian Army general who served in the Royal Australian Engineers.
Early life
Born on 15 September 1906 in Melbourne, Victoria, McNicoll was the son of ...
designated Major
Owen Magee, the Commander,
Royal Australian Engineers
The Royal Australian Engineers (RAE) is the military engineering corps of the Australian Army (although the word corps does not appear in their name or on their badge). The RAE is ranked fourth in seniority of the corps of the Australian Army, be ...
,
Western Command, to lead this task force. He joined a party headed by
Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...
John Blomfield, the MoS Atomic Weapons representative in Australia, on a site inspection, and then flew to the
Atomic Weapons Research Establishment
The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Research ...
(AWRE) at
Aldermaston
Aldermaston is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 1015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basingstoke ...
in the UK in a
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(RAF)
Handley Page Hastings
The Handley Page HP.67 Hastings is a retired British troop-carrier and freight transport aircraft designed and manufactured by aviation company Handley Page for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Upon its introduction to service during September 1948, ...
to review the plans. These were still incomplete, but it gave Magee sufficient information to prepare estimates of the labour and equipment that would be required. The job involved the erection of towers, siting of instrument mounts, grading of of tracks, laying control cables and power lines, and construction of bunkers and other facilities dispersed over an area of but sited to within an accuracy of . The work force could not be fully assembled before 1 March 1956, but the facilities had to be ready for use by the end of July. provided Bloomfield with a list of required stores and equipment. These ranged from timber and nails to drafting gear and two wagon drills.
![Maralinga Committee visits the site](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Maralinga_Committee_visits_the_site.jpg)
The task force, which began assembling in February 1956, included a section from the
Royal Australian Survey Corps
The Royal Australian Survey Corps (RA Svy) was a Corps of the Australian Army, formed on 1 July 1915 and disbanded on 1 July 1996. As one of the principal military survey units in Australia, the role of the Royal Australian Survey Corps was to pro ...
, a troop of the 7th Field Squadron, detachments from the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and a civilian from the
Department of Works and Housing
The Department of Works and Housing was an Australian government department that existed between July 1945 and June 1952.
Scope
Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocation could be found in the Ad ...
. Their first task was establishing their own camp, with tents, showers and toilets. A team from the South Australian Department of Mines sank a series of bores to provide water. Like that at Emu Field, the bore water was
brackish
Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...
. Two Army skid-mounted Cleaver-Brooks
thermocompression
Vapor-compression evaporation is the evaporation method by which a blower, compressor or jet ejector is used to compress, and thus, increase the pressure of the vapor produced. Since the pressure increase of the vapor also generates an increase i ...
distillation units provided water for drinking and cooking. Work on the facilities themselves got off to a slow start, as KCG was running behind schedule, and unable to release promised earthmoving plant. Some
grader
A grader, also commonly referred to as a road grader, motor grader, or simply a blade, is a form of heavy equipment with a long blade used to create a flat surface during grading. Although the earliest models were towed behind horses, and lat ...
s were used by day by KCG and by night by the task force. A call to Blomfield resulted in a grader being shipped from Adelaide to Watson two days later. The arrival of a 23-man detachment of the Radiation Detection Unit of the
Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers
The Canadian Military Engineers (CME; french: links=no, Génie militaire canadien) is the military engineering personnel branch of the Canadian Armed Forces. The members of the branch that wear army uniform comprise the Corps of Royal Canadian Engi ...
was expedited so they arrived in June, and were able to pitch in with the construction effort. In July, supplies coming from the UK were delayed by industrial action at the port of Adelaide.
The work involved laying, testing and burying some of control cable. Each spool of cable weighed about , so where possible they were pre-positioned. The trenches were dug by a cable plough towed by a
Caterpillar D8
The Caterpillar D8 is a medium tracked vehicle, track-type tractor designed and manufactured by Caterpillar Inc., Caterpillar. Though it comes in many configurations, it is usually sold as a bulldozer equipped with a detachable large blade and a ...
tractor. In some cases the limestone was too hard for the plough and the cable was buried by using a grader to cover the cable to the required depth. A similar procedure was followed for laying of power cable. Some 1,300 scaffold frames were erected for mounting instrumentation, held in place by 33,000 anchor pipes. Bunkers ranging in size up to were excavated with explosives and a compressor mounted on a four-wheel drive 3-ton Bedford truck connected to the
jackhammer
A jackhammer (pneumatic drill or demolition hammer in British English) is a pneumatic or electro-mechanical tool that combines a hammer directly with a chisel. It was invented by William Mcreavy, who then sold the patent to Charles Brady Kin ...
part of the 4-inch wagon drill. Explosives were in the form of tubes of
plastic explosive
Plastic explosive is a soft and hand-moldable solid form of explosive material. Within the field of explosives engineering, plastic explosives are also known as putty explosives
or blastics.
Plastic explosives are especially suited for explos ...
left over from a
Bureau of Mineral Resources
Geoscience Australia is an agency of the Australian Government. It carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on all aspects of geoscience, and custodian of the geographic and geological data and knowl ...
seismic survey of the area. The bunker work proceeded so well that the task force was able to assist KCG with its pit excavation work. Some instrument bunkers contained steel cubes. Getting them into the holes was tricky because they weighed , and the largest available crane was a Coles crane. They were manoeuvred into place with the assistance of a TD 24 bulldozer. The Coles crane was also used to erect the two shot towers. Concrete was made ''in situ'', using local quarry dust, limestone and bore water. The Canadians erected metal sheds of a commercial design, which were used to assess blast damage. A tented camp was built for observers at the post by the 23rd Construction Squadron.
![Giles Weather Station in 1955](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Giles_Weather_Station_in_1955.jpg)
Pressed for time, Magee became involved in a series of disputes with the Woomera Range commander, who tried to divert his sappers onto other tasks. In June, the range commander ordered the surveyors to return to Adelaide, which would have brought the work at Maralinga to a halt. Magee went over his head and appealed to the commander of
Central Command,
Major General
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
Arthur Wilson, who flew up from Adelaide and sacked the range commander. Impressed by what he saw at Maralinga, Wilson arranged for the task force to receive a special Maralinga allowance of 16
Australian shillings per day (), and additional leave of two days per month. The British Government added a generous meal allowance of
GBP
Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and t ...
£1 () per day, resulting in a diet of steak, ham, turkey, oysters and crayfish. In June, Beale flew in two planeloads of journalists, including
Chapman Pincher
Henry Chapman Pincher (29 March 1914 – 5 August 2014) was an English journalist, historian and novelist whose writing mainly focused on espionage and related matters, after some early books on scientific subjects.
Early life
Pincher was born ...
and
Hugh Buggy
Edward Hugh Buggy (9 June 1896 – 18 June 1974) was a leading journalist well known as an Australian rules football writer covering the Victorian Football League (renamed in 1989 Australian Football League).
Born at Seymour, Victoria in 1896, B ...
for a press conference. The task force completed all its work on 29 July, two days ahead of schedule, although KCG still had a few remaining tasks.
By 1959, the Maralinga village would have accommodation for 750 people, with catering facilities that could cope with up to 1,600. There were laboratories and workshops, shops, a hospital, church, power station, post office, bank, library, cinema and swimming pool. There were also playing areas for tennis, Australian football, cricket and golf.
Atomic Weapons Tests Safety Committee
Leslie Martin
Sir John Leslie Martin (17 August 1908, in Manchester – 28 July 2000) was an English architect, and a leading advocate of the International Style. Martin's most famous building is the Royal Festival Hall. His work was especially influenced ...
, the scientific adviser at the
Department of Defence Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
, could see no issues with the proposed tests, but recommended that in view of the prospect of tests being conducted at Maralinga on a regular basis, and rising concern worldwide over radioactive fallout from nuclear tests, that a permanent body be established to certify the safety of the tests. This was accepted, and the acting secretary of the
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
Frederick Chilton
Dr. Frederick Chilton is a fictional character appearing in Thomas Harris' novels '' Red Dragon'' (1981) and '' The Silence of the Lambs'' (1988), along with the film and television adaptations of Harris's novels.
In the novels
''Red Dragon''
...
, put forward the names of five scientists: Butement; Martin;
Ernest Titterton
Sir Ernest William Titterton (4 March 1916 – 8 February 1990) was a British nuclear physicist.
A graduate of the University of Birmingham, Titterton worked in a research position under Mark Oliphant, who recruited him to work on radar ...
from the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
in Canberra;
Philip Baxter
Sir John Philip Baxter (7 May 1905 – 5 September 1989) was a British chemical engineer. He was the second director of the University of New South Wales from 1953, continuing as vice-chancellor when the position's title was changed in 1955. Un ...
from the
Australian Atomic Energy Commission
The Australian Atomic Energy Commission (AAEC) was a statutory body of the Australian government.
It was established in 1952, replacing the Atomic Energy Policy Committee. In 1981 parts of the Commission were split off to become part of CSIRO, t ...
; and
Cecil Eddy from the Commonwealth X-ray and Radium Laboratory. Butement, Martin and Titterton had already been observers at the Operation Mosaic and Operation Totem tests. The Department of Defence favoured a committee of three, but Menzies felt that such a small committee would not command sufficient public confidence, and accepted all five. A notable omission was the lack of a meteorologist, and
Leonard Dwyer, the director of the
Bureau of Meteorology
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Australian Government responsible for providing weather services to Australia and surrounding areas. It was established in 1906 under the Meteorology Act, and brought together ...
was later added. The Atomic Weapons Tests Safety Committee (AWTSC) was officially formed on 21 July 1955.
Aboriginal affairs
Menzies told parliament that "no conceivable injury to life, men or property could emerge from the tests". The Maralinga site was inhabited by the
Pitjantjatjara
The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are vari ...
and
Yankunytjatjara
The Yankunytjatjara people, also written Yankuntjatjarra, Jangkundjara, and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia.
Language
Yankunytjatjara is a Western Desert language belonging to the Wati lan ...
Aboriginal
Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to:
*Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology
* Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area
*One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...
people, for whom it had a great spiritual significance. They lived through hunting and gathering activities, and moved over long distances between permanent and semi-permanent locations in groups of about 25, but coming together for special occasions. The construction of the Trans-Australian Railway in 1917 had disrupted their traditional patterns of movement.
Walter MacDougall
Walter Batchelor MacDougall (6 April 1907 – 5 May 1976) was an Australian missionary and patrol officer who worked with the indigenous peoples in the desert regions of Western Australia and South Australia
Biography
MacDougall was born in Morni ...
had been appointed the Native Patrol Officer at Woomera on 4 November 1947, with responsibility for ensuring that Aboriginal people were not harmed by the LRWE's rocket testing program. He was initially assigned to the Department of Works and Housing but was transferred to the Department of Supply in May 1949. As the range of the rockets increased, so too did the range of his patrols, from in October 1949 to in March and April 1952. MacDougall felt that his situation was not appreciated by his superiors, who did not supply him with a vehicle for his own use for three years.
MacDougall estimated that about 1,000 Aboriginal people lived in the Central Australian reserve, which extended to the border with Western Australia. He found them reluctant to reveal important details such as the location of water holes and
sacred sites
Sacred space, sacred ground, sacred place, sacred temple, holy ground, or holy place refers to a location which is deemed to be sacred or hallowed. The sacredness of a natural feature may accrue through tradition or be granted through a bless ...
. His first concern was for their safety, and for that he needed to keep them away from the test site. For this he employed three strategies. The first was to remove the incentive to go there. An important lure was the availability of rations at Ooldea and surrounding missions, so he had them closed. The Ooldea mission was closed in June 1952, and the reserve was revoked in February 1954. The inhabitants were moved to a new settlement at
Yalata
Yalata is an Aboriginal community located west of Ceduna and south of Ooldea on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia. It lies on the traditional lands of the Wirangu people, but the settlement began as Yalata Mission in the ea ...
, but many ritual objects had been concealed and left behind. They preferred the landscape of the desert, and many left Yalata to return to their traditional lands. A more successful tactic was to frighten them. The desert was said to be inhabited by
wanampi, dangerous rainbow serpent spirits that lived in blowholes in the area. The noise of the nuclear tests was attributed to wanampi, as were the dangers of radiation. The decision to establish the
Giles Weather Station
Giles Weather Station (also referred to as Giles Meteorological Station or Giles) is located in Western Australia near the Northern Territory border, about west-south-west of Alice Springs and west of Uluru. It is the only staffed weather sta ...
in the
Rawlinson Ranges
Purli Yurliya or Rawlinson Ranges is a mountain range in the far east of central Western Australia, to the west of the Petermann Ranges, with which it is commonly associated. Both features were given their European names by Ernest Giles, the fir ...
was a complicating factor because it was outside MacDougall's jurisdiction, being just across the border in Western Australia, where the legal environment was different, and the Aboriginal people there had little contact with white people. Another patrol officer position was created, one with powers under the 1954 Western Australian Native Welfare Act, which was filled by a
Sydney University
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...
graduate, Robert Macaulay.
Operation Buffalo
Planning and purpose
Operation Buffalo was the first nuclear test series to be conducted at Maralinga, and the largest ever held in Australia. Planning for the series, initially codenamed Theta, began in mid-1954. It was initially scheduled for April and May 1956, but was pushed back to September and October, when meteorological conditions were most favourable. Ultimately all tests on the Australian mainland were conducted at this time of year. The 1954 plan for Operation Theta called for four tests, each with a different purpose.
The UK's first nuclear weapon,
Blue Danube, was large and cumbersome, being long and wide, and weighed , so only the Royal Air Force (RAF)
V-bombers
The "V bombers" were the Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the United Kingdom's strategic nuclear strike force known officially as the V force or Bomber Command Main Force. The three models of strategic ...
could carry it. In November 1953, the RAF and
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
issued an
Operational Requirement
An Operational Requirement, commonly abbreviated OR, was a United Kingdom (UK) Air Ministry document setting out the required characteristics for a future (i.e., as-yet unbuilt) military aircraft or weapon system.
The numbered OR would describe ...
, OR.1127, for a smaller, lighter weapon with similar yield that could be carried by tactical aircraft. A second requirement for a light-weight bomb arose with the British Government's decision in July 1954 to proceed with a
British hydrogen bomb programme
The British hydrogen bomb programme was the ultimately successful British effort to develop hydrogen bombs between 1952 and 1958.
During the early part of the Second World War, Britain had a nuclear weapons project, codenamed Tube Alloys. At th ...
. Hydrogen bombs required an atomic bomb as a primary, and one was incorporated in the British hydrogen bomb design, known as
Green Granite
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...
.
In response, Aldermaston developed a new warhead called
Red Beard
is a 1965 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa, in his last collaboration with actor Toshiro Mifune. Based on Shūgorō Yamamoto's 1959 short story collection, '' Akahige Shinryōtan'', the film takes pl ...
that was half the size of Blue Danube and weighed one-fifth as much, mainly through innovation in the
pit
Pit or PIT may refer to:
Structure
* Ball pit, a recreation structure
* Casino pit, the part of a casino which holds gaming tables
* Trapping pit, pits used for hunting
* Pit (motor racing), an area of a racetrack where pit stops are conducted
* ...
design, principally the use of an "air lens". Instead of the core being immediately inside the
tamper, there was an air gap between them, with the core suspended on thin wires. This allowed the tamper to gain more momentum before striking the core. The concept had been developed by the Manhattan Project in 1945 and 1946, and permitted a reduction in both the size of the core and the amount of explosives required to compress it.
The first test on the agenda was therefore of the new Red Beard design. OR.1127 also specified a requirement for the device to have variable yields, which Aldermaston attempted to achieve through the addition of small amounts of thermonuclear material, a process known as "boosting". A tower was built at Maralinga for a boosted weapon test in case sufficient
lithium deuteride
Lithium hydride is an inorganic compound with the formula Li H. This alkali metal hydride is a colorless solid, although commercial samples are grey. Characteristic of a salt-like (ionic) hydride, it has a high melting point, and it is not solub ...
could not be produced in time for the Operation Mosaic G2 test. In the event, it was available, and G2 went ahead as scheduled. Various tests of the effects of nuclear weapons were considered, but only one thought to be worth the effort was a test of a ground burst. These were known to produce more fallout and less effect than air bursts, and had therefore been avoided by the Americans, but such a test might produce useful information that the UK might trade with them. A ground test was therefore included in the schedule. A fourth test was an operational test. While the physics package of Blue Danube had been tested, there had been no test of the device in its operational form, so one was included in the Operation Buffalo program.
The interdepartmental Atomic Trials Executive in London, chaired by
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
Sir
Frederick Morgan, assumed responsibility for both Operation Mosaic and Operation Buffalo, sitting as the Mosaic Executive (Mosex) or Buffalo Executive (Buffalex) as appropriate. Sir William Penney was appointed scientific director for Operation Buffalo, with Roy Pilgrim, the head of Aldermaston's Trials Division, as his deputy. Group Captain
Cecil (Ginger) Weir was appointed Task Force Commander. Planning was completed by June 1956. Except for the air drop, all tests were scheduled for 07:00
Central Standard Time
The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Central Standard Time (CST) is six hours behind Coordinate ...
. About 1,350 personnel would be present, including 200 scientists from Aldermaston and Harwell, 70 from other UK departments, 50 Canadians and 30 Australians. There would be 500 RAF and RAAF personnel, and 250 Australian Army servicemen to run the camp. Observers would include politicians, journalists, and six American officials, including
Major General
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
Leland S. Stranathan from the
Armed Forces Special Weapons Project
The Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP) was a United States military agency responsible for those aspects of nuclear weapons remaining under military control after the Manhattan Project was succeeded by the Atomic Energy Commission on ...
,
Alvin C. Graves
Alvin Cushman Graves (November 4, 1909 – July 28, 1965) was an American nuclear physicist who served at the Manhattan Project's Metallurgical Laboratory and the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. After the war, he became the head of ...
from the
Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in ...
,
Frank H. Shelton from
Sandia Laboratories
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), also known as Sandia, is one of three research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Headquartered in Kirtland Air Force Bas ...
and
Brigadier General
Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...
John G. Shinkle from the
White Sands Missile Range
White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established as the White Sands Proving Ground on 9July 1945. White Sands National P ...
.
Test 1: One Tree
![A DC3 lands at 43-mile at Maralinga](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/A_DC3_lands_at_43-mile_at_Maralinga.jpg)
The first test, codenamed One Tree, was a tower-mounted test of
Red Beard
is a 1965 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa, in his last collaboration with actor Toshiro Mifune. Based on Shūgorō Yamamoto's 1959 short story collection, '' Akahige Shinryōtan'', the film takes pl ...
, scheduled for 12 September. This was the main test to which the media were invited. Butement, Dwyer, Martin and Titterton from the AWTSC were present, and Beale arrived from Canberra with a delegation of 26 politicians, but weather conditions were unfavourable, and the test had to be postponed.
![John L Stanier at Maralinga in protective clothing](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/John_L_Stanier_at_Maralinga_in_protective_clothing.jpg)
The schedule was revised to allow for a morning (07:00) or evening (17:00) test, and after a few days of unfavourable weather it was rescheduled for 23 September. Once again the politicians arrived but returned disappointed. This put Penney under great pressure. On the one hand, if Maralinga was to be used for many years then riding roughshod over Australian concerns about safety at an early date was inadvisable; on the other, there was the urgent need to test Red Beard in time for the upcoming
Operation Grapple
Operation Grapple was a set of four series of British nuclear weapons tests of early atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs carried out in 1957 and 1958 at Malden Island and Kiritimati (Christmas Island) in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in the Paci ...
, the test of a British hydrogen bomb. Whether Buffalo or Grapple was more important was the subject of debate in the UK between
Willis Jackson, who argued for Buffalo, and
Bill Cook
William Osser Xavier Cook (October 8, 1895 – May 5, 1986) was a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger who played for the Saskatoon Crescents of the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) and the New York Rangers of the National Hockey Le ...
, who argued for Grapple. Jackson's view prevailed; Grapple would be postponed if need be.
Australian journalists were critical of the cancellations. There were allegations that the delays had caused the deaths of cattle that had contracted
Redwater fever while waiting for a ship that was delayed due to the tests, and there were concerns about the cost of delays, said to be up to AU £10,000 per postponement, and whether Maralinga was a suitable site after all. Finally, the test was carried out at 17:00 on 27 September without the politicians. Conditions were suitable but "by no means ideal". It would have been preferable if the wind had been more southerly, and there had been more wind shear above . The prevailing conditions meant that the fallout pattern would be long and narrow, and more concentrated over the nearest town in its path, which was
Coober Pedy
Coober Pedy () is a town in northern South Australia, north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. Coober Pedy is ...
, away.
![Buffalo R1 003](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Buffalo_R1_003.jpg)
Some observers were surprised that the detonation seemed to be silent; the sound wave arrived a few seconds later. The
yield was estimated at . The cloud rose to , much higher than expected. After about eight minutes, a
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
bomber flew through the cloud to collect samples. Along with a secondary cloud that formed between , it drifted eastward. The main cloud crossed the east coast at about 11:00 on 28 September, followed by the secondary between 12 and 18 hours later. Rain on 29 September deposited some fallout between
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
in
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
and
Lismore in
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
.
Test 2: Marcoo
![Operation Buffalo-Marcoo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Operation_Buffalo-Marcoo.jpg)
The next test was Marcoo, a ground test using a Blue Danube device with a low-yield core. In the hope that sharing the results might lead to fuller cooperation, the test had been discussed with the Americans by the
British Joint Staff Mission
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
in Washington, D.C., and they had been sufficiently interested to offer the use of American instrumentation and personnel. Fearful of giving away too much information, the British accepted the instrumentation only. The weapon was lowered into a concrete pit. This time the weather was good, but the aircraft bringing Beale and the politicians was delayed by fog in Canberra. It arrived at Maralinga at 15:40, and they had to be rushed to the viewing platform on Observation hill. The bomb was detonated precisely on time, at 16:30, with a yield of . It left a crater wide and deep. The fallout crossed the east coast 25 to 30 hours after the detonation.
Test 3: Kite
![Buffalo R3 002](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Buffalo_R3_002.jpg)
Kite was an air drop using a Blue Danube device with a low-yield core, the only air drop conducted during Operation Buffalo. Originally the air drop was supposed to be the last test of Operation Buffalo, but after the Marcoo shot Penney decided to swap the last two tests, making the air drop the third test. The air drop was the most difficult test, as the worst-case scenario involved the radar fuses failing and the bomb detonating on impact with the ground, which would result in severe fallout. The RAF therefore conducted a series of practice drops with high explosive bombs. In the end, in view of the AWTSC's concerns about the dangers of a test, a low-yield Blue Danube core with less fissile material was substituted, reducing the yield to . Titterton and Dwyer were on hand for the shot.
On 11 October 1956,
Valiant
Valiant may refer to:
People
* James Valiant (1884–1917), English cricketer
* The Valiant Brothers, a professional wrestling tag team of storyline brothers
** Jerry Valiant, a ring name of professional wrestler John Hill (1941-2010)
** Jimmy ...
B.1 WZ366 of
No. 49 Squadron RAF became the first RAF aircraft to drop a live atomic bomb. It fell about left and short of the target, detonating at a height of at 15:27. The yield was . The pilot,
Squadron Leader
Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also ...
Edwin Flavell, and the bomb aimer, Flight Lieutenant Eric Stacey, were awarded the
Air Force Cross in the
1957 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 1957 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lon ...
. Fallout was minimal. Two clouds formed, a low-level one at about that dropped all its radioactive material inside the prohibited area, and a high-level one at that deposited a negligible amount of fallout over South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.
Test 4: Breakaway
The final test, Breakaway, was of a boosted
Red Beard
is a 1965 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa, in his last collaboration with actor Toshiro Mifune. Based on Shūgorō Yamamoto's 1959 short story collection, '' Akahige Shinryōtan'', the film takes pl ...
device. The shot was conducted from a tower. Once again there were delays due to unfavourable weather that pushed it back from 18 to 22 October. It was detonated at 00:05 on 22 October, with a yield of about . As on previous tests, the fallout was measured using sticky paper, air sampling devices, and water sampled from rainfall and reservoirs. This time the cloud was tracked with the help of a
Trans Australia Airlines
Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), renamed Australian Airlines in 1986, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its merger with Qantas in September 1992. As a result of the "COBRA" (or Common Brand ...
(TAA)
Douglas DC-4
The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s ...
diverted from its flight path. The cloud reached but soon became widely dispersed between Darwin in the Northern Territory and
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
in New South Wales. The highest reading recorded by the ground survey was at Ingomar, South Australia, about from the test site.
Summary
Operation Antler
Planning and purpose
The July 1956
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...
brought US-UK relations to a low ebb, rendering the prospect of the use of US facilities in the near future remote. On 20 September 1956, the UK High Commissioner informed Menzies of the UK's intention to continue minor trials in March through October 1957, with another major test series in September and October. The main implication was that the range would be in use for most of the year. A minimum of 228 personnel would be required all year round, rising to 354 from March to July, and 400 from July to October. The codename Sapphire was initially allocated to the 1957 test series, but the RAF complained that that codename had already been allocated to the
Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire
The Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire is a British turbojet engine that was produced by Armstrong Siddeley in the 1950s. It was the ultimate development of work that had started as the Metrovick F.2 in 1940, evolving into an advanced axial flow de ...
aircraft engine. The name was briefly changed to Volcano until the Australians objected, and then to Antler.
![Atomic test site at Maralinga - Workshops](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Atomic_test_site_at_Maralinga_-_Workshops.jpg)
At the AWTSC meeting on 7 December 1956, Martin suggested that the committee be reconstituted. A three-person Maralinga Safety Committee chaired by Titterton, with Dwyer and D. J. Stevens from the Commonwealth X-ray and Radium Laboratory as its other members, would be responsible for the safety of nuclear weapons tests, while a National Radiation Advisory Committee (NRAC) consider public health more generally. This reflected growing disquiet among the scientific community and the public at large over the effects of all atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, not just those in Australia, and growing calls for a test ban. Nonetheless, Operation Buffalo had attracted little international attention. The British Government rejected calls for a moratorium on testing, and announced at the US-UK talks in
Bermuda
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, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = " Hail to Bermuda"
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name =
, e ...
in March 1957 that it would press on with the Operation Grapple hydrogen bomb tests. Martin's proposal was accepted, and the composition of the new NRAC was announced on 7 July 1957. John Moroney was appointed secretary of both committees. The AWTSC continued to report to the Minister of Supply, while the NRAC reported directly to the Prime Minister.
The first round of Operation Grapple tests was unsuccessful in demonstrating a working hydrogen bomb design. This left plans for Operation Antler in disarray. By mid-June 1957, proposals for Antler included up to seven tests: of a surface-to-air warhead called Blue Fox, a small warhead called Pixie, four different versions of Red Beard, and a round designed to test the principle of radiation implosion. Initially it was planned to test Blue Fox (later renamed Indigo Hammer) in both boosted and unboosted form, but the disappointing results of boosting thus far meant that the benefit of boosting would be too small to warrant it, and this version was discarded. Pixie was an even smaller, lightweight () warhead with a
plutonium
Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibi ...
core under consideration for use with the Royal Navy's
Seaslug missile
Seaslug was a first-generation surface-to-air missile designed by Armstrong Whitworth (later part of the Hawker Siddeley group) for use by the Royal Navy. Tracing its history as far back as 1943's LOPGAP design, it came into operational service in ...
. Its drawback was that it required enough plutonium to build two Red Beards, and plutonium was scarce and expensive. In February 1957, the Australian authorities were notified of plans for six tests, including three using balloons, with maximum yields of up to .
The UK had considerable experience with
barrage balloon
A barrage balloon is a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe collision risk to aircraft, making the attacker's approach more difficult. Early barra ...
s during the Second World War but the proposed use of balloons to carry warheads to a higher altitude than achievable with a tower was an innovation for Operation Antler. Use of balloons did away with the engineering effort to build towers, and allowed a test site to be re-used, saving on the effort to construct instrumentation sites and lay cables. Most importantly, whereas low-level detonations sucked up contaminated radioactive dirt from the ground and the vaporised tower, a high-altitude detonation created fallout only from the bomb itself, and were therefore much cleaner. While accepting this point, the AWTSC was apprehensive about the consequences of a runaway balloon carrying a live atomic bomb. Bill Saxby and J. T. Tomblin from Aldermaston and an RAF balloon expert visited the Nevada Test Site to observe the work Americans were doing with balloons, and it was suggested that Titterton should also visit Nevada. Safety procedures were developed that included, in an extreme circumstance, shooting down the balloons. Titterton and Beale then accepted the use of balloons.
![Maralinga village from the north-east](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Maralinga_village_from_the_north-east.jpg)
In July 1957, the Australian Government was informed of the UK authorities' decision to limit Operation Antler to just three tests. There would be two tower tests of and , codenamed Tadje and Biak respectively, and only one balloon test, a test codenamed Taranaki. Helping the Pixie test (which became known as Tadje) remain on the schedule was the deletion of Red Beard tests. It was decided that the third test would be of a Red Beard with a composite uranium-plutonium core, which had not yet been tested, while the pure plutonium Red Beard would go into production without further testing.
Charles Adams was appointed the test director, with J. A. T. Dawson as his deputy, and J. T. Tomblin as the superintendent.
Air Commodore W. P. Sutcliffe commanded the services, with Group Captain Hugh Disney in charge of the RAF component. This was by far the largest of the three service components, with 31 aircraft and about 700 men, including a 70-man balloon detachment. Most of the aircraft were based at
RAAF Base Edinburgh
RAAF Base Edinburgh is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military airbase located in Edinburgh approximately north of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia and forms part of the Edinburgh Defence Precinct.
The base is primarily home to No 9 ...
near Adelaide, although the
Avro Shackleton
The Avro Shackleton is a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) which was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the South African Air Force (SAAF). It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber, which itself had been a devel ...
s were based at
RAAF Base Pearce
RAAF Base Pearce is the main Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base in Western Australia. The base is located in Bullsbrook, north of Perth. It is used for training by the RAAF and the Republic of Singapore Air Force.
Pearce is ...
near
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
in Western Australia. There were 170 men in 22 scientific groups, including 39 Australians and 17 Canadians. Another 450 Australian and British personnel formed the Maralinga Range Support Unit (MARSU) under the command of Colonel R. Durance from the Australian Army. He was succeeded by Colonel G. D. Solomon in 1959, Colonel J. K. Lynch in 1961, Colonel W. G. Henderson in 1962, Colonel A. F. Swinburne in 1963, and Colonel J. G. Ochiltree in 1964.
Test procedures were streamlined based on the experience in Operation Buffalo so that it took six hours to set up a tower test and eight for a balloon test. This allowed the testers to take advantage of transient but suitable weather conditions. Invitations to send observers were sent out to all nations with defence cooperation agreements with Britain, which included NATO countries, and fourteen accepted. Australia would send 24 observers, along with Beale's party of 20 parliamentarians. A media contingent of 20 was also accommodated.
Test 1: Tadje
The Tadje test was scheduled for 12 September 1957, but was postponed to 13 and then 14 September due to the weather. Firing occurred at 14:35 on 14 September, in weather conditions that were almost ideal. The yield was about as expected. The cloud rose to , a little higher than predicted, and headed in a northerly direction. The Tadje test used
cobalt-60
Cobalt-60 (60Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2713 years. It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisoto ...
pellets as a "tracer" for determining yield.
This fuelled rumours that Britain had been developing a
cobalt bomb
A cobalt bomb is a type of "salted bomb": a nuclear weapon designed to produce enhanced amounts of radioactive fallout, intended to contaminate a large area with radioactive material, potentially for the purpose of radiological warfare, mutual as ...
. The Range staff found the pellets scattered over the landscape. They had not been informed of its use, and their nature was discovered only by accident by Harry Turner, the Australian Health Physics Representative (AHPR). The only member of the AWTSC informed about the decision to use cobalt was Titterton, who did not inform the other members or Turner. Personnel handling these pellets were exposed to the active cobalt-60.
Test 2: Biak
The Biak test was scheduled for the following week, 21 September, but rain was forecast and the AWTSC cancelled the detonation. The meteorologists predicted a short break in the weather the following day, but with morning fog until 10:00. The fog cleared up by around 03:30. It was decided to detonate at 10:00 despite forecasts that some fallout would be deposited on the Taranaki test site. The yield was around as expected, but the cloud rose much higher: instead of the forecast , with a secondary cloud forming at . Weather conditions were good, but as feared, fallout was deposited on the Taranaki site.
Test 3: Taranaki
While Tadje and Biak were fired from towers, Taranaki was the balloon test. A contract was let for balloons, but it soon became clear that they could not be produced in time, so balloons were substituted, of a type used by the
Blue Joker
Blue Joker was an experimental moored balloon-mounted, airborne early-warning radar project developed by the Royal Radar Establishment (RRE) starting in 1953. The idea was to position the radar high in the air in order to extend its radar horizon ...
project. These could bear loads of up to in winds of up to , but three were required to lift a bomb aloft instead of two. Field trials were held at
RAF Cardington
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
in
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...
in February 1957. Twelve were shipped to Maralinga, however inflated balloons were not kept in hangars as they had been at Cardington, but moored in the open. On 4 September a storm struck Maralinga, with lightning and wind gusts of up to , and three balloons were ignited and completely destroyed. Adams requested that another balloon and spare rigging be despatched from the UK.
Taranaki was tentatively scheduled for 7 October, but high upper-level winds caused a postponement. It was eventually decided to fire at 16:15 on 9 October. The yield was around , somewhat higher than expected, but the cloud rose to with a secondary cloud forming at , which was much lower than the expected. Since the Australian Government had not set limits on fallout, the AWTSC accepted the recommendations of the NRAC. The result was that the permissible limits were double that of those set for the Operation Buffalo tests. As a result of the balloon detonation, the fireball did not touch the ground, and fallout was limited in both volume and extent. The use of balloons was thus revealed to be far more difficult than anticipated, but the anticipated advantages were realised, and balloons would subsequently be used successfully in the Operation Grapple tests on
Christmas Island
Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...
in the Pacific.
Summary
Minor trials
![Maralinga Map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Maralinga_Map.jpg)
In addition to the major tests, some 550 minor trials were also carried out between 1953 and 1963. These experiments were
subcritical tests involving testing of nuclear weapons or their components, but not nuclear explosions. The four series of minor trials were codenamed Kittens, Tims, Rats and Vixens, and involved experiments with plutonium, uranium,
polonium
Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84. Polonium is a chalcogen. A rare and highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes, polonium is chemically similar to selenium and tellurium, though its metallic character ...
and
beryllium
Beryllium is a chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a steel-gray, strong, lightweight and brittle alkaline earth metal. It is a divalent element that occurs naturally only in combination with other elements to form mi ...
. They were called "Minor Trials" until October 1958, when they were renamed "Assessment Tests" The name change were made in the wake of the international moratorium on nuclear testing, which began on 31 October 1958. It was feared that the term "minor trial" might connote that they were small nuclear explosions. The position of the British Government was that the minor trials were not covered by the moratorium, a view supported by the Americans, who continued their own program. Nonetheless, the British Government suspended all testing at Maralinga, including the minor trials. The new name lasted only until December 1959 before it was changed again to the "Maralinga Experimental Programme", as the term "test" was still considered to be too evocative of a nuclear test.
Although the major tests were carried out with publicity, the conduct of the minor trials were more secretive,
especially after 1958, as the British Government wished to avoid publicity during the talks in Geneva that led to the 1963
Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
The Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) is the abbreviated name of the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, which prohibited all test detonations of nuclear weapons except for those conducted ...
. The minor trials were planned and carried out by the UK authorities with little or no Australian involvement other than logistical support. The British Government submitted proposals for trials to the AWTSC, but its role was limited to advising the Australian Government whether to approve a series of tests; unlike the major tests it had no right to veto a specific minor trial. After 1960, proposals also had to be referred to Martin in his role as the Australian Defence Scientific Advisor. Radiological safety was the responsibility of the AHPR. Ultimately, the minor trials had far greater long-term environmental impact than the major tests, although these effects were limited to the range areas.
''Kittens'' series
Nuclear weapons use a
neutron initiator
A modulated neutron initiator is a neutron source capable of producing a burst of neutrons on activation. It is a crucial part of some nuclear weapons, as its role is to "kick-start" the chain reaction at the optimal moment when the configuration i ...
, a neutron source capable of producing a burst of neutrons in order to "kick-start" the
nuclear chain reaction
In nuclear physics, a nuclear chain reaction occurs when one single nuclear reaction causes an average of one or more subsequent nuclear reactions, thus leading to the possibility of a self-propagating series of these reactions. The specific nu ...
at the optimal moment. These worked by mixing
polonium-210
Polonium-210 (210Po, Po-210, historically radium F) is an isotope of polonium. It undergoes alpha decay to stable 206Pb with a half-life of 138.376 days (about months), the longest half-life of all naturally occurring polonium isotopes. First i ...
and beryllium. Polonium-210 is an
alpha particle
Alpha particles, also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium-4 nucleus. They are generally produced in the process of alpha decay, but may also be produce ...
emitter with a
half-life
Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable ato ...
of 138 days. Alpha particles from the polonium caused the beryllium to emit neutrons. The Kitten trials were experiments conducted as part of the development of the neutron initiators.
Five tests were conducted at the K site at Emu Field, about from the Operation Totem test site on 26 and 30 September and 6, 14 and 17 October 1953. These experiments dispersed about of beryllium and of polonium-210 into the surrounding area. Most of the contamination was within a radius, with some debris being thrown up to away. All contamination was within the restricted area.
![Kittens and Tim Operation - 43 Mile Camp - Instrumentation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Kittens_and_Tim_Operation_-_43_Mile_Camp_-_Instrumentation.jpg)
From these tests an improved initiator design emerged that was smaller and simpler, which the scientists were eager to test. A site in the UK would save time and money, although
Omond Solandt
Omond McKillop Solandt, (September 25, 1909 – May 12, 1993) was a Canadian scientist who was the first Chairman of the Canadian Defence Research Board.
Early life
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he graduated in medicine from the University of T ...
raised the possibility of using one in
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
in Canada. Consideration was given to using the
range
Range may refer to:
Geography
* Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra)
** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands
* Range, a term used to i ...
on
Foulness Island
Foulness Island () is a closed island on the east coast of Essex in England, which is separated from the mainland by narrow creeks. In the 2001 census, the usually resident population of the civil parish was 212, living in the settlements of Ch ...
, which was used by the AWRE for testing conventional explosive components of nuclear weapons, but on 7 April 1954 the
Lord President of the Council
The lord president of the Council is the presiding officer of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and the fourth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State, ranking below the Lord High Treasurer but above the ...
,
Marquess of Salisbury
Marquess of Salisbury is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1789 for the 7th Earl of Salisbury. Most of the holders of the title have been prominent in British political life over the last two centuries, particularly th ...
informed the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
that at Foulness, "no nuclear explosions have been or will be made, nor will experiments be made with fission products or any other hazardous radioactive material." While no experiments were carried out at Foulness with radioactive material, experiments were conducted with explosives and beryllium in 1962 and 1963.
An alternative considered was
Wick
Wick most often refers to:
* Capillary action ("wicking")
** Candle wick, the cord used in a candle or oil lamp
** Solder wick, a copper-braided wire used to desolder electronic contacts
Wick or WICK may also refer to:
Places and placenames ...
in Scotland. Contamination there could be blown out to sea, but the site was otherwise far from ideal. The weather there was generally wet, and the high humidity would interfere with experimental apparatus. Moreover, although downwind contamination would be acceptable, the local authorities could not be reassured that it would be zero. Lieutenant Colonel K. Stewart noted that "I doubt if the people owning the estates in Scotland would look on that with very great favour. They are interested in pheasants and deer in Scotland." The dry weather and isolation of Maralinga provided a better option.
The December 1952
aide-mémoire
Aide-mémoire (, "memory aid") is a French loanword meaning "a memory-aid; a reminder or memorandum, especially a book or document serving this purpose".
In international relations, an aide-mémoire is a proposed agreement or negotiating text c ...
covering Operation Totem made no mention of minor trials, and they came to the notice of Australian authorities only when Australian assistance was requested in preparing the site, but Australian concurrence was sought for all subsequent trials. The Wilson mission requested that in addition to conducting major atomic tests, the UK could conduct a series of Kitten trials as part of Operation Buffalo. The Australians asked for details, and in response Aldermaston provided a comprehensive report on ''The Scope and Radiological Hazards of Kittens'' in February 1955. This was referred to Martin for comment. He could see no issues with the proposed tests, and they were approved by the AWTSC. A Kitten test site was established at Naya, east of the main Maralinga range. A public announcement of the Kitten trials was issued in the UK on 25 February 1955 and in Australia the following day.
![Kittens and Tim Operation - 43 Mile Camp - Trials area](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Kittens_and_Tim_Operation_-_43_Mile_Camp_-_Trials_area.jpg)
Six Kitten tests were carried out at Naya in March 1956. Thereafter, they became a regular part of the testing program, with 21 more tests carried out in 1957, 20 in 1959, and 47 in 1960 and 1961, after which they were discontinued owing to the development of external neutron generators. Kitten experiments at Naya dispersed of polonium-210, of beryllium and of natural and depleted uranium.
''Tim'' series
Tim experiments were concerned with the measurement of how the core of a nuclear weapon was compressed by the shock wave of the high explosive component. The passage of the shock wave through the assembly was measured and recorded using detectors and high-speed photography. Tim tests used real nuclear weapon assemblies, but cores of natural or depleted uranium, which is chemically identical to
highly enriched uranium
Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (238U ...
but not
fissile
In nuclear engineering, fissile material is material capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction. By definition, fissile material can sustain a chain reaction with neutrons of thermal energy. The predominant neutron energy may be typ ...
, and only feebly radioactive. They took place from 1955 to 1963, and involved 321 trials with uranium and beryllium tampers at the Naya and Kuli areas at Maralinga. Twelve of the Tim tests at the TM100 and TM101 areas involved studies of plutonium compression. These experiments used and dispersed of beryllium, of natural uranium, of uranium-238 and about 1.2 kg of plutonium about the test sites.
''Rat'' series
Rat trials also investigated the properties of shock waves. They had the same objectives as the Tims, and differed only in the way that measurements were carried out. Instead of using external sensors, the Rats employed an intense but short-lived
gamma ray
A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically ...
source the size of a pea that was placed inside the assembly. X-ray detectors gave a picture of the progress of the explosion from the inside. Between 1956 and 1960, 125 Rat trials took place at the Naya and Dobo areas at Maralinga. The Rat tests used of
uranium-238
Uranium-238 (238U or U-238) is the most common isotope of uranium found in nature, with a relative abundance of 99%. Unlike uranium-235, it is non-fissile, which means it cannot sustain a chain reaction in a thermal-neutron reactor. However, it ...
; of
scandium-46
Naturally occurring scandium (21Sc) is composed of one stable isotope, 45Sc. Twenty-five radioisotopes have been characterized, with the most stable being 46Sc with a half-life of 83.8 days, 47Sc with a half-life of 3.35 days, and 48Sc with a half ...
, a beta and gamma emitter with a radioactive
half-life
Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable ato ...
of 83.8 days; of
polonium-210
Polonium-210 (210Po, Po-210, historically radium F) is an isotope of polonium. It undergoes alpha decay to stable 206Pb with a half-life of 138.376 days (about months), the longest half-life of all naturally occurring polonium isotopes. First i ...
, with a half-life of 138 days; and of
lead-212
Lead (82Pb) has four stable isotopes: 204Pb, 206Pb, 207Pb, 208Pb. Lead-204 is entirely a primordial nuclide and is not a radiogenic nuclide. The three isotopes lead-206, lead-207, and lead-208 represent the ends of three decay chains: the uraniu ...
, a beta emitter with a half-life of 10.6 hours. With such short lifetimes, these soon decayed away to negligible amounts.
''Vixen'' series
Vixen trials involved safety testing. They were about assuring that the core of a nuclear weapon would not accidentally undergo criticality in the event of a fire or unintended crash. These were messy, for a successful test subjected the core to high explosives in the hope that it simply scatters rather than undergoes criticality. These tests sometimes involved some yield from fission, but in every case this was less than the yield from the weapon's conventional explosive component. The British Government's position was that so long as the nuclear explosion component was less than there was no violation of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which was then under discussion, but no such limit was agreed upon. While the AWTSC could determine whether there were public health and safety issues with a test, it could not assess whether there were political issues. However, after some consideration, the Australian Government did approve the proposed Vixen test program.
![Kittens and Tim Operation - 43 Mile Camp - Trials area - setting up instrumentation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Kittens_and_Tim_Operation_-_43_Mile_Camp_-_Trials_area_-_setting_up_instrumentation.jpg)
Some 31 Vixen A trials were conducted in the Wewak area at Maralinga between 1959 and 1961 that investigated the effects of an accidental fire on a nuclear weapon, and involved a total of about of natural and depleted uranium, 0.98 kg of plutonium of which 0.58 kg was dispersed, of polonium-210 and of
actinium-227
Actinium (89Ac) has no stable isotopes and no characteristic terrestrial isotopic composition, thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. There are 33 known isotopes, from 204Ac to 236Ac, and 7 isomers. Three isotopes are found in nature, 225 ...
. Balloons were used to carry instruments aloft and take samples. There were three types of Vixen A experiments: combustion in a petrol fire; combustion in an electric furnace; and dispersion by detonation of a nuclear bomb's high explosive components. The petrol fire tests were conducted using a chimney tall on a base, and generated temperatures ranging from for uranium and beryllium and for plutonium. The electric furnace tests were only used for tests with uranium, and involved temperatures ranging from .
The Vixen B experimental tests used explosives to blow up nuclear warheads containing plutonium to simulate what would happen in an air crash. In total, twelve Vixen B were conducted at the Taranaki site in 1960, 1961 and 1963, resulting in it becoming the most contaminated site at Maralinga. The tests were conducted on steel structures known as feather beds. The tests produced "jets of molten, burning plutonium extending hundreds of feet into the air."
The damage to the feather beds and their concrete stands was much greater than anticipated, and a new feather bed was used for each round. At the conclusion of each, all the debris was buried in nearby pits. Eventually there were 21 pits containing of material contaminated with 20 kg of plutonium. Another 2 kg of plutonium was scattered about the test site.
Plutonium is not particularly dangerous externally as it emits
alpha particles
Alpha particles, also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium-4 nucleus. They are generally produced in the process of alpha decay, but may also be prod ...
which are stopped by of air, or the dead layer of skin cells on the body, and is not a very intensive source of radiation, due to its long half-life of 24,000 years. It is dangerous when it enters the body, in the worst case by breathing and lodging in the lungs, and therefore tiny particles, often the result of such explosion testing, are the worst threat. The extreme biological persistence of plutonium's
radioactive contamination
Radioactive contamination, also called radiological pollution, is the deposition of, or presence of radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids, or gases (including the human body), where their presence is unintended or undesirab ...
and the cancer threat posed by alpha radiation occurring internally together establish plutonium's dangers.
During the Operation Antler trials, the British Government had given the AWTSC reassurances that safety measures were in place to prevent balloons from breaking loose. Despite this, two balloons broke free during a
squall
A squall is a sudden, sharp increase in wind speed lasting minutes, as opposed to a wind gust, which lasts for only seconds. They are usually associated with active weather, such as rain showers, thunderstorms, or heavy snow. Squalls refer to the ...
on 22 July 1959. One was subsequently recovered but the other was not. A board of inquiry was held, but an even more embarrassing incident occurred on the night of 23/24 September 1960, when seven of the eight balloons being readied for experiments broke free of their moorings during a thunderstorm. Five were recovered on the range on 27 September, but two were lost and drifted further afield, one being recovered near
Cobar
Cobar is a town in central western New South Wales, Australia whose economy is based mainly upon base metals and gold mining. The town is by road northwest of the state capital, Sydney. It is at the crossroads of the Kidman Way and Barrier Hig ...
in New South Wales on 24 September and the other around
Hungerford
Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, northeast of Salisbury and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the town alongside the ...
in New South Wales, which was not located until 1 October. Titterton wrote a critical letter to the AWRE. It was clear that the procedures to prevent balloon escapes had been inadequate and the self-destruction devices were unreliable.
Fallout
In the late 1950s,
Hedley Marston
Hedley Ralph Marston FRS FAA (26 August 1900 – 25 August 1965) was an Australian biochemist who worked for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
First published in ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volu ...
's research into
nuclear fallout
Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...
from the Maralinga nuclear tests brought Marston into bitter conflict with the AWTSC, resulting in one of the more memorable feuds in Australian science. Marston was the head of the Division of Biology and General Nutrition at the
CSIRO
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...
, and was commissioned by the AWTSC to study the concentrations of
iodine-131
Iodine-131 (131I, I-131) is an important radioisotope of iodine discovered by Glenn Seaborg and John Livingood in 1938 at the University of California, Berkeley. It has a radioactive decay half-life of about eight days. It is associated with nuc ...
in the thyroids of sheep and cattle. A 1954 American report assessed that there was no public health danger, but the AWTSC wanted to be able to monitor the Australian situation. Surveys started before the tests at Maralinga commenced in order to establish a baseline. Marston's results indicated a rise in iodine-131 due to Operation Mosaic. It was not enough to pose a public health hazard—his results indicated that the concentration was about 1 per cent of the acceptable limit—but it did indicate that fallout was more widespread than first thought. He then attempted to extrapolate his results to
strontium-90
Strontium-90 () is a radioactive isotope of strontium produced by nuclear fission, with a half-life of 28.8 years. It undergoes β− decay into yttrium-90, with a decay energy of 0.546 MeV. Strontium-90 has applications in medicine and i ...
, but a valid assessment could not be made in this way, and was therefore no more than speculation. In 1961 the AWTSC published a study where the bones of deceased people (especially children) were burnt to ash and then measured for strontium-90. It did find an increase in strontium-90 in Australia, but it was a quarter of that recorded in the UK. Although fallout from the 1958 Operation Grapple thermonuclear tests was detectable in the UK, none was detected in Australia.
Closure
Maralinga was conceived as a testing ground where major tests could be conducted annually, but this did not occur, and Operation Antler was the last major test series conducted there. One reason was public sentiment. A 1952 poll indicated that 58 per cent of Australians supported British nuclear testing in Australia, with only 29 per cent against, but support steadily declined, and by 1957 only 37 per cent were in favour, with 49 per cent opposed. This augured poorly for the future of Maralinga should there be a change of government, and the
1961 Australian federal election
The 1961 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 9 December 1961. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives and 31 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition led by Prime Minist ...
reduced Menzies' majority to just one seat. The decline in Australian support for testing was part of a worldwide trend that resulted in the moratorium on nuclear testing from November 1958 to September 1961.
Maralinga was now redundant, as the Australian Government's restriction on testing thermonuclear weapons had led to the development of the Christmas Island test site, where there was no such restriction, and its favourable winds carried fallout away. With the
1958 US–UK Mutual Defence Agreement
Events
January
* January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being.
* January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
* January 4
** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...
, Britain also gained access to the Nevada Test Site, where the first British major test took place underground on 1 March 1962, but there was no certainty that Nevada would be available in the future. The 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty banned atmospheric testing, and no site was located at the Maralinga Range for underground testing; the nearest suitable site was on Aboriginal land away.
After 1963, Maralinga was placed on caretaker status, and although there was some discussion about conducting minor trials in 1966, in view of the fact that the 1956 Memorandum of Arrangements was due to expire in March of that year, the British Government decided that it would not seek to extend or renew the agreement. A formal memorandum on the termination of the 1956 Memorandum of Arrangements was signed on 23 September 1967, and the UK was released from most liabilities and responsibilities on 21 December 1967. In December 1968, the Minister for Defence revoked the declaration of Maralinga as a prohibited area under the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act 1952. On 31 August 1972, the Minister for Supply removed the restrictions on most of the Maralinga Prohibited Area, retaining only a strip that became part of the new
Woomera Prohibited Area
The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility and operation located in South Australia, approximately north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a di ...
.
Legacy
1963–64 cleanup
Cleanup operations commenced at Maralinga with Operation Clean Up in 1963 and Operation Hercules in 1964. These involved the removal of major hazards to permit entry to the test sites. A major cleanup operation codenamed Operation Brumby was conducted in 1967. Attempts were made to dilute the concentration of radioactive material by turning over and mixing the surface soil. Highly contaminated soil from Wewak was buried in the Marcoo crater, and the debris pits were capped. Over time, the short-lived isotopes decayed away, leaving plutonium, with its half-life of 24,100 years, as the main radioactive hazard. In January 1979, the British Government agreed to the "repatriation" of recoverable plutonium that had been buried at Maralinga.
1984 committee
In 1984, the
Minister for Resources and Energy
The Minister for Resources is an Australian Government cabinet position which is currently held by Madeleine King following the swearing in of the full Albanese ministry on 1 June 2022.
In the Australian Government, Government of Australia, the ...
established the Kerr Committee on 15 May 1984 to review fallout from the British nuclear tests in Australia. After receiving the report, and having discussions with John Symonds, who was commissioned to write an official history of the British nuclear tests, he decided to convene a
royal commission into them. The
McClelland Royal Commission
The McClelland Royal Commission or Royal Commission into British nuclear tests in Australia was an inquiry by the Australian government in 1984–1985 to investigate the conduct of the British in its use, with the then Australian government's p ...
delivered its report in late 1985, and found that significant radiation hazards still existed at many of the Maralinga test sites, particularly at Taranaki.
The Australian Government accepted the findings of the royal commission, but rejected its recommendations that a Maralinga Commission be created, on the grounds that this was more properly a role for a department of state rather a statutory body, and that the British Government should pay all the costs of a cleanup. Instead, Cabinet decided that the British Government should be asked to make a significant contribution. Australian claims were put to the British Government in 1991, and in June 1993, it agreed to contribute an ''
ex gratia
(; also spelled ''ex-gratia'') is Latin for "by favour", and is most often used in a legal context. When something has been done ''ex gratia'', it has been done voluntarily, out of kindness or grace. In law, an ''ex gratia payment'' is a paymen ...
'' sum of UK £20 million towards the costs of rehabilitation of the site.
2000 cleanup
A Technical Assessment Group (TAG) was set up to advise on rehabilitation options, and a much more extensive clean-up program was initiated. The TAG Report plan was approved in 1991. Work commenced on site in 1996, and was completed in 2000 at a cost of $108 million.
In the worst-contaminated areas, of soil and debris were removed from an area of more than , and buried in trenches. Eleven debris pits were also treated with
in situ
''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...
vitrification
Vitrification (from Latin ''vitreum'', "glass" via French ''vitrifier'') is the full or partial transformation of a substance into a glass, that is to say, a non-crystalline amorphous solid. Glasses differ from liquids structurally and glasses po ...
. Most of the site (approximately was rendered now safe for unrestricted access and approximately is considered safe for access but not "permanent occupancy".
"A term", British historian
Lorna Arnold
Lorna Margaret Arnold (; 7 December 1915 – 25 March 2014) was a British historian who wrote a number of books connected with the British nuclear weapons programmes.
A graduate of Bedford College, London, she trained as a teacher at the C ...
noted, "that no one would have applied to these regions 30 or 40 years before". Nuclear engineer
Alan Parkinson observed that "an Aboriginal living a semi-traditional lifestyle would receive an effective dose of 5
mSv/a (five times that allowed for a member of the public). Within the 120 km², the effective dose would be up to 13 times greater."
The effectiveness of the cleanup has been disputed on a number of occasions.
Effects on people
One author suggests that the resettlement of Aboriginal people and denial of access to their
traditional lands "contributed significantly to the social disintegration which characterises the community to this day.
Petrol sniffing
Inhalants are a broad range of household and industrial chemicals whose volatile vapors or pressurized gases can be concentrated and breathed in via the nose or mouth to produce intoxication, in a manner not intended by the manufacturer. They ...
, juvenile crime, alcoholism and chronic friction between residents and the South Australian police have become facts of life." In 1994, the Australian Government reached a compensation settlement with the traditional owners,
Maralinga Tjarutja
The Maralinga Tjarutja, or Maralinga Tjarutja Council, is the corporation representing the traditional Anangu owners of the remote western areas of South Australia known as the Maralinga Tjarutja lands. The council was established by the ''Mara ...
, which resulted in the payment of $13.5 million in settlement of all claims in relation to the nuclear testing.
Most of the land was handed back in 2009;
full handover was marked with a ceremony on 5 November 2014.
A
Department of Veterans' Affairs
Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...
study concluded that "the doses received by Australian participants were small. ... Only 2% of participants received more than the current Australian annual dose limit for occupationally exposed persons (20 mSv)."
However, such findings are contested. Australian servicemen were ordered to: repeatedly fly through the mushroom clouds from atomic explosions, without protection; and to march into ground zero immediately after bomb detonation. Airborne drifts of
radioactive material
A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ways: emitted from the nucleus as gamma radiation; transfer ...
resulted in "radioactive rain" being dropped on Brisbane and Queensland country areas. A 1999 study for the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association found that 30 per cent of involved veterans had died, mostly in their fifties, from cancers.
In 2001, Sue Rabbit Roff, a researcher from the
University of Dundee
The University of Dundee; . Abbreviated as ''Dund.'' for post-nominals. is a public university, public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a University college#United Kingdom, university college in 1881 with a donation ...
, uncovered documentary evidence that troops had been ordered to run, walk and crawl across areas contaminated by the Buffalo tests in the days immediately following the detonations; a fact that the British Government later admitted. Roff stated that "it puts the lie to the British Government's claim that they never used humans for guinea pig-type experiments in nuclear weapons trials in Australia."
Successive Australian Governments failed to compensate servicemen who contracted cancers following exposure to radiation at Maralinga. However, after a British decision in 1988 to compensate its own servicemen, the Australian Government negotiated compensation for several Australian servicemen suffering from two specific conditions,
leukaemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...
(except
lymphatic leukemia
Lymphoid leukemias are a group of leukemias affecting circulating lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell. The lymphocytic leukemias are closely related to lymphomas of the lymphocytes, to the point that some of them are unitary disease entities t ...
) and the rare blood disorder
multiple myeloma
Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone pain, an ...
.
Ongoing contamination
It was found in 2021 that radioactive ("hot") particles persist in the soil, after international multidisciplinary team of scientists studied the results produced by a machine at
Monash University
Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...
that could slice open tiny samples using a beam of high-energy ions only a
nanometre
330px, Different lengths as in respect to the molecular scale.
The nanometre (international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: nm) or nanometer (American and British English spelling differences#-re ...
wide. The analysis of the results suggested that natural processes in the desert environment could bring about the slow release of plutonium over a long period. This plutonium is likely to be absorbed by wildlife at Maralinga.
Media coverage
According to Liz Tynan from
James Cook University
James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...
, the Maralinga tests were a striking example of what can happen when the popular media are unable to report on activities that a government may be trying to hide. Maralinga was an example of extreme secrecy, but by the late 1970s there was a marked change in how the Australian media covered the British nuclear tests. Some resourceful investigative journalists emerged, whistle-blowers such as
Avon Hudson
Avon Hudson (born 1937) is a South Australian RAAF ex-serviceman, nuclear weapons testing whistle-blower and co-author of the 2005 book '' Beyond Belief'' which he wrote with academic and historian, Roger Cross. He has appeared in several documen ...
spoke out and political scrutiny became more intense. The investigative journalist
Brian Toohey
Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world.
It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meani ...
ran a series of stories in the ''
Australian Financial Review
''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...
'' in October 1978, based in part on a leaked Cabinet submission.
In June 1993, ''
New Scientist
''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publishe ...
'' journalist Ian Anderson wrote an article entitled "Britain's dirty deeds at Maralinga" and several related articles. They are a detailed analysis of the legacy of Vixen B and the Australian Government's prolonged negotiations with the United Kingdom on cleaning up Maralinga and sharing the cost of "safe-sealing" waste plutonium. In 1993, Anderson won two
Michael Daley Award
The Eureka Prizes are awarded annually by the Australian Museum, Sydney, to recognise individuals and organizations who have contributed to science and the understanding of science in Australia. They were founded in 1990 following a suggestion ...
s for his Maralinga articles.
''
Maralinga: Australia's Nuclear Waste Cover-up'' is a book by Alan Parkinson that was published in 2007. In it he claimed that the clean-up of Maralinga in the late 1990s was compromised by cost-cutting, and simply involved dumping hazardous radioactive debris in shallow holes in the ground. He stated that "what was done at Maralinga was a cheap and nasty solution that wouldn't be adopted on white-fellas land."
Representations in the arts
Art
* In 1987
Winnie Bamara
Winnie Bamara (born 1939 or 1940; year of death unknown) was the first Indigenous Australian woman artist to paint in a European realism (arts), realist style. Her ability to paint scenes accurately and solely from memory attracted wide attentio ...
, who lived near
Maralinga
Maralinga, in the remote western areas of South Australia, was the site, measuring about in area, of British nuclear tests in the mid-1950s.
In January 1985 native title was granted to the Maralinga Tjarutja, a southern Pitjantjatjara Aborigi ...
, produced a painting for a poster protesting nuclear testing at Maralinga, for the Australian Council for Disarmament and Peace for Maralinga Day, 1987 which was produced by ''Common Ground'' Magazine with the support of the people of the Maralinga–Tjarutja community. Her image shows a nuclear bomb exploding on the Maralinga lands as three Indigenous people stand watching, with text that briefly discusses the history of the British Government testing of nuclear bombs at Maralinga.
*
Betty Muffler
Betty Muffler is an Aboriginal Australian artist and ngangkari (healer). She is a senior artist at Iwantja Arts, in Indulkana in Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY Lands), South Australia, known for a series of works on large linen ca ...
,
ngangkari
Ngangkari are the traditional healers of the Anangu, the Aboriginal peoples who live mostly in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY Lands) of South Australia and the Western Desert region, which includes parts of the Northern Territ ...
and artist who works at
Iwantja Arts
Indulkana (also known as Iwantja, from Iwantja Creek) is an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia, comprising one of the six main communities on "The Lands" (the others being Ernabella/ Puk ...
who was born at Emu Field, was about nine years old when the first bomb was detonated, and she lost several family members. Seeing the deaths and dislocation caused by the tests has inspired much of her artwork,
and she has expressed healing as a recurrent theme in her work. She won "Best emerging artist" at the 2017
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards
The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) is Australia's longest running Indigenous art award. Established in 1984 as the National Aboriginal Art Award by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwi ...
in 2017 with one of her iterations of ''Ngangkaṟi Ngura (Healing Country)''.
Another work of the same title, specially commissioned for the September 2020 issue of ''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
'',
featured in the ''
Know My Name'' exhibition at the
National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...
.
Drama
* ''
Ground Zero
In relation to nuclear explosions and other large bombs, ground zero (also called surface zero) is the point on the Earth's surface closest to a detonation. In the case of an explosion above the ground, ''ground zero'' is the point on the ground ...
'' (1987) is an Australian drama-thriller about a cinematographer (played by
Colin Friels
Colin Friels (born 25 September 1952) is a Scottish-born Australian actor of theatre, TV and film and presenter
Early life
Friels was born in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland.Interview with Colin Friels, ''George Negus Tonight'' (ABC Television ...
) who, prompted by curiosity about some old film footage taken by his father, embarks on a quest to uncover the truth about the tests. It also stars actors
Jack Thompson Jack Thompson may refer to:
Sports
*Jack Thompson (footballer, born 1892) (1892–1969), English footballer who played for Sheffield United and Bristol City
*Jack Thompson (1920s footballer), English footballer who played for Aston Villa and Bright ...
and Indigenous activist
Burnum Burnum
Burnum Burnum (10 January 1936 – 17 August 1997) was an Aboriginal Australian sportsman, activist, actor, and author. He was a Woiworrung and Yorta Yorta man at Wallaga Lake in southern New South Wales. He was originally christened Harry Pen ...
.
* ''The Career Highlights of the Mamu'' is an Australian play by
Trevor Jamieson
Trevor Jamieson (born 7 March 1975) is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actor, playwright, dancer, singer and didgeridoo player.
Early life
Trevor Jamieson was born on 7 March 1975 in Subiaco, Western Australia (WA).
He grew up in t ...
and Scott Rankin, performed at the
Adelaide Festival
The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...
in February–March 2002. The play tells the story of the
Tjuntjuntjara Aboriginal people, who lived in the desert country of South Australia and Western Australia, and their experience with British nuclear testing at Maralinga and Emu Field. Tribal elders describe being moved out of the area, and the death and illness of their people when they attempted to return to their contaminated homelands.
* ''Maralinga: The
Anangu Story'' (2009), by the
Yalata
Yalata is an Aboriginal community located west of Ceduna and south of Ooldea on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia. It lies on the traditional lands of the Wirangu people, but the settlement began as Yalata Mission in the ea ...
&
Oak Valley Communities with
Christobel Mattingley
Christobel Rosemary Mattingley (1931 – 1 June 2019) was an award-winning Australian author of books for children and adults. Her book ''Rummage'' won the Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers and Children's Book of the Year Aw ...
, is an information book about the history and culture of the region, the controversy, and its original owners. Aimed at young people, the book was awarded a silver Honour medal in 2010 by the
Children's Book Council of Australia
The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) is a not for profit organisation which aims to engage the community with literature for young Australians. The CBCA presents the annual Children's Book of the Year Awards to books of literary merit ...
.
Judy Nunn
Judith Anne Nunn ( AM) (born 1945 in Perth, Western Australia), (also published under the pen name of Judy Bernard-Waite), is an Australian fiction author, former theatre and television actress and radio and television screenwriter. Nunn was a ...
used the events at Maralinga as a backdrop for her novel ''Maralinga'' (2009).
* ''
Operation Buffalo Operation Buffalo may refer to:
* Operation Buffalo, 1944 military operation, part of the Battle of Anzio in WW2
* Operation Buffalo (1956), four open-air nuclear tests at Maralinga, South Australia
* Operation Buffalo (1967), a Vietnam War operat ...
'', a May 2020 Australian television drama series screen on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
, is inspired by the events of British nuclear tests at Maralinga. The story does not stick to factual events, but mixes satire, farce, nostalgia and drama, at the same time representing aspects of historical fact, the tensions between the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
and
Australian governments and a serious depiction of the treatment of the Aboriginal people in the area.
[
* ''Maralinga Tjarutja'', a May 2020 television documentary film directed by ]Larissa Behrendt
Larissa Yasmin Behrendt (born 1969) is an Australian legal academic, writer, filmmaker and Indigenous rights advocate. she is a professor of law and director of research and academic programs at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education ...
and made by Blackfella Films
Blackfella Films is a Sydney-based documentary and narrative production company, founded in 1992 by Rachel Perkins. The company produces distinctive Australian short and feature-length content for film and television with a particular focus on A ...
for ABC Television, tells the story of the people of Maralinga. It was deliberately broadcast around the same time that the drama series ''Operation Buffalo'' was on, to give voice to the Indigenous people of the area and show how the testing disrupted their lives. Screenhub Australia gave it 4.5 stars, calling it an "excellent documentary". The film shows the experiences of the Maralinga Tjarutja
The Maralinga Tjarutja, or Maralinga Tjarutja Council, is the corporation representing the traditional Anangu owners of the remote western areas of South Australia known as the Maralinga Tjarutja lands. The council was established by the ''Mara ...
people, in which the elders "reveal a perspective of deep time
Deep time is a term introduced and applied by John McPhee to the concept of geologic time in his book ''Basin and Range'' (1981), parts of which originally appeared in the ''New Yorker'' magazine.
The philosophical concept of geological time w ...
and an understanding of place that generates respect for the sacredness of both", their ancestors having lived in the area for millennia. Despite the disregard for the traditional homelands of the Maralinga Tjarutja shown by the British and Australians involved in the testing, they have continued to fight for their rights to look after the now-contaminated land.
Music
* The Australian rock band Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil (known informally as "The Oils") are an Australian rock band composed of Peter Garrett (vocals, harmonica), Rob Hirst (drums), Jim Moginie (guitar, keyboard) and Martin Rotsey (guitar). The group was formed in Sydney in 1972 by ...
recorded a song about the tests called "Maralinga" on their 1982 LP 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
* Paul Kelly's "Maralinga (Rainy Land)" is about the effects of British nuclear tests on the Maralinga Tjarutja.
* "After Maralinga" by the British band Latin Quarter
The Latin Quarter of Paris (french: Quartier latin, ) is an area in the 5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne.
Known for its student life, lively atmosphere, and bistros ...
is about the aftermath of the nuclear tests.
* Australian singer/songwriter Kelly Chase released the song "Children of the Dust" in 2021, music from the History Detective Podcast, Season 1, Episode 4 "Nuclear Testing at Maralinga."
Notes
References
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Further reading
*
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External links
Maralinga Nuclear Test – 1957 – Movietone Moments
Aerial photo of the Taranaki and Kite test sites
''(Maralinga village & airfield are situated approx 20 miles to the South)''
Maralinga Rehabilitation Project
Backs to the Blast, an Australian Nuclear Story
Australian Atomic Confessions film
{{featured article
1956 establishments in Australia
1963 disestablishments in Australia
1950s in military history
1960s in military history
1950s in South Australia
1960s in South Australia
1950s in the United Kingdom
1960s in the United Kingdom
Maralinga
Maralinga, in the remote western areas of South Australia, was the site, measuring about in area, of British nuclear tests in the mid-1950s.
In January 1985 native title was granted to the Maralinga Tjarutja, a southern Pitjantjatjara Aborigi ...
20th-century military history of the United Kingdom
Australia–United Kingdom relations