BL ACK MIST BURNT CO UNT RY BURRINJA TOURING EXHIBITION PARTICI PATING ARTISTS

ADi Chips Mackinolty Lance Atkinson Belinda Mason Kim Bowman Hilda Moodoo Arthur Boyd Trevor Nickolls Jessie Boylan Sidney Nolan Mick Broderick Susan No rrie Luke Co rnish (ELK) Adam No rton Pam Debenham Paul Ogier Linda Dement Warren ‘Ebay’ Paul Blak Douglas Je ffrey Queama Kate Downhill Hugh Ramage Terence Edwa rds Toni Robe rtson Yvonne Edwa rds Reginald Rowed Merilyn Fairskye Kate Shaw Weaver Hawkins Mima Sma rt Ian Howa rd Ka ren Standke Jonathan Kumintja rra Tjariya Stanley Brown Albe rt Tucker Rosema ry Laing Judy Watson Craig MacDonald

YAL ATA COLLABOR ATING ARTISTS

Rita Bryant Teresa Peters Cynthia Cha rra Mima Sma rt Polly Cha rra Ca rmel Windlass Verna Gibson Mellissa Windlass Edwina Ingomar Natasha Woods Glenda Ken Ann Marie Woods Ma rga ret May

Ka ren Sta ndke (Aus trali a; Ge rman y, b.1 973) Road to Mara linga II 2007 oil on canva s 3 x 85 x 112 cm Cou rtesy of the artist © Ka ren St andke and Tim Gresh am

Nat ional Libr ary of Austr alia Dedicated to Japanese hib akusha, disp lace d Cat alog uing -in- Publ icat ion en try: First Austr alians and to all global victi ms an d su rvivors of nu clear explos ions and atomic tests. Title: Bla ck Mi st Bu rnt Count ry: Test ing the Bom b, Mar alin ga and Aust rali an Art For Bella; Edi ted by Jan Dirk Mittm ann in the hop e Pub lish ed in 2016 ISBN 978- 0-99 2335 7-2- 4 by Bu rrin ja (D ande nong Rang es Cul tura l that you will live in a worl d Cen tre In c.) Upwey VIC 31 58 Not es: In clud es bi blio grap hical ref erenc es. free of nuclear threats. burrin ja.o rg.au Sub ject s: Ato mic bomb – Hist ory – 20th cen tury. Ato mic bo mb – South Aust ralia – Mar alin ga – Testi ng. Sup ported by Gordon Darli ng Fo unda tion Nuc lear weapo ns – Great Brita in – Test ing. Ato mic bo mb in art -- Aust ralia – Exh ibit ions . Mar alin ga in art – Au stra lia – Exhib itio ns. Art, Mod ern -- 20t h/21 st ce ntu ry – Austr alia – Exh ibit ions . Art, Au stra lian – 20th /21st cen tury – Exhib itio ns. Art, Ab orig inal Austr alian – Ma rali nga – Exhib itio ns. © Cop yrig ht the aut hors and Bu rrin ja un les s jant jatj ara An angu (Aus tral ian peopl e) -- Histo ry. oth erwise stat ed. Oth er aut hors /Con trib utor s: All rights rese rved. Apa rt from any fa ir de aling for Broder ick, Mick, 195 9– the purpo se of priv ate stud y, resea rch, crit icis m or revi ew, as permit ted under the Co pyri ght Act Bryan t, Ru ssel l, 19 70– 196 8, no part of this book may be rep rodu ced , Fa rnel l, Ro ss, 19 61– stored in a retr ieval sys tem, or be trans mitt ed by Mit tman n, Jan Dirk, 196 8– any form or by any means, ele ctroni c, mec hani cal , Sma rt, Ma uree n, 195 6– pho toco pyin g, reco rding or ot herwise, wit hout the Bu rri nja Cu ltur al Ce ntre pri or wri tten permi ssion of the publ ishe r.

Artists reta in co pyri ght in the artwor ks. Burr inja resp ectf ully ackn owle dges the Trad itio nal No il lust rati on in this book may be rep rodu ced Own ers of the land on which Burr inja Cultu ral Cent re Cover illus trati on without the pe rmission of the copyright owners. is bu ilt, the Wurundj eri of the Kulin Nati ons, its El der s All reaso nable effo rts have been ma de to cont act pas t, present and futu re. Burrin ja also ack nowl edge s – using the im age by artist s, co pyri ght ho lders and rele vant cult ural the Tradi tion al Ow ners of the Mara ling a/Emu Fie ld Paul Ogier organis ations f or reproduction appro vals. lan ds, as well as th ose of all lands to whi ch th e (USA /Aust ralia; New Ze aland, b.197 4) exh ibit ion Bl ack Mist Burnt Co unt ry will trav el. One Tree (f ormer Emu Field atomi c Coo rdi nati ng edi tor: Jan Dirk Mi ttma nn Ind igen ous read ers should be aw are that this boo k test site) 2010 Des ign: Anna Wolf con tains name s, words and imag es of peop le wh o carb on pigm ent on rag pap er Add itio nal ed itin g: El izab eth Tyna n have pass ed aw ay. 72 x 90 cm Oppo site pa ge: Proo fing: Car ly O’ Brie n, Jan Clar ke, Rowena Ward 94 x 117 cm fra med Reha bilit ated Tarana ki For Black Mist Burnt Count ry nat ional exh ibit ion tour Cou rtesy of the artist test site . Pri nted by New Lith o dat es see page 10. © Paul Ogier © Goog le Ea rth. CO NTENT S

Fo rewo rd 7 Peter Ga rrett AM Int roduction 8 Dr Ross Fa rnell This count ry is no good 13 Mima Sma rt OAM an d Rev Russell Bryant Timeline of events 14 Thunder on the plain 20 Dr Liz Tynan Atomic testing in Australian art 36 JD Mittmann Atomic Pop 66 Dr Mick Broderick An ala rming willingness to do ha rm 78 Dr Tilman Ru ff AM Literatu re 93 Index of exhibition artwork 94 Acknowledgements 96

5 Hugh Ramage (Aus trali a; New Zealan d, b.19 58) Taran aki 20 14 oil on canva s 40 x 35 cm Priv ate Col lecti on © Hugh Ramag e

6 FO REWORD PE TER GAR RETT AM

Atomic test ing by the Briti sh gove rnment in the Au stralia n whe re the explo sions happen ed, and, along with th e dese rt in the 1950s and 60s has been al most buried by Australian and British se rvicemen present for the te sts , the sweep of ti me, ove rrun by the st ream of even ts tha t it was their li ves that we re immediate ly and irrevocabl y populate the of local his tory. alte red from that time on. It is all but imp ossible to im agine that spl it secon d A brighter fu ture whe re people are not sacri ficed on the when, unher alded, the sou the rn sky was rent with fla me altar of nati onal vanit y, and whe re respect for the pe opl e and clouds of radioactive smoke and ash dr ifted ac ros s of the land and the land itself goes hand in hand is onl y the arid lands of remote Austra lia . possible if we know somethi ng of the past. The first ga thering of wor ks of art and scholarl y Black Mist Bu rnt Count ry provides the insp iration an d reflec tion of this nu clear histo ry is welcome – albei t the testimo ny to enable that futu re. soberl y. The Hon Peter G arrett AM The creative ou tpourings and the detailed analysis on display he re present a crucial marker of understand ing of what happe ned, which in turn reveals a deepe r exp ression of Australian id entit y, one bo rn of th e su ffering and dest ruction that accompanied the tests. Black Mist Bu rnt Count ry is an impo rtant exhi bition ; Peter Ga rrett is one of the most prominent liv ing an act of remembering and bearing witn ess to a Australia ns. A renowned act ivist, the fo rmer politic ian an d momentous series of calcu lated acts th at shatte red lead singer of has been a long- time advocat e lives, espe cially the com munities of the Pitjantat jar a and campaig ner on a range of local and global issues . and Yankunyt jatjara land s. He se rved as president of the Australian Conse rvatio n The fact that a foreign nuclear device could ex plod e Foundation for two te rms, which saw sig nific ant additio ns in the dese rt at , with little pu blic knowled ge to natural prote cted areas, and the ACF grow int o and even less understandi ng of the conse quences, is a Australia ’s leading nat ional envi ronment organisatio n. reminder of the fatal complia nce of the colon ial mindset , As Minister for the Envi ronment he spea rheade d which chara cterised the era of Prime Min ister and Libe ral the success ful historic Inte rnational Cou rt of Justic e Adam Norton leader Sir Ro bert Menzies . case against Japanese wha ling. As Mini ster for Schoo l (Aus trali a, b.19 73) Black Mist Bu rnt Count ry refe rences several notabl e Education he was responsible for legislat ing a new need s Prohibi ted Area 2010 non-Indig enous artists’ works in painting, photograph y, based fundi ng system for all Australian schools. ac rylic on boa rd, wood en poster art and song as creative responses and protes t He is the only Au stralian po litician to receive th e poles and bo lts 240 x 120 x 7 cm against the British tests. Yet, it is the works by Abori gina l ‘Leaders for a Living Plane t’ awa rd from the World Wildlif e Cou rtesy of the artist and artists that carry greater weigh t, for the bu rden fel l Fund and is a Mem ber of the Order of Aust ralia for hi s Gall erysmit h, Mel bou rne heavily on Fi rst Nation’s people. It was their count ry contribut ions to the music indust ry and envi ronment. © the artis t

7 Mima Smart (Pit jantj atjar a, b.19 55) Unti tled 20 09 ac rylic on canva s 30 x 40 cm Produ ced for Maral inga , The An angu Story by Yala ta and Oak Valle y Comm uniti es with Chri stobel Matti ngle y, first publ ished by Allen & Unwin in 200 9 © Mara linga Tja rutja Inc . rep resen ting the Oak Valle y and Yalata Commu nitie s, 2009

8 IN TRODU CTION DR ROSS FARNE LL

Black Mist B urnt Cou ntry marks an important mil estone in nu cle ar bin ary’ con tinues to mani fest its f ascination f or It is c hil ling to lea rn t hat: “Every h uman be ing ali ve carries br ing ing into the public a rena a nd c onsciou sne ss the story po pul ar cul ture t oday in dig ital g aming p lat forms, with in the ir b ody radio fr om nu cle ar test explos ion s.” of Aus trali a’s signif icant his torical role in atomic testing po st-apocaly ptic rol e-playi ng g ames s uch as Fall out 4 Clear ly tho se m ost direc tly affected by the atomic and the o ngo ing ‘f all out’ f rom this n uclear co mplic ity and presenting a vis ion of p ossible ‘ atomic age ret ro-fut uristic testing in A ustralia have be en t he I ndi genous p opu latio ns co lon isation. It marks also t he f rui tion of many years work ut opi a’ and the aft ermath of n uclear Armaged don. Yet for of tho se c ommunities. As exh ibi tion c urator JD Mit tmann and a con sid erable a chi evement for Burrinja. I am pleased all of the many a nd v aried app earan ces and tropes of t he states in his curat orial essay Atomic Tes ting in Aus trali an to wel come t he m any who are n ow g iven the opportunity nu cle ar in p opu lar cul ture, inclu ding prot est-era pos ters Art: “The s tory of atom ic t esting at Mar ali nga is the to explo re the multi-faceted themes unea rthed th rough the and Peter G arret t’s powerful l yrics in M idnig ht O il son gs, di slo cation of Anan gu P itjan tja tjara pe ople from the ir project as this nat ional tou ring e xhi bition t rav erses the Australia’s n egl igent com plici ty in the at omic t esting la nds in t he G reat Victoria Des ert a nd f rom the United breadth of the c oun try o ver the coming three years. reg ime of t he m id- twentie th c entury remains rela tiv ely Aborigines Mis sion s tat ion at Ool dea.” Choos ing the 60th ann iversary of t he B rit ish atomic un kno wn wit hin our own count ry. test s eries at M aralin ga as i ts l aunch ing point, Black The re are nume rous sub- texts within this la rger sto ry, AUST RALI A’S NEG LIGENT COMP LICITY IN TH E Mist B urnt Cou ntry is the first s urvey exhibi tion of wor ks and we are grateful to have been granted the resou rce s ATOM IC TES TING REGIME OF THE MID-T WENTI ETH de ali ng with the tes ting of nuc lear w eap ons and materials to explo re and develop these na rratives in-d epth fo r CENT URY RE MAINS REL ATIVE LY UN KNOWN WI THI N in Aus trali a, a long w ith the myr iad of interco nnect ed Black Mist Bu rnt Count ry th rough the insig htful essa y OUR OWN COUNT RY. ev ents and repercussions arising f rom those t ests: contribut ions to this cat alogue as well as the educati on lo cal ly, reg ion ally a nd g lobal ly. T he exh ibi tion b rin gs resou rces availa ble for studen ts, and the inte ractiv e The contin uing deva station c aus ed by t his dislo cat ion toget her artworks s pan ning fi ve decad es by Indig enous timeline de veloped as an in tegral pa rt of the exh ibition . is br ought to li ght throu gh the artwork s ele cted f or t he and non-Indig enous con temporary artists across the As Dr Elizabe th Tynan writes in her essay Th under on th e ex hib ition and the con tributions to t his catalog ue. The mediu ms of p ain ting, print-makin g, scu lpt ure, install ation, Plain : “The British nucle ar tests in Aus tralia touch ed th e Black Mist B urnt Cou ntry project has be en d evelo ped from ph otography a nd n ew m edi a. In do ing so, it c reates a lives of many people. The re we re the Indig enous peopl e in itial con cept to f inal p rogram in contin uous cons ult ation po werful and a cce ssible na rrative hitherto large ly hid den who we re cast off their lan ds … the se rvice personne l with t he A nan gu Pit jan tjatjara throu gh Yal ata Ana ngu from the po pular pub lic gaz e. who worked at the th ree Austral ian atomic tes ts sites … Aboriginal Cor poration and Mar ali nga Tj arutja/Oak Val ley The importance of t ell ing those stories h as b een the whistl eblowers and politicians who fought to bring thi s Maral inga, inc luding m any trips to those communit ies a d riv ing force in t he d eve lopment of this e xhibition. issue to ligh t, and the scie ntists, scho lars and artist s as the proj ect has unfold ed, and we a re p leased to be As Mima Smart OAM and f ormer Yal ata Community who have atte mpted to under stand just wh at happene d suppo rting mem bers of those com munities to ac tiv ely Chairperson writes in her catalogue contribution, “because the re and what it meant to this cou ntry.” pa rticipate in the p rograms a ccompan ying the ex hibit ion of the poi son from the bo mbs being tested at Marali nga In his con tribution, An a larming wil lin gness to do ha rm, ac ross t he c ountry. the country is no good”, argu ing that: “It is important t hat Dr Tilman R uff AM explores the de vastating heal th i mpact The histor ica l, artistic and c ultural threa ds i nterwoven these stories a re t old.” Mick Brod erick ’s e ssay Atom ic that t he t ests had on so many of those diffe rent p eop les, around this e xhi bit ion are strongly c onn ected throu gh Pop observes how “the utopian promise a nd a pocal ypt ic from the Indigen ous popul ation to t he s ervi ceman, and and with Burrinja. L oca ted in the urban- rural int erface threat of atomic energy has nev er been far f rom the ev en h is o wn p erson al e xperience as a toddler exp osed to to the east of Mel bou rne, Burrinja is t he p lace n ame Australian cul tural imaginatio n”. This ‘ par adoxi cal the nuclear du st s torms that b lew over Adel aide in 195 6. for the D and enong Ranges Community C ult ural C ent re,

9 INTR ODUCT ION DR ROSS FARN ELL

and concep tual core of t his exhib ition. At another lev el t oo is the con nec tion of ac tivism throu gh a rt a nd B urrinj a’s TO UR VEN UES mission, bu ild ing co mmunity t hr ough art. While Burrinj a’s has been a story of lo cal engag ement and dev elopm ent, National Trust S.H. Ervin Galle ry, it is a lso one of e mergi ng n ational sign ifi cance. Burrinja The Rocks, Sydne y, NSW has a vis ion to con tribute p ositively to the c rea tiv e, social 24 Sep – 30 Oct 20 16 and econom ic o utcom es t hat bu ild and stren gthen the Art Galle ry of Ballarat, VIC region’s and the nation’s cultural ecology. 3 Dec 2016 – 5 Feb 2017 Jona tha n The scope a nd s cale of this exh ibition h ave only been Kumi ntja rra Brow n made p ossib le by the contribut ions and enthusiastic Swan Hill Regional Galle ry, VIC with his pai ntin g suppo rt of m any. W hile it is not possible to ac kno wledge 25 Feb – 23 Apr 20 17 Mara linga befo re all of them h ere, I take t his opp ortunity to tha nk in the At omic Test Gold Coast City Galle ry, Su rfers Paradise, QLD pa rticular our Curat or a nd M ana ger of Col lections Phot ograph by 6 May – 18 Jun 201 7 Neil McLeod JD Mit tmann for his tirel ess dedic ation to t his project f rom in cep tion to fulfi lm ent; to t he mem bers of the Maral inga Pinnacles Galle ry, Townsville, QLD Tj arutja/Oak Val ley co mmunities f or t heir support; to the 22 Jul – 3 Sep 201 7 a n ot-for-p rof it a rts organi sat ion bo rn o ut of c ommunity many c ontribut ors to the exh ibi tion d eve lopment, de sign and arts ac tiv ism in t he late 1990s. At i ts h eart, Burrinja and logistical elem ent s; to t hose who ha ve c ont ributed Glasshouse Regional Gall ery, ex ists beca use of c ommunity and for the crea tivity of that their res earch and in sig hts to t his ca tal ogue; and to Po rt Macquarie, NSW co mmunity. Crea ted through prot est and a de terminat ion the funding pa rtners who ha ve m ade the entire proj ect 16 Sep – 26 Nov 20 17 to establish a hub for arts and cul ture in the D and enong po ssible: t he A ustralian Gove rnm ent ’s Visio ns of Australia Western Plains Cultural Cent re, Dubbo, NSW Range s, the orga nis ation draws on a res ilient h istory program; NETS Victor ia’s Exhi bit ion Devel opment F und 9 Dec 2017 – 25 Mar 2018 en twined with a ctivi sm. Grant, supp orted by the Victorian G overnment throu gh Th is h istor ical narrative laid the fou nda tion f or t he Creative Vic toria; t he G ordon Darling Fou ndation; and to Penrith Regional Galle ry, NSW ce ntre’s engage ment with Ind igeno us c ulture: from the Burrinja ’s k ey p artner Yarra Ranges Counci l. 26 May – 29 July 2018 in vol vement of Yorta Yorta artist Lin Onus ( ‘bu rrinja’) Burrinja loo ks f orward to t he p ositive outcomes and National Museum of Australi a, Canberra, ACT in the ini tial communi ty act ivi sm, to the gif ting in 2001 im pact that Black Mist B urnt Cou ntry will have for m any 23 Aug – 18 Nov 20 18 of the nat ion ally s ign ifica nt M cLeod Gift Colle ction of ye ars to c ome, and to the t ell ing of stories old and new Aboriginal and Ocean ic w orks. A direct li nea ge then is to you nger g ene ratio ns a bout o ur a tom ic p ast, so that we Burrinja Dandenong Ranges Cultural Cen tre, created f rom B urrinja to t he M aralinga story t hrough may be be tter info rmed as we cont emplate a nd d elibe rate Upwe y, VIC Lin Onus and the works of J ona than K umintjara B rown on any pot ent ial nu cle ar fut ur es. 1 Dec 2018 – 10 Feb 2019 he ld in the Collec tio n, (de tai led in JD M ittmann’s es say ), Dr Ross Far nell and it is the work of Jon athan that sits at the in spi rational Execu tive D ir ector, B urrinja

10 Terence Edwa rds (Pit jantj atjar a, b.19 82) End of Ooldea Missi on 200 9 ac rylic on canva s 40 x 50 cm Produ ced for Maral inga , The An angu Story by Yalat a and Oak Vall ey Comm uniti es with Christ obel Mattin gle y, first publ ished by All en & Unw in in 200 9 © Mara linga Tja rutja Inc . rep resen ting the Oak Valley and Yalata Commu nitie s, 2009

11 Cynt hia Cha rra, Po lly Cha rra, Verna Gib son, Edwin a Ingo mar, Gle nda Ke n, Teres a Pete rs, Ca rmel Win dlass , Mell issa Wi ndlas s, Ann Mari e Woods, Nata sha Woods with assi stance of Mima Sma rt, Ma rga ret May and Ri ta Bryant (Pit jantj atjara Anang u) Mara linga Tjurku rpa 20 16 ac rylic on canva s 174 x 139 cm Faci litat ed by Pam Dimen t Cou rtesy of the artist s © Yalata Commu nity

12 THE CO UNTRY IS NO GOOD MIMA SMART OAM

Befo re the bomb s, our families were still in the de sert and we re travelling so uth to a place whi ch was Oolde a Mission. In Ooldea, a missi ona ry was looking after ou r TJUKUT PA OLDEA- NYA PATJINTJAR families th ere. They we re all happ y. Kids we re put in Iriti anagu tjuta pukulpa nyinangi ngu ra in i homes … a girls’ home and a boys’ home. People were Oldea Missi onta. kutjupa tjuta kawripa rtu happ y. They we re given the ir new names pl us their nativ e putingka pi tjangi waltj ara tjut-kut u. name, by the la dy named . They li ved the re for a long time . Ka tjintu kut jupanka Brit ish Army tjutank u After many ye ars, the Briti sh Army sent men to ngura Oldea Mission takutu pitjala wan gkangu , Ooldea Miss ion, to have a me eting about wh at wa s ngura nyang aka, anangu tj uta nyinanyt jaku wiya. going to happ en in a few months or weeks time. Afte r Nanana Atom Bomb-pa tjunu nayi ka wat i that the white missiona ry had a meeting with the othe r This page: Photos by JD Mi ttman n Missiona ry-ku anangu tjutanka wan gkangu , white people who we re living th ere, befo re they pass ed pankantja rgu ngura Missio n-ngku ru. the message to the Anangu pe ople. to No rthe rn Territo ry, and ac ross east Sou th Australia . Palu ru tjana tjit uru-tjitu ru pulkara mi rpanariku . Then next day that missiona ry brought eve rybod y It was a ve ry sad day for our fa milies to leave Ooldea . Palu ru tjana pitj angu ngura ini Mis siont a togethe r, sat in a ci rcle, and told th em about what is They enjoyed living the re. But that was gone. Our fami lie s kutu, tjitji tjuta home man gka tjarpar -tjunu . going to happ en. When the me ssage was given to all th e we re lost and did n’t know what pl ace they we re going to . Wati-min yma tjuta puku lpa nyinayi. people, they felt ang ry. They all got upse t. Some we re Just like they were the people who were taken out to th e hitting the ir heads with st icks and ston es. Others we re dese rt by Moses, as it says in the Bibl e. Truck-tjut a-nku pitjala manyintjara katingu kutj upa putting sand all over their bodies. They were all cryin g Because of the poison from the bombs being teste d tjuta Oldea Tankala, ngu ra pulkanya tj unkul a sadl y, saying, “Whe re are we go ing? We are going to a at Maralinga the count ry is no good. No go od at all . pukulpa nyi anyi kapi pulk a-ka. place we have never been to. ” That poison has killed so ma ny of our people. Throug h The Ooldea Mi ssion was clos ing up and eve rybod y that atomic bomb. And radia tion on eve rything … sand , was given rat ions of food to take with them for thei r trees, animal s, buildings and other thing s. Our familie s child ren. People we re taken on trucks to Kooni ba, whil e are upset by all th is mess. others walk ed towa rds south. They were putting tra cks I am glad that th is book and the exhibition are tellin g on the sand so th at others cou ld follow them. When the y our stories. It is impo rtant that these stories are told fo r didn’t come we thought “may be they have go ne hunting” . our next gene ration. They went on di ffe rent tracks. Maybe the wind blew th e Mima Sma rt OAM footprints awa y. Some we re lost. A lot of families are stil l Fo rmer Yalata Comm unity Chairp erson wandering around out th ere in the dese rt toda y. Rev Russell Bryant Our people were divided into fo ur groups. Some wen t Yalata Commu nity Chairpe rson south to Yalata. Some went to Weste rn Australia, other s Deputy Chair Maralinga Tj arutja Comm unity Counci l

13 EMU AND MARAL ING A ATOMIC TEST ARE AS IN SOUTH AUST RALIA Walla tinn a Aboriginal Land

Great Victoria Desert

AUSTRALIA Nature Rese rve

Sec tion 1486 Tallarin ga Conse rvation Park

Maralinga Aboriginal Land

Sec tion 1487 Sec tion 400

Nullarbor Plain AILWAY ALIAN R -AUSTR TRANS Watso n Ool dea Imm arna Bar ton Den man Coo k Far ri ght, top: Hug hes Fou rth at omic bomb test at Nul larb or Re gion al Mara linga, 22 Oct ober 1956 , Res erve code named Breaka way. Photo by News Ltd/N ewspi x Nul larb or Yalata Abo rigi nal Y Res erve Yala ta Far ri ght, bottom : EYRE HW Tommy Queama an d Col ona Jack Baker hold the Maral ing a Boo kabi e land grant docume nts , Great Australian Pen ong 18 Dec ember 1984 . N Bight The de eds retu rned to 0 50 100 km Fow lers Bay Ced una its Tradi tional Owne rs. Photo by Mil ton Wordley / So urce: MA RTAC 200 2. So uth Aust ral ian Mu seum Arch SAMA 1090 News pix

14 TI MELIN E

DATE EVENT 1940s Tens of thou sands of people with in a c400 BC The ancient Greek philosopher Democritus fo rmulates the April 1940 Britain ’s MAUD Committee investi gates d ev elopment of an 2 kilomet re radius we re bu rned, decapi tated , theo ry that ev erything in the uni verse consists of atomos , atomic weapon after recent disc ov ery of . “solid, indivisible, unchanging pa rticles”. disembowe led, crushed and irradiate d. September Japan joins Ge rma ny and Italy in the Tripa rtite Pact. 1770 James Cook claims Australia as British 1940 The sudden d rop in air p ressu re blew thei r possession. December Roos ev elt appoints S1 Committee to i nv esti gate whether eyes from the soc kets and ruptu red thei r 1789 German chemist Ma rtin Klaproth completes the analysis 1941 and at what cost the US can produce an atomic bom b. of pitchblende and names the new element . Japanese forces conduct a surprise attack on the US n avy ea rdrums; the shock wave cleaved thei r base at Pea rl Harbo r, Hawaii. US enters wa r. 1895 Wilhelm Conrad Rönt gen disc ov ers X-r ays at the in bodies ap art. They we re the luc ky ones . Germa ny and ta kes an ima ge of his wife ’s hand. Feb ruary 1942 Sin gapore su rrenders to Japan. Paul Ham 1897–1907 New Zealand scientist Ernest Rutherford i nvesti gates April 1942 US B-25 bombers for the first time raid Japanese cities . Hiroshima Nagasaki, 2011 radioactivity at Cambrid ge, Massachusetts, and finds distinct types of radiation emitted from uranium . September US General Leslie Gr oves assigned to command secret 1942 . Groves hires Robe rt Oppenheimer 1903 French scientists Pie rre and Marie Curie recei ve to run the scientific d ev elopment of the atom bom b. The March 1945 Fire-bombing of Tokyo causes over 100,000 casualties , Nobel Prize in P hysics for research on the “radiation project which ev entually empl oys 130,000 people and displacing 1 million. Lar gest bombing ev ent of WWII. phenomenon”. costs more than US$ 25 billions in 2012 dollars 8 M ay 1945 V-D ay in Europe . German ’s unconditional su rrende r. 1905 Albe rt Einstein publishes theo ry of the equi valence of December Italian Enrico Fe rmi and his team at Uni versity of Chica go matter and ener gy (the theo ry of special relativity), which 1942 achieve the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. June 1945 Leading scientists of Manhattan Project voice conce rns is later used in the d evelopment of the atomic bom b. about use of atomic weapon and wa rn of a rms race. 1942–45 Manhattan Project includes secret research facilities in The Cha rter of United Nations is signed in San Francisco. 1906–60 Radium Hill (SA) operates as Australia ’s first uranium Los Alamos , Chica go, Oak Rid ge. production at Divine Emperor Hirohito calls on Japan ’s milita ry leaders mine. Mined ore is processed at Hunter's Hill (NSW) and Hanford is under strict radiation safety standards . to end the war by diplomatic means. sold to pioneering researchers Rutherford and Curie. July 1943 Hamburg firesto rm caused by incendia ry bombs . July 1945 First atomic test is ca rried out at Alamo gordo , 1911 Hans Gei ger and Rutherford disc ov er that the mass of August 1943 US and Britain sign committing allies , codenamed . The explosion ’s force an atom is concentrated in its nucleus, a pa rticle 1,000 is estimated the equi valent of 20,000 tons of TNT. times smaller than the atom, su rrounded by orbiting to not sharing a ny atomic info rmation, technolo gy or materials with third pa rties. Potsdam Declaration calls on the Japanese G overnment ’s electrons . unconditional su rrende r. 1919 Ernest Rutherford splits the atom in Mancheste r. Feb ruary 1944 British scientist William Penn ey empl oy ed at Los Alamos to stu dy p hysics of hydro dynamic and shock w av es. 6 August 1945 dr ops Li ttle Boy. 70 ,000 are kil led im media tel y. 1930s June 1944 D-d ay. Allied troops land in No rman dy, France . 8 August 1945 S oviet Union declares war on Japan, pouring more than March 1933 Hungarian scientist produces a laborato ry- one million soldiers into Japanese-occupied Manchuria . scale chain reaction using uranium in Chica go. September Hyde Park Agreement : Roos evelt and Churchill commit to 1944 collaboration in atomic research for milita ry and civilian 9 August 1945 on mission to drop plutonium bomb . December German scientists and split purposes after wa r. Smo ke from fire-bombing pr ev ents tar geting of Kokura . 1938 the atom in Nazi Ge rma ny. Bockscar is di verted to Na gasaki but misses tar get . 13–15 Feb ruary Allied air raid drop ov er 300t incendiaries and explosi ves 40,000 die instantl y. William Penn ey witnesses the September Germa ny attacks Poland which sta rts World War II. 1945 on Dresden which shelters 300,000 refu gees at the time . bombing in obse rvation plane . 1939 Over 20,000 are killed . 15 August 1945 Japan accepts te rms of unconditional su rrende r. October 1939 Szilard co nvinces Einstein to sign a letter to US President Feb ruary 1945 US/British and Russian relations deteriorate at Yalta Roos evelt wa rning of Ge rma ny’s atomic research . Confe rence ov er dispute about future of Ge rma ny and August 1945 Harry Daghlian becomes the first victim to die of Europe, which lead to Cold War. radioacti ve poisoning at Los Alamos.

15 TI MELIN E

September Wilfred Burchett, an Australian jou rnalist, is the first September Britain commences Operation Antler , which includes three 1945 Weste rn repo rter to visit Hiroshima. I rega rded the bomb as a milita ry weap on 1957 precurso ry tests for British hydro gen bombs. and never had any doubt that it shoul d October 1945 US Occupation Forces ban press from photo grap hy at October 1957 The S oviet Union launches satellite Sputnik 1 , proof of its Hiroshima and Na gasaki. be used.” capability to built intercontinental missiles . January 1946 UN Assembly calls for the elimination of atomic weapons. US P resident Har ry Truman October 1957 Fire at Windscale in , England , Harry S. Truman, Memoirs, 1955 which for two days and re lea ses ra dio active materi al June 1946 Ba ruch Plan proposes an inte rnational authority to that spreads across no rthe rn Europe and Scandin avia . inspect and control nuclear projects. November UK test of hydro gen bomb ( ) at July 1946 US milita ry detonates a Na gasaki-type plutonium bomb October 1952 First UK atomic test in Australia, codenamed Hu rricane . 1957 Christmas Island. Britain pushes to finalise test series at Bikini Atoll in . Bomb is exploded inside the hull of fri gate HMS Plym , before a moratorium of atomic tests comes into life. which is mostly vapourised in the blast. William Penn ey August 1946 US McMahon (Atomic Ener gy Act) monopolises kn ow-h ow January 1958 Australia ’s first nuclear reactor goes critical in Lucas supe rvises test . and closes door on fo rmer allies such as Britain. Heights, south of Sydn ey, which is built for research and John Hers ey publishes landmark repo rt on the bombing at November US test the first hydro gen bomb at Ene wetak Atoll. Bomb production of medical radioisotopes. Hiroshima and its afte rmath in The New Yorker ma gazine. 1952 is 500 times more p ow erful than the Na gasaki bom b. Feb ruary 1958 Campaign for Nuclear Disa rmament is launched in January 1947 Manhattan Project is transfe rred to the newly created August 1953 USSR test first hydro gen bom b. London. Thousands join protest march to Alde rmaston. Atomic Ener gy Commission, moving the pro gram from milita ry to civilian control. October 1953 Totem 1 and Totem 2 atomic tests at Emu Field (SA) . 1960s ‘Black mist’ incident affects the health of Aboriginal 1947 William Penn ey assembles a team to work on the atomic people in the area. Feb ruary 1960 France explodes its first atomic bomb in the Sahara bomb in the UK. Albe rt Tucker and American poet Ha rry dese rt, Al geria , with a yield of 60–70 kilotons . Ros kolen ko visit Hiroshima. March 1954 A massi ve 15-me gaton hydro gen bomb code-named Castle Bravo is detonated at Bikini Atoll. Radioacti ve January 1961 Two Mark 39 hydro gen bombs are accidentally dropped in August 1949 USSR tests atomic bomb in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan . fallout s everely affects islanders and fishe rmen. US after a B-52 bomber breaks up in mid-ai r. 1949 Uranium disc overed at Rum Jungle , NT. Until 1971 , it 1955 UN establishes Scientific Committee on the Effects of October 1961 The S oviet Union tests the world ’s most p ow erful bom b, produced uranium for US and British nuclear weapons . Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). 58-me gaton Tsar Bomba at N ovay a Zembl ya. 1950s July 1955 Philosopher Be rtrand Russell, Albe rt Einstein and leading October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis : World to the brink of nuclear wa r. September Australian PM Robe rt Menzies recei ves request from scientists ur ge leaders to renounce nuclear weapons. 1962–63 Yirrkala bark petition a gainst bauxite mining becomes the 1950 British PM to test atomic weapons in May 1955 British and Australian gov ernments announce pe rmanent first statement of land rights by Aboriginal people. Australia. Menzies a grees. test site at Maralin ga, . 1963 Ku rt J r. publishes Cat ’s Cradle . March 1951 British seek to use Monte Islands ( WA) for tests. May–June 1956 : UK conducts atomic test on Monte April 1963 Britain concludes ‘minor’ trials pro gram at Maralin ga in 1952 Ooldea Aboriginal Rese rve closed to m ove people away Bello Islands, which spreads fallout across mainland. time before Test Ban Treaty comes into place. from weapons tests. Anangu Pitjantjatja rra are displaced Australian Labor Party withdr aws political suppo rt for the and re-settled at Yalata on the Great Australian Bight. British tests in the wa ke of Mosaic G2 test. August 1963 US, UK and USSR sign Partial Test Ban Treaty in attempt to minimize radioacti ve fall-out in the world ’s atmosphere. June 1952 Liberal gov ernment passes Defense (Special September Four atomic d evices are trialed at Maralin ga codenamed Unde rtakings) Act , which all ows the British G ov ernment –October 1956 Operation Buffalo . Him sworth and Bronk repo rts on 1964 Partial cleanup of Emu Field and Maralin ga commences. access to remote pa rts of Australia to unde rta ke atomic hazards of radioacti ve fallout and -90. January 1964 Dr. Stran gelove o r: H ow I Lea rned to Stop Worrying and weapons tests. The general public is lar gely un aware of May 1957 The Milpuddie family incident. Love the Bomb (di r. by Stanl ey Kubrick) released. the nature and risks of testing pro gram. Artists demand immediate end of nuclear tests from October 1964 China explodes its first atomic bomb at Lop No r. Australian gov ernment Signatories include Dargie , Walle r, Counihan , Howley, French , Perc eval and Blackman.

16 1965 PM Menzies commissions repo rt into a possibility for a nuclear weapons pro gram in Australia. July 1966 France begins nuclear testing in the South Pacific in Mu ruroa and Fangataufa . Feb ruary 1967 Latin America declares itself a ‘nuclear-free zone’ , committing signatories not to manufacture, test or acquire nuclear weapons. May 1967 PM Harold Holt commissions stu dy to assess the possibility of domestic manufacture of nuclear weapons . August 1967 Britain completes clean-up operation at Maralin ga, Operation B rumby , and vacates the site. 1967 A Federal referendum on all owing the Common wealth to ma ke l aws in respect of Indi genous people, and for Indi genous people to be counted in the census, succeeds with a “Yes ” vote of ov er 90 per cent . 1968 Pearce Repo rt reveals that 20kg of highly toxic plutonium are buried at Maralin ga’s Taranaki site. Most of the plutonium is later found to be scattered around the site . July 1968 Non–Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT) commits states to non-proliferation, disa rmament and peaceful uses of nuclear ener gy. 1969 Cabinet appr ov es plan to build nuclear reactor at Jervis Bay (NSW). 1970s 1972 Gough Whitlam elected PM who drops Jervis B ay project. 1973 Australia ratifies NP T. January 1974 Australia and N ew Zealand ask the Inte rnational Cou rt of Justice to halt continuing French atmospheric tests in Polynesia and send n aval vessels to signal opposition . May 1974 India conducts atomic bomb test in the Rajasthan Dese rt. Bowing to inte rnational pressure, France announces all of its future nuclear tests will be conducted under ground. Crew of a Vali ant bom ber ai rcraft which dropped an November Gov ernor-General Sir John Ke rr dismisses PM Whitlam . atom ic devi ce at Marali nga 1975 Malcolm Fraser is appointed as careta ker PM . on Thu rsda y, 11 Oc tobe r 1976 Liberal Federal G ov ernment appr ov es licenses for 1956 (Opera tion Buffalo , Ran ger and Narba rlek (NT) and Olympic Dam (SA) code named Kite) . uranium mines. Photo by News Ltd/N ewspi x

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December Avon Hudson, RAAF veteran, rev eals on TV that he had December Inte rmediate-ran ge missiles banned. USSR and US 1976 “helped bu ry 26 boxes of radioacti ve plutonium waste at Australia co-operat ed with the British on 1987 sign the Inte rmediate-Ran ge Nuclear Fo rces Treaty to Maralin ga under just three meters of sand” . conducting sec ret atomic trigger tests at eliminate all land-based missiles held by the t wo states with ran ges bet ween 300 and 3,400 miles. December Tom Uren questions the Minister for Defence, James Maralinga and that waste and debris from 1976 Killen, about Maralin ga and demands a r oyal commission. March 1989 TAG ( Technical Assessment Group) repo rts to Australian these tes ts we re buried at Maralin ga? gov ernment on options for rehabilitation of the Maralin ga August 1977 Fraser gov ernment all ows uranium mining and expo rt. atomic bomb test site. 50,000 marchers protest in Hiroshima D ay rallies. Tom U ren, Labour MP 1990s June 1978 Australia joins UN Committee on Disa rmament . House of Rep resentatives, 9 December 1976 1990 Lin Onus creates sculpture Maralin ga, the first a rtwork October 1978 Journalist Brian Toohey’s a rticle raises question about by an Indi genous a rtist inspired by the nuclear tests in security and proper disposal of plutonium at Maralin ga. Australia. 1979 Nuclear a rms race escalates with N ATO decision to depl oy 1984 French nuclear tests continue in the Pacific. New Zealand June 1993 Australian jou rnalist Ian Anderson publishes landmark Cruise and Pershing missiles in Britain, Germa ny and Ital y. declares herself a nuclear–free zone. article in New Scientist about Maralin ga contamination. USSR installs SS-20 in Easte rn Europe. Protest marches 1984 In federal elections, Peter Ga rrett, President of the are held throughout Weste rn Europe and Britain. Australian Conse rvation Foundation and lead-sin ger July 1993 Nuclear (R)A ge – The Bomb in Australian Art is exhibited at Monash Uni versity Galle ry. 1980s of Midnight Oil, records 9.7% of the vote for the Nuclear Disa rmament Party (NDP). Due to the preferential December UK gov ernment a grees to p ay £20m on an ex gratia basis May 1980 The Advertiser in runs a sto ry about Yami Leste r. voting system he was not elected to the Senate. Peace 1993 towards the cost of the Maralin ga site rehabilitation . 1981 Backs to the Blast an independent documen tary film help s activist Jo Vallentine is elected to the Senate for the NDP in WA. November PM Paul Keating establishes the Canbe rra Commission trig ger R oyal Commission into the British Atomic Tests. 1995 on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, an independent June 1982 Over a million people gather in New York ’s Central Park July 1985 French secret a gents sink the Greenpeace ship Rainb ow inte rnational fo rum to deliberate issues of nuclear in suppo rt of UN Session on Disa rmament, the lar gest Warrior in Auckland. One crew membe r, photo grapher proliferation and propose practical steps on abolishment. Fernando Pereira, dr owns. anti-war demonstration in histo ry. December Southeast Asia declares a nuclear-free zone . 1982 Midnight Oil album 10 , 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, with the August 1985 The South Pacif ic Nuclear Free Zone Treaty is signed at 1995 Raroton ga in the Cook Islands . track Maralin ga reaches top of Australian cha rts . March 1996 Jonathan Kumintja rra Br own presents Maralin ga Nullius , March 1983 Rea gan u nv eils Strategic Defense Initiative pro gram. November Royal Commission hands its findings to the Federal the first exhibition themed around Maralin ga as pa rt of 1985 Government, including recommendations amounting to Native Title N ow at Tanda ny a during Adelaide Festi val. April 1983 Palm Sund ay rallies call for the end of the a rms race . compensation for victims (se rvicemen, Aboriginal people More than 150,000 protest in Australian major cities. and civilians) and full cleanup of test sites. April 1996 Africa becomes a nuclear-free zone . November First US missiles a rri ve in Ge rma ny; S oviets walk out of December Inte rnational Physicians for the P revention of Nuclear War July 1996 The Inte rnational Cou rt of Justice issues an a dvisor 1983 disa rmament talks. 1985 recei ves the Nobel Prize in Oslo for its effo rts of focusing opinion on le gality of the threat or use of nuclear on the human costs of nuclear wa r. weapons reminding states of their duty to ne gotiate in May 1984 A scientific mission to Maralin ga exposes a hithe rto good faith and accomplish nuclear disa rmament. unknown distribution of plutonium contamination at April 1986 Che rnobyl catastrophe. An explosion at the nuclear p ow er Maralin ga. plant sends radioacti ve cloud across no rthe rn Europe . July 1996 Soil exc avation sta rts at Maralin ga’s Taranaki site. 1984 The South Australian G ov ernment passes Maralin ga October 1986 US President Rea gan and S oviet President Mikhail September UN General Assembly adopts the Comp rehensive Tja rutja Land Rights Act , which grants traditional owners Gorbach ev meet at R eykjavik, Iceland, where the 1996 Nuclear- Test-Ban Treaty . As of 2015 eight states h av e freehold title to an area of 81,000 sqkm. possibility of achi eving nuclear abolition is discussed. not ratified (incl . US, China) , three h ave not signed it: India , Pakistan , and No rth Korea , which pr ev ents the August 1984 Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests established . treaty from coming into force.

18 September The Federal G overnment announces replacement reactor 2010s 1997 in Lucas Heights costing in excess of $500m. 2010 Victorian a rtist Lance Atkinson ( Yorta Yorta) conducts a rt May 1998 India and Pakistan conduct a series of nuclear tests. workshop in Oak Vall ey. Works are presented at Adelaide Festi val the foll owing yea r. 1998 Pangea ’s plan to establish nuclear waste dump in Australia for 20% of world ’s spent nuclear fuel is lea ked 8 April 2010 US and Russia sign the New S TART (Strategic Arms to the media, but dropped after public condemnation. Reduction Treaty) promising to reduce by half the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers . 1998 Proposed Jabiluka uranium mine site attracts continued protest making it one of Australia ’s lar gest e nvironmental March 2011 A massi ve ea rthqua ke and resulting tsunami cause a campaigns. It dr aws criticism from UNESCO due to its devastating nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi location in Kakadu National Park World Herita ge Area . nuclear p ower plant in Japan. 2000s March 2012 British supreme cou rt rules that 1,000 British veterans involved with the British atomic tests are unable to file March 2000 Maralin ga Rehabilitation Project declared completed for compensation . which Science Minister Nick Minchin declares as “world ’s best practice” and announces the site “clean and safe” . November Maralin ga-Tja rutja people recei ve unrestricted access to 2014 Maralin ga. The site was limited because it was pa rt of the April 2000 ABC airs pro gram that r eveals conce rns about the Woomera restricted area. effecti veness of the Maralin ga cleanup operation. Feb ruary 2015 SA Premier J ay Weatherill announces a R oyal Commission July 2004 The Federal G overnment abandons plans for a national into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle inquiring into the state ’s radioacti ve waste reposito ry in South Australia after potential for uranium minin g, enrichment, ener gy protests of Indi genous elders. generation and nuclear waste stora ge industries. August 2006 OPAL replacement reactor in Lucas Heights goes critical . June 2015 Russia ’s president Putin announces increase of Decommissioning of existing reactor commences in 2007 intercontinental ballistic missiles by 40. and expected to be completed by 2025. November The Australian G ov ernment announces six new pri vate October 2006 North Korea conducts nuclear tests. 2015 prope rties for a potential national radioacti ve waste April 2007 ICAN (Inte rnational Campaign to Abolish Nuclear reposito ry. Weapons) is launched in Vienna. December The first shipment of Australian nuclear waste processed 2007 The Australian Labor Party scraps ‘three-mine policy’ , 2015 in France for long-te rm stora ge a rri ves back in Australia . opening up Australia to uranium exploration and minin g. Greenpeace activists protest at Port Kembla in NS W. 2009 Australia adopts the United Nations Declaration on the January 2016 North Korea claims to h av e conducted a nuclear hydro gen Rights of Indi genous Peoples . bomb test. Judy Watso n January 2016 The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists le ave Doomsday Clock April 2009 US President Barack Obama calls for nuclear abolition (Waany i, b.1 959) before a cr owd of 20,000 in Prague . at three minutes to midnight due to on going nuclear threat and climate chan ge. bomb drawing 1 1995 2009 Christobel Mattingl ey publishes Maralin ga – The Anangu ink and water colour on pap er Sto ry co-authored with Oak Vall ey/Yalata communities. April 2016 Representati ves of Yalata Aboriginal Community meet 50 x 40 cm hibakusha in Japan and gift a sculpture to the Na gasaki Cou rtesy of the artist and 2009 Section 400 at Maralin ga is handed back to traditional Peace Park. owners encompassing 3000 sq km, including the ‘forward Mila ni Gall ery, Brisb ane area’ where s ev en nuclear d evices were exploded and May 2016 President Obama is the first US President to visit © the artist almost 600 so-called ‘minor tests’ were conducted. Hiroshima. He calls for an end of nuclear weapons.

19 Kate Downhi ll (Aus trali a, UK, b.1955 ) Oper ation Hurrica ne 2013 ac rylic on dress fabri c laid on canv as 91 x 122 cm Cou rtesy of the artist © the artist

20 TH UNDER ON THE PLAIN DR ELIZA BETH TYNA N

In the now-ex tinct Garik la nguage of the Northe rn Territo ry The notorio us UK Of ficial Sec rets Act plac ed strict limi ts mush room cloud tests we re called, investigat ed a divers e the wo rd “Maraling a” means thund er.1 When the Unite d on what any Bri tish pa rticipant, milita ry or civilian , range of atom ic weapon desi gns and explo sive yields . Kingdom st rove to join the ‘club’ of nucl ear-a rmed natio ns could say abo ut the events at Maralinga, and promise d They resulted in the creation of the first operationa l by conducti ng an extensive program of nuclear test s lengthy pri son te rms for breaches. Austr alia’s equiv alent , British nuc lear weapons, known as Blue Danube, and th e on Australi an sove reign te rrito ry, thunder soon echoe d the Crimes Ac t, was likewise highly proscriptive for all smaller tac tical , known as Red Bea rd. ac ross pristine dese rt lands. As it rolled awa y, it lef t Australian participan ts, though pe rhaps not as te rrifyin g behind intr actable radi oactive cont amination. as the UK la w. From fission to fusion The British nuclear tests in Australia to uched th e The relations hip between the British and th e Nucle ar wea pons prol iferation a nd e sca lating C old War lives of many people: Indig enous people were cas t Australia ns in this project was always essentially that of tensions were i nev itably r amped up as Britain entered off their lan ds, in some cases having been ex pose d master and se rvant. The UK test authorities never full y the arms race with t he s ucc ess of Ope ration Hurricane in to radioact ivity; se rvice person nel from the test sit es included Au stralia in the ir decision- making, nor did the y Octob er 195 2. B ritain was at tem pting to c atch up to the have had to deal with the phys ical and emoti ona l sha re their sci enti fic dat a. The Austral ian Gove rnmen t first nu cle ar-armed nation s, t he U nit ed States and the consequen ces ever since; whistleblo wers and poli tician s had little ot her than Briti sh assuranc es and unjusti fied Soviet Unio n, b ut w as a few yea rs b ehi nd. An int ernation al fought to bri ng this issue to light; scien tists, schol ars an d hope that eve rything would be okay. In ceding pa rt of it s morat orium on a tmospher ic nuc lear weap ons testing w as artists have attempted to understand ju st what happe ned te rrito ry to another na tion for sec retive and da nge rou s ex pec ted to come into effect in 1 958, a nd this a dded the re and what it meant to this cou ntry. The sto ry of activitie s, Australia ’s responsibil ities as a sove reig n to the rush to fina lise b omb des igns and to support the ‘thunder on the plain’ is a remarkab le one, and it nation we re comp romised du ring the elev en years of the Operat ion Grapp le h ydrog en (fusion) bomb t ests resonates sti ll. the British atomic weapons test programs in Au stralia. at Kir itimati ( then c all ed C hristmas Island, part of the This is a tale of nuclear colo nialism, in wh ich a non- Kirib ati group) in t he Pac ifi c. nuclear nat ion handed over part of its te rrito ry to an Monte Bello, Emu Field and Maralinga Hyd rogen bombs are si gni ficant ly mo re dest ructiv e eme rging nucl ear nation to te st the most dest ructiv e The test program ran from 1952 to 1963, and too k than the fission weapons tested in Aust ralia. Grapp le ha d weapons ever invented. Re mnants of the toxic physica l place at th ree locatio ns: the Monte Be llo Island s to be complet ed befo re the moratorium began. 2 The fin al and politic al legacy endure to this da y. The Australi an (also known as the Montebel lo Islands) off the Weste rn Grapple test took place in September 195 8, and th e Gove rnment had lit tle effective say in the conduct of th e Australian coast, and Emu Field and Mara linga in th e moratorium began at the end of the followi ng mont h tests and, sh amefull y, no knowledge of the contami natio n South Austr alian dese rt. The early sta ges of the nucle ar and lasted un til 1961. The re was then a br ief interlud e at the site unt il many years late r. The Austra lian publi c trials in Aus tralia we re di rected by Sir Wil liam Penne y, befo re the Pa rtial Test Ban Treaty was en acted in Octob er knew even less than their go vernment and th erefo re a brilliant mathematical who played a centr al 1963, prohibiting all but unde rground nucle ar weapon s could not gra nt info rmed conse nt for weapons tests an d role in the Manhat tan Project. A total of 12 ‘mush roo m testing and effectively ending all test ing in Austral ia. experimen ts that tho roughly pollu ted the land. Th is wa s cloud’ atom ic devices we re explode d: th ree at Mont e Several dev ices tested in Australia, during Operat ion pa rtly the result of str ict of ficial sec recy enfo rced by bot h Bello (Oper ations Hu rricane and Mosaic in 1952 and Mosaic and Op eration Antl er, we re components of the gove rnments and pa rtly the inabi lity of the cont empora ry 1956, respectively ), two at Emu Field (Operation Totem , hyd rogen devic e, although no hydrogen bomb expl osion s Australian media to inves tigate events at Maralinga . 1953) and sev en at Maralinga (Operations Buffal o took place on Australian so il at the exp ress wish of th e The British called all the shots, and sec recy reigned . and Antle r, 1956 and 195 7). The ‘major trials’, as th e Australian Gove rnment. Some of the most sec retiv e

21 Rose mary Lai ng (Aus trali a, b.19 59) One Do zen Co nside ratio ns: Totem I – Emu 2013 c-ty pe phot ograp h 49 x 76 cm Cou rtesy of the artist and Tola rno Ga lleri es, Me lbou rne © the artist

22 THUN DER ON THE PLAIN DR ELI ZABETH TYN AN

radiologi cal tests in Aus tralia, Vixen B at Maralinga he ld the Atomic En ergy Act that esta blished the Au stralia n proposals have been put fo rwa rd for Austra lia to host a in 1960, 1961 and 1963, may we ll have contra vene d Atomic Energy Com mission (AAEC), w hich was res pon sible nuclear was te storage fac ilit y. All nuclear- related projects , the morator ium and the test ban treat y, although exactl y for overseeing the development of atomic powe r, indicating including uranium minin g, usually face fierce loca l whether they did remains a myst ery as the full tech nica l a commitment to an atomic fu ture. Also, ag reeing to opposition these days, and the latest proposals are no details of th ese tests have never been revealed. assist Brit ain with its nuc lear program was as sumed to exception. Australia is not truly a nuclear na tion, and ma y help guaran tee protection by at least Britain and possibl y never be. The politics have proven dif ficul t, and may hav e Britain and Australia in the atomic era the United St ates if nuclear war loomed. been made mo re so by the dam age done at Mara linga. Britain had made a c ommitment to bui ld i ts o wn A -bomb At the time Bri tain app roached Austra lia, this coun try in 194 73 and pur sued its s ecret plans in a suc ces sion of BRI TAIN HAD TO DEVELOP ITS WEAPON RY WI THOU T had no nuclear ene rgy or weapons resea rch an d go vernm ent and scient ifi c com mit tees. Aft er bei ng b arred WORKING WITH THE AM ERICA NS. AU STRAL IA WAS developme nt of any kind. Br itain for its part didn’t reall y from de vel oping atomic weapo ns with the Americans, CHOS EN, AND PRIME MINIST ER MEN ZIES COUL D want to work wi th Australia at all. The coun try had bee n and tryi ng b ut f ail ing to e stabl ish an agreement to test NOT HAVE BE EN MORE ACCOMMO DATING . fo rced to seek ano ther place to test nuclear we apon s in Can ada, B rit ain dec ided to ap proa ch A ustral ia. British after the Uni ted States ena cted the so-c alled McMaho n Prime Minis ter Clement A ttlee wr ote to his A ustralian In the end, the push for Austr alia to be nucle ar- Act in 1946, ba rring nuclear resea rch and develo pmen t co unt erpart R obe rt M enz ies on 16 S ept ember 195 0,4 armed and powe red came to noth ing. Various Aus tralia n co-operat ion between the two allies. The combine d seeki ng permission to use the rem ote Monte Bello islands gove rnments have toyed with the id ea of nuclear en ergy, effo rts of Britain and the US had help ed to creat e off t he northwest co ast of Wes tern A ustralia for atomic including a well-develo ped proposal in the late 1960s , nuclear wea pon ry in the first place, bring ing it to fruitio n testing. Menzi es was eag er – far too eag er – and rea dily championed by then-Prime Minister John Go rton, to as pa rt of the sec retive wa rtime Manha ttan Project . ag reed w ithout con sulting his col lea gues. Menzi es d id n ot build a nucle ar power stati on at Je rvis Ba y, pa rt of th e Howeve r, nuclear espi onage by seve ral Manhattan Projec t say yes s imply to be sycoph ant ic. Evide nce sugge sts that Australian Capital Territo ry on the New South Wale s that had led to the developin g Australia at that time h ad a spi rations to bec ome a nu cle ar south coast. For a variety of reasons, including Go rton’ s its own atomic bomb in the pos t-war years and testin g armed and po wered nat ion in i ts o wn rig ht.5 Co- operating replacement as PM by a less-keen Wi lliam McMaho n, it in 1949 had ma de the US jump y, and it shut down with B ritish atomic wea pons d eve lopers w as tho ught the plan did not proceed . any fu rther co-ope ration for a dec ade. Britain had to to be a w ay to ga in a ccess to t he n ece ssary k now -ho w. The High Flux Australian Re actor (HI FAR) at Luca s develop its weapon ry without worki ng with the Amer icans . Australia a lready had some of the req uired resou rce s. Heights, 30 km south of Sydn ey, was Australi a’s fir st Australia was chosen, and Prime Minist er Menzies cou ld In 1949, exte nsive uranium deposits had bee n nuclear reacto r, and went critic al in 1958. It was use d not have been more accommodat ing. discove red in the No rthe rn Territo ry, at Rum Jungle . for resea rch and for creating medical and industri al The re would lat er be fu rther discove ries in Sout h radioisot opes. The process to decom mission HI FAR D-notices and the media Australia .6 These discoveries prompted sp eculatio n began in 2007 and will conti nue well into the 2020s . Most of what Me nzies ag reed to was not pub licised at among Austr alian politi cians about the prospect s A new reactor com missioned by the Howa rd Gove rnmen t the time, and he and his senior offic ials active ly limite d for futu re nuclear ene rgy productio n, since uran ium at the same site is cu rrently the only operatio nal nuclea r or denied med ia access to in formation, as the Br itis h is essential for both nucle ar weapon ry and powe r reactor in Aust ralia. Recen tly, and in the light of th e requested. In deed, Menzies created a new appar atu s generatio n. In 1953, the Au stralian Pa rliament pas sed 2015 Royal Co mmission into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle , of media info rmation co ntrol that limited how much th e

23 THUN DER ON THE PLAIN DR ELI ZABETH TYN AN

Australian public would know about the tests while the y British nuc lear phys ici st Erne st Titterton. He w as an Bello all sent radi oac tive f all out to the mai nla nd to v arious we re unde rway: D-notice s, sho rt for Defence no tices. 7 Australian employee at t he t ime of the British tes ts, de gr ees. The most d amagi ng M onte B ello test of all was This system, unlegislat ed but still co mpelling, am ounte d professor of nuc lear phys ics at t he A ustrali an N ation al ca lled Mosaic G 2, h eld in J une 1956. The explo sive yi eld to media self -censorship that helped ensu re that th e Unive rsity and member and la ter chair of t he c ont entio us of the nuc lear devi ce, said by some to be eq uiv alent Australian population knew vi rtually nothi ng about wha t Australian Atomic Wea pons Tes ts S afety Com mittee to 98 k ilo tons of TNT (near ly f our tim es the size of the was being done at all th ree nuclear weap ons test site s (AWTSC) that was suppo sed to ens ur e t hat the tes ts ne xt-large st British test in Australi a, and six times the other than of fici ally vetted in formation. Alth ough the tes t from 19 56 o nwards were s afe. As a Man hat tan Project yi eld of t he H iros hima bo mb), was i nit ially con cealed program contin ued until April 1963, media co verag e ve ter an he w as a lso part of t he “ nuc lear establi shment” from the Austral ian governm ent. The a ctual yie ld f igu re is effectively ended with the last of the major weapon s of inn er s anc tum nu cle ar wea pons pion eer s, and he p ut di spu ted, w ith some s cho lars a sserting that it was 98kt trials at Mar alinga in Octo ber 1957 . their secrecy and expedi ency req uirements f irst. The and others mai ntain ing that t here is no reason to thi nk it Australian media responded willingly to the ne w 19 85 R oyal C ommission in to t he B ritish Nuclear Tes ts was any m or e t han the 60kt that was not ed by the Royal D-notices put in place in 19 52 (just befo re the first Britis h in Aus tralia conclu ded that Tit terton w as res ponsible for Commission.9 Whatever it w as, it w as a large de vice and atomic test) by the Austral ian Gove rnment, bas ed on th e ke epi ng the f low of i nformation b etween the British Atomic by far the big gest t ested in Austral ia. G2 s ent a fa llo ut long-stan ding British D-notice syst em. The remarkab le Wea pons R esearch Establi shm ent (AWRE) t hat ran the cl oud across most of t he c ont inent . compliance of contempor ary Australian media to th e tests and the Australi an Gov ernm ent to a minimum during Little was done during this or any other Monte Bello sec recy requi remen ts of the British and Australi an the tests at Marali nga. Royal Commis sion chai r, J ustice test to p roperly gauge the extent of airbo rne radioactive gove rnments contr asts sharply with the inves tigativ e Ja mes McCle lla nd, ca lled Tit terton a “Dr Stran gel ove” contamination, and the test authorities did not factor in jou rnalism that be gan in the mid-1 970s. Royal Au stralia n figu re, ref eren cing the fictio nal cinem atic nucl ear maniac the traditional lifestyle of the local Indigenous people when Air Fo rce (RAAF) Maralinga ve teran Avon Hudson sta rte d from Stanl ey Kub ric k’s film of t he s ame nam e.8 making their plans. That lifestyle often included living close going public in 1976, detai ling incend iary allegations in to the ea rth, hunting local animals, eating plants g rowing the media abo ut the sec retive British operations at the Befo re Maralinga: Monte Bello and Emu Field wild and walking ba refoot. All of these activities potentially dese rt test site. He went on to become one of the mos t While Maral inga has the most recognisable name , inc reased the chance of receiving mo re radioactivity prominent of all Maralinga whi stleblower s. Jou rnalist s the other sit es have impo rtant places in this saga . than non-Indigenous people, whose Weste rn lifestyle began to pick up on these stor ies, and Maral inga becam e Monte Bello and Emu Field we re not left as seve rel y front page news from 19 76 onwa rds. The public pressu re contamina ted as Maralin ga, although lasting dama ge instigated by whistlebl owers, media and politici ans was caused at both places. Monte Bello is an archipela go Oppo site pa ge: Jess ie Boyl an such as the ALP ’s Tom Uren sta rted to chip away at th e of 174 small is lands, many of which have high natura l (Aus trali a, b.19 86) sec recy that su rrounded the British test s, until fina lly values and bi odiversit y. The islands are not, and nev er Avon Hu dson in his roo m most of the sto ry came out. have been, in habited. How eve r, they are only abou t of archive s, Bal aklav a, 130km off the coast of Weste rn Australia whe re South Austr alia 2006 digi tal ink jet pr int Australia ’s “Dr Strange love”: Ernest Titte rton thousands of Indigenous and non-Indig enous peopl e 71 x 85 cm One of the fa ctors that seemed to gua rantee g rea ter we re living at the time of the tests (and still do) . Cou rtesy of the artist than n ecessary s ecrecy was t he i nvolv ement of t he The three nucle ar w eapons tests c ond ucted at M onte © the artist

24

Hugh Ramage (Aus trali a; New Zealan d, b.19 58) Antl er 2014 oil on canva s 40 x 35 cm Cou rtesy of the artist © Hugh Ramag e

26 THUN DER ON THE PLAIN DR ELI ZABETH TYN AN

could p rovide mo re p rotection. In fact, the p revailing has never been fully scient ifically elucid ated, the fact that By the end of t he Totem ser ies, t he B rit ish nucle ar attitude during the enti re British nuclear test series in it occu rred has not been se riously dis puted by most of weapo ns aut hor ities had turned t heir ey es to the new Australia was the Indigenous population in the path of the those in the kn ow. 30 00 s quare kil ometre ‘ permanen t’ site that wou ld radioactive fallout we re little mo re than an inconvenience. The Royal Com mission docu mented the bl ack mist in greatly e xpa nd their test prog ram. Sub seq uently, the na me Even a fairly complacent Au stralian ci vilian popul atio n some detail and took eviden ce from about 20 Indi genou s Maral inga b eca me syn ony mous w ith some of the m ost was conce rned about G2, and many tho ught either th at people from the areas arou nd Emu. 14 Also, Bri tis h co ntaminated cou ntry in the Wes tern w orld. a hyd rogen (fusi on) bomb had been tested (in fac t, a scienti fi c expe rts (W T Roach and D G Ballis) con fi rme d component of a hyd rogen device had been triall ed) or that the stor ies about the black mist we re consisten t Displacem ent and dispos sessio n that a nuclear accident had occu rred. The Aus tralia n and credible. Ernest Titte rton pou red sco rn, howeve r, of Indigeno us populatio ns Gove rnment had to act quickly to calm public fears .10 calling the allegations a “sca re campaign” when he wa s All three weapo ns t est sit es dis rup ted the lives of t he Although the immediate pa nic was allay ed, grave doub ts questioned by the Royal Com mission . Indig enous pop ulations in their vicin ity to var ious extents, sta rted building in the Australi an communit y, and G2 Sir William Pen ney gave evid ence that he was unawa re but the lo ngest-l asting harm w as c aus ed by the crea tion of marked a dist inct shift in public and media attitudes . of any repo rts of black mi st at the time of Op eratio n the weapons test r ange at Mar alinga. In 1 952, as British Earlier pat riotic accep tance of the Br itish tests in Totem. Penney ’s evidence, like that of many other AWR E pl ans for tes ting in Austral ia t ook sha pe, the Austral ian Australia gave way to inc reasing con cern during 195 6, insiders, often suggest ed a lack of know ledge of or Governm ent ga ve t he o rder to shut down the Ooldea just as the new test range at Ma ralinga was ab out to inte rest in mat ters related to Ind igenous peo ple affecte d , 4 0km south of M aralin ga, and move begin opera tions . by the tests. Their indi ffe rence is str iking, given the ha rm Indig enous peo ple aw ay f rom the fu ture w eap ons test Emu Field, an extremely remote loc ation in the So uth they caused. The black mist killed or sick ened man y. area. O old ea reserve cov ered n ear ly one thousand square Australian dese rt that was found and set up by th e miles and was home to hundreds of people. With a stroke legenda ry Australian su rveyor Len Bea dell, was used only A BL ACK , GREAS Y, UNSE TTLING MIAS MA SWI RLE D of the pen, the li ves of t hese peop le w ere s et on a new in 1953. It hos ted the Opera tion Totem major te sts an d AROUND THE COMMUN ITIES OF WALL ATINNA AND and wren ching traje ctory. for some ‘min or trials’ kno wn by the coden ame Kittens . MIN TABIE , COVERI NG HUN DREDS OF ABO RIGIN AL While the Nat ive Patr ol Off icer Wal ter Mac Dougall, and This sho rt-lived site was logist ically impo ssible owing to PEOP LE IN ITS PATH. his later c oll eague Rob ert M aca ulay, d id w hat they c ould water and acc ess problems, and was soon replaced by in the ir l imited po wer to p rotect I ndi genous pe ople in the the new ‘pe rmanent’ site 150km south at Maralinga. 11 A y oung ch ild called l ost his eyesight. area and argue their case to t he a uthorities, in the end Emu Field is notorio us for the “black mi st” that envelope d La ter, as an ad ult, he bec ame a w histleb low er and their efforts had li ttle impa ct. The Ana ngu Pitja ntjatja ra the landsca pe in the afte rmath of the fir st Totem atomi c ca mpa igner for those affe cted. Lal lie Le nnon was al so pe ople of the Maralin ga lands we re displaced, and many test in Octob er 1953. 12 A black, greas y, unsettlin g affe cted. Her haunting de scrip tio ns of t he e vent are moved to Yalata, a fu rther 10 0km sou th on the Great miasma swir led around the comm unities of Wallatinn a vi vid and mov ing. S he s aid: “ It rum ble d, the gr ound Australian Big ht. and Mintabi e, covering hu ndreds of Aborig inal peopl e shook, it was frigh ten ing … We tho ught we were g oing Th roughout the time Maralinga was operatio nal , in its path. It left behind a bl ack deposit, described by to die. We rec kon it was poi son .”15 Havi ng d irtied t he Aboriginal people still traversed the lands, in one ca se witnesses as akin to “f rost”. 13 While this remains a en vironment, the British d epa rted E mu F ield, only even camping near a highly radioactive nuclear bom b contested event and the exa ct natu re of the black mis t returning briefl y in 19 67 to un dertake a cur sory c lean- up. crater at the site. The McCl elland Royal Commissio n

27 THUN DER ON THE PLAIN DR ELI ZABETH TYN AN

famously de tailed the case of the Milpud die family – ex per iments k nown as Vix en B. In these exp eriments Howeve r, a number of Vixen B rec ords are still retaine d husband Cha rlie (Tjanyi ndi), wife Edie and two child ren , simul ated n ucl ear warhe ads were b lown up to d etermine by the British Gove rnment and may ne ver be made publ ic. with four hun ting dogs – who were found in May 195 7 what m ight h app en if a n ucl ear -bomb-l aden plane crashed The Vixen B expe riments did not produce “fallou t” in camped on the edge of the crat er gouged from the ea rth or burned. Exp losions of t he l ong est-liv ed i sotope of the same way th at the mush room clouds did. The majo r eight months earlier by one of the Operati on Bu ffal o the deadly artifici all y-created h eavy el ement plutonium trials sent clouds of minute pa rticles of debris into th e bombs (Ma rcoo). 16 The sto ry came to be kn own as th e (p lut onium-2 39) using TNT spread m ost of t he res idue stratosph ere (mo re than 10km abo ve the ground) an d Pom Pom incid ent after the place whe re Charlie had bee n ac ross t he o pen ran ge. The Royal C ommission c oncluded sp read fallout of relatively sho rt-lived rad ionuclides over found by a mili tary pat rol, the mo rning after the famil y that t he Vixen B series of ex per iments s hou ld nev er most of the con tinent of Aus tralia, with some s arrived at the Marcoo crate r. They are likely to have be en ha ve b een con ducted, and the fact that t hey were p oin ts detected as far away as Townsville in the Queenslan d exposed to the radiation at the site for at le ast 12 hours. to the rec klessness of the test o fficials and e xtrem ely tropics. The effect of the minor trials, on the other han d, Edie M ilpud die overcame her ret icence a nd h er p ain to in ade quate con trols implem ent ed by t he A ustralian was mo re concentrated and geograph ically conta ined . gi ve e viden ce in 19 85 to the Royal C ommission. She told Governm ent. Vixen B sent plu tonium oxide between 800 and 1,00 0 the Commis sion that at t he t ime she and her fam ily were Vixen B scatte red 22.2kg of plutonium- 239 aroun d met res into the air, whe re it was picked up by the win d fo und at M arcoo, that she had b een preg nant, but lost h er the Taranaki test site in the no rthe rn reaches of th e and ca rried in plumes that fanned ou twa rds, no rtheast , ba by s oon aft er. T he f our hunting d ogs, i nit ially all owed Maralinga range. The Brit ish of ficia lly claimed that no rth and no rthwest, from the Taranaki firing pads. Thos e to lea ve t he a rea, w ere l ater shot in front of the shocked 20kg of this ma terial had be en buried in huge pits at plumes we re about 150km long and many me tres wide . fa mil y. T he f amily con tin ued to suffer severe h eal th Taranaki and about 2kg dis persed evenly across th e The st ructu res and ea rth in the immed iate vicinit y problems, and Edie h ad o ther miscarriages in the ea rly test range, although almo st ce rtainly they kn ew that thi s of Taranaki also be came contami nated with pl utonium . 19 60s. Many other Indig enous peo ple are l ike ly to h ave was inco rrect. In fact, the 20kg was lat er found to be Anyone in that geographic al area, princip ally se rvic e be en e xposed to a g rea ter or les ser extent too, alt hough sp read around the site in pa rticles of wide ly dive rgen t personnel and scienti fic sta ff who we re conducti ng th e no other c ase is as well-do cum ented. size. Pluto nium-239 has a half-life of 24,400 years , tests, Indi genous people who either du ring or after th e which means that it takes 24 ,400 years for half of th e trials walk ed over the land around Taranaki, or late r The “minor” trials radioacti vity to disapp ear, then another 24,400 year s visitors to the site who may have unknowin gly picke d The mushroom clou ds p rov ide the dis tinct ive imagery for another half, and so on. The ext reme persis tenc e up radioact ive materials or inhaled du st containin g as soc iated with Maralin ga, and these maj or tests certain ly of radiation and the th reat of cancer po sed by inhalin g plutonium, potentially were exposed. wrought s ign ifica nt d estruc tion a nd c ontam ina tion. or ingesting small pa rticles make this substa nce Howev er, t he big bom bs w er e n ot t he o nly tests carried especially dange rous. Leav ing it on the open rang e Clean-ups and the Pea rce Repo rt out at Emu and Maralinga. was monumen tally foolha rdy. The mess at Mar alinga stayed hidden for so long pa rtl y Over 500 so-called ‘minor trials’ we re a lso hel d, five at The 12 Vixen B exp eriments took place amid tot al because of a no w-infamous document cal led the Pea rce Emu and t he rest at Maral inga, bet ween 1 953 and 196 3. sec recy in 1960, 1961 and 1963 and received no Repo rt.17 The AWRE physic ist Noah Pea rce prepa red Th ese diver se t ests w er e d esigned to i nvestiga te aspects media cover age at all until the late-197 0s. The Roya l a repo rt that enabled the British to be ab solved of of atomic bomb design a nd s afe ty. T he m inor tria ls w ith Commission revealed many fr ightening fa cts about th e any responsib ility for the co ntamination res ulting from the most las ting det rim ental effe cts were t he r adiol ogi cal Vixen B tests. More we re revealed later by the media . their nucle ar tests. Both the Maraling a/Emu clean- up

28 Blak Dougla s (Dha rug, b. 1970) Tja rutja Trage dy 201 6 synt hetic polymer on can vas 120 x 200 cm Cou rtesy of the artist © the artist

29 THUN DER ON THE PLAIN DR ELI ZABETH TYN AN

operation s, first Operation Hercules V in 1964 an d minister in the Coalition gove rnment led by Malc olm

U

M

E later the mo re extensi ve Operation Brumby in 1967 , Frase r. Uren’s question challenged ongoing sec rec y TO we re poorly des igned and exec uted, and created more around Maralin ga. Killen was wrong-foo ted and gave a

Tenth Aven ue

t t

t problems than th ey solved. Both were overseen by misleading repl y, hinting at the vast chasm of ig noranc e

d

ee

r ee

a ee r

o t

tr St R S Pea rce, as was the 1966 su rvey of radi ation known as on the pa rt of the Aust ralian Gove rnment .

S

al t r ht

s

t est g

n RADSUR that formed the ba sis of Operati on Brumb y. During 1977 and 1978, the to pic was raise d

Ea W Ri

Ce Fi fth Aven ue The Maralin ga Rehabilit ation Technical Advi sory periodica lly in Parliam ent, and each time mo re

Se cond Aven ue Committee (MAR TAC), set up in 1993 to oversee th e jou rnalistic noses twitched. Ki llen eventua lly asked hi s One Tree most recent cle an-up operat ion held in the la te 1990s , Depa rtment to prepa re a top secret Cabinet br iefing Ma rcoo Tadj e Kit e con firmed that the plu tonium conta mination at Taranaki , pape r.19 It revealed serious conce rns about the Mar aling a Bia k as described by the Pea rce repo rt, was wrong by a facto r plutonium contaminati on, including the risk of th e

Taranak i of 10: the re was 10 times more contaminati on at th e loose pluto nium being sto len to create a radi ologica l Wewak Break away site than the British had as serted. By any measu re, “di rty bomb”. When this submissi on was leaked to the TM1 00 this was a disa ste r. Plutonium not only poses a seriou s investiga tive jou rnalist Bri an Toohey and made pu bli c TM1 01 TM2 Dob o health th reat to anyone exposed to it, its presence at th rough a series of articles in the Australian Financia l Maralinga potentially could have comp romised Au stralia’ s Review in Oct ober 1978, 20 the Marali nga sto ry becam e inte rnational obl igations un der the Non-P roliferati on a major polit ical headache for the Gove rnment. d a o R Treaty of 196 8, to which Aus tralia was a sig ry. Toohey’s investiga tion s par ked major controv ersy a nd Oak

V Emu That ag reement req uired signator ies to account for some a ngry a ccu sat ions f rom Defen ce Min ister Kil len. He all e y all fissio nable materi al on their te rrito ry. ac cus ed Too hey and his new spaper of inviting t error ists to R o a TM5 0 d he lp t hemselves to the dange rous m aterial at Maralin ga. Kul i Air fiel d The era of unco vering Soon a fter, Kil len had respo nsibility f or M arali nga rem oved Major trial site By the late 197 0s a marked cha nge in how the Aus tralia n from his po rtfol io as the political fallout started to cla im

N Minor trial site O media cove red the Brit ish nuclear te sts was appa rent . vi ctims. Maral inga w as s erious unres olved bus iness, a nd

TS A The relevant la ws had not chang ed and the D-not ice the Australian Gove rnm ent could no lon ger just i gno re i t. W N TO system was st ill (notiona lly) in place. Howeve r, as Polit ical a nd m edia p ressure resu lted in the British investiga tive jou rnalism st rengthened in this count ry, removing a small amount of pluton ium in 1 979. However, the Austral ian media no lon ger felt incl ined to follo w most of it rem ain ed on t he g rou nd for some time to co me. the of fici al line. Momen tum to uncover the afte rmat h A n ew F ede ral Governm ent came to office on 5 March MARA LINGA RANGE of Maralinga grew when the left -wing ALP poli tician an d 19 83 un der the ALP’s Bob Hawke. The mini ster respo nsible Loca tion of major and min or tri al sites at Mar aling a. then deputy leader of the op position Tom Uren asked a for dealing with t he M arali nga aftermath was Senator question of the Minister for Defence, Jam es Killen, in Peter Wal sh in his role as Min ister for Min es and Energy. Parliament on 9 December 19 76. 18 Killen was a senio r Wal sh was forced to ac t, d espite his reluctance to s et up

30 a R oyal Commission. A scientif ic mis sion to Mar alinga in May 1984 ex posed a hitherto unkno wn d istribut ion of pl utonium c ont amination, in d ir ect c ontradi ction of t he then- still cla ssified Pearce Report. Scien tists fr om the Australian Radi ation Lab oratory (A RL, now the Australi an Rad iat ion Prot ection and Nucle ar Safety Agen cy, A RPANSA) ev ent ually estimated t hat abo ut three mil lion f rag ments of p luton ium were l oose on the site, some as small l umps in the topsoil, some i mbued in to m etall ic d ebris fr om the explo sio ns. Once he was presented with the 1984 s cie ntific d ata, as well as t he ou tco me of a non-jud ici al enq uiry t hat prod uced t he da mni ng Kerr R eport,21 Wal sh a gr eed t hat the re w as a ca se to an swer, s aying lat er in h is a utobi ogr aphy: “What the British Government did at Maralin ga w as i rrespo nsible to say the least. The Aus tralian Governm ent, whi ch e age rly in vit ed the British to do it, was e ven more c ulp abl e.”22

Royal Commi ssion The McClell and Royal Comm ission, which began in Sydney in Aug ust 1984, came to be described as ‘a spectacle of national revenge’. 23 McClell and an d Je ffrey Qu eama (Pit jantj atjar a, b.19 47, other membe rs of the Royal Commission tr avelled to d.20 09) the South Aus tralian outb ack and to Ka rratha in Weste rn Hilda Moodo o Australia to question a tot al of 48 Indige nous people . (Pit jantj atjar a, b.19 52) They also went to London. In London, the lea der of th e Dest ruct ion II 2002, Oak Vall ey, SA test series in Australia for much of its len gth, Willia m synt hetic polymer pain t Penney (by th en Lo rd Penney) gave ex tensive evi dence , on can vas as did Noah Pea rce and many other British scien tist s 122.0 x 101.2 cm and fo rmer milita ry personnel . Sant os Fund for Ab origi nal Art 20 02. Art Galle ry of During the 116 sitting days, in nume rous locat ions , South Austr alia, Adela ide the Royal Com mission asse mbled for the first time a Cou rtesy of Hil da Mood oo detailed and indeed distu rbing sto ry. The British ha d 2002 5P25

31 Jona than Ku mintj arra Brown (Pit jantj atjar a, b.19 60, d. 1997) Frogmen 1996 ac rylic and sand on canv as 117 x 92 cm Priv ate Col lecti on © artist estate

32 THUN DER ON THE PLAIN DR ELI ZABETH TYN AN

swept into Au stralia with big plans for th eir count ry’ s suggests th at Britain knew in the 1960s th at radioacti vit y media sto ry. They endlessly invoked the Pea rce Repo rt nuclear armaments and a succession of increasingl y at its fo rmer nucl ear test site in Australia was worse tha n and the ag reement signed in 1968 by both gove rnments sophistic ated nuclear devices to test. Then whe n first thought. But it did not tell the Australia ns , provide s that absolved Britain of any fu rther responsibilit y. inte rnational con ditions cha nged and their relation s a concise sum mary of the conten ts. Moroney briefed A nde rson on the main p oints of h is with the Unit ed States thaw ed, they left without properl y Moroney, who was not nam ed in t he story itself an aly sis, a nd A nderson t hen used the i nfo rmation as cleaning up their mess . but acknow led ged by And erson els ewhere, ob tai ned the basis f or h is New S cient ist story. T his story s aid in Extrao rdinaril y, succes sive Austral ian gove rnment s and analys ed 2 ,500 p ages of dec lassified nuc lear pa rt: “[Aus tralian r adi ation sci entists] now be lie ve that had no idea of the detail of the British nucle ar test s co ntamination data fr om the US/UK R oll er C oas ter tests co ntamination at Maral inga is much w orse than Britain in Australi a. The Menzies gove rnment had put far too in the US a nd c onc lud ed that the at omic test aut horit ies has admitted. They s ay 21 pi ts, which were d ug to h old much faith in the now-disc redited AWTSC and had not had knowin gly left s ubs tantial amounts of p lut oni um at radio active w aste, c ont ain far less pl utonium t han Britain asked many qu estions. Once operations ceased at or near the surface of p arts of t he M aralinga ran ge.25 maint ains. The rem aining p lut onium – ten t imes more Maralinga and it receded into the backg round, a string of than B ritain has ack now ledged – was spread ov er t he Australian gove rnments chose not to look too clo sely an d THE FINAL OUTC OME WAS AN AGR EEM ENT FOR la nd. The Aus tralians will s ay t hat if t hey had known the continued to place undue trust in the ass urances of th e THE UK TO PAY FOR PART OF THE COST OF A fu ll e xtent of t he p oll ution, they w ould never ha ve s ign ed British, ba cked by the flawed Pea rce Repo rt. The re wa s PROP ER CLE AN-UP. IN THE EN D, TH EY PAID JU ST the agree ment relea sing Brit ain from its res pon sib ilities plenty of bla me to go around, and the McClelland Roya l UN DER HA LF OF THE $101 MILL ION BI LL. ov er t he c lea n-up … ”26 This story h ad w ide ram ifica tio ns, Commission assigned a good portion of it. As the Britis h and was at least helpful (if not inst rumental) in the conduct we re not too fo rthcoming with info rmation about detail s Roller Coas ter was a series of e xperimen ts sim ilar of bil ateral talks t hen underway b etween Australian of their test program the Royal Commiss ion was not abl e to Vix en B, jo int ly c arried out by t he B rit ish and the go vernm ent minis ters a nd t heir B ritish c oun terpa rts. to uncover the full extent of the plutonium contaminat ion . Americans in the ear ly 1 960s, arou nd t he s ame time as The final ou tcome was an a gr ee ment for B rit ain to p ay f or That revelati on took a few mo re years. Vixen B. The A mer ican records from these t ests were pa rt of the cost of a prop er cle an- up. In the end, they pa id metic ulous, a nd t hey rev eal ed some di sturbing facts to ju st u nder h alf of t he $ 101 mil lion b ill . The revelati ons of Roller Co aster the knowle dge able J ohn Moron ey: sim ilar tests in the US The fo rmer sec reta ry of the AWTSC, John Mo rone y, onc e had distribut ed con tam ination in a particular way that The final cle an-up a loyal se rvant of the Bri tish test program in Austr alia , must h ave been rep licated in Aus tralia. W hat he fou nd That clean- up operation itself has not been withou t unlocked the long-hidden truth about the Maraling a shock ed and ang ered him. He chan nel led the ou tcome its cont roversies and critics. Oper ations comme nce d plutonium. When he teamed up with the New Sc ientist of this an aly sis to the Australian Gov ernm ent in t he e arly in 1996 and we re complet ed in 2000. The Mi niste r jou rnalist Ian And erson, the result was expl osive. Th e 19 90s and then to the media via Ian And erson in 1 993. for Science at the time, Pet er McGowan, de cla red in landmark New Scientist st ory by Ian Anderson in Jun e The Roller Coaster analysis enabled Moroney to convince Parliament when he tabled the fin al MAR TAC Repo rt tha t 1993 titled Britain’s di rty deeds at Mar aling a 24 reveale d the Australian Gove rnment to place p ressu re on the British it had been “wo rld’s best pr actice ”.27 Alan Parki nson , how much plut onium contam ination remained at the site Gove rnment for compensation. The British had been a nuclear eng ineer who over saw the clean -up but wa s and that the Br itish author ities knew ab out it but ha d resisting calls to pay up since the late 1970s when the sacked before it was complete d, disag reed and becam e cove red it up. The sto ry’s sub-hea ding, Fresh evidenc e damage caused by their tests sta rted to become a major a vocal criti c. A book he publ ished in 2007 28 cas t

33 THUN DER ON THE PLAIN DR ELI ZABETH TYN AN

aspersions on the ef fica cy of the opera tion and claim ed jo urna lists were i ll- equip ped to deal with the compl exi ties FOOT NOTES that its ine ffectiveness was cove red up . of a diffi cu lt sci ent ific a nd tec hno logical story w ith secur ity 1 Cu rr, E M. Port Ess ingt on, in Aust rali an ra ce: its ori gin , The process ce rtainly did not go to plan, and exp ensiv e im pli cations, and t hey made a poor j ob of co ver ing the lan guag es, cu stom s, pl ace of land ing in Aus tral ia, and th e equipment brought in to immobilise the radioactive wast e British tes ts, thus d eny ing the Australi an public any u sef ul rout es by which it spread itse lf over that cont inen t, Jo hn Fe rres , blew up pa rt way th rough and was not replaced. The in formation on which to b ase informed cons ent. Gov ernme nt Pr inte r, 188 7 original cl ean-up plan was scrapped and a comp romis e The nuclear tests in Austra lia we re essenti ally sec ret 2 No rri s, Rob ert St andi sh. Quest ions on the Brit ish H-Bom b, Nat ural Resou rces Defe nse Counc il, 22 June 1992 solution dr awn up on the run. Neve rtheless, af ter th e histo ry, unknown to eve ryone except a few insiders . Tha t 3 Fit zger ald, E M. Al liso n, At tlee and the Bom b: Vie ws on the operation finis hed the site was deemed safe to hand was to remain the case for decade s, until whist leblowers , 1947 Brit ish decis ion to build an atom bo mb. The RU SI Jo urnal , back to the Ind igenous owne rs. politicia ns and jou rnalists op ened the issue for publi c Volu me 12 2, Iss ue 1, 1977 While pa rts of the des ert test range had been retu rne d discussio n. It is as well th at they did, bec ause th e 4 Mil like n, Rob ert. No Conce ivab le In jury, Pengu in Bo oks Austr alia , since 1984, the clean-up of the worst-a ffected pa rts risks assoc iated with the radioactive contaminat ion at Rin gwoo d, Vic toria 1986 took a lot long er than origi nally envisa ged. Un restrict ed Maralinga and elsewhe re we re substant ial, and witho ut 5 Caw te, Al ice. Atom ic Au stra lia 1944– 1990 , New South Wale s access to the fi nal piece of land was finally granted to the public pressu re th ere would have been no fu rthe r Uni vers ity Press, Kens ingt on 19 92 people in 20 14. Since the n, Maraling a clean-up. The Maralinga plutonium wou ld still be sit tin g 6 She rrat t, Tim. A Poli tical Inc onve nien ce: Austr alian Scie ntis ts at the Briti sh At omic Weapo ns Test s, 19 52-5 3, Hi stor ical Reco rds Tours, which is owned by the trad itional owne rs, ha s on the ground or swi rling with the dust if the sto ry ha d of Au stra lian Scie nce , 6(2), Dece mber 1985, p.1 42 taken paying customers on tours of the wea pons tes t never been un cove red. Austr alians should never fo rge t 7 Mah er, Laurence W. Nat ional Sec urity and Mass Media Self - range, with considerable success. that its one- time gove rnment was prepa red to let tha t Cen sors hip: The Or igin s, Di sclo sure, De cline and Revi val of the happen, and very nearly got away with it. Aus tral ian D- noti ce Sy stem , Aus tral ian Jo urnal of Le gal Histo ry 3, Looking back at the British nuclear tests in Australia 199 7, p.1 73 How should we view the cland estine events at Mont e 8 McC lell and, James. Sti rring the Possu m: A Polit ical Autob iogr aphy , Bello, Emu Fi eld and Marali nga in the 1950s and 1960s ? Pen guin Books Aust rali a, Ri ngwo od, Vi ctor ia 19 88 Australia was not a nuclear -armed or powe red natio n 9 Leo nard, Zeb. Tamp ering with Hist ory: Varied Unde rsta ndin gs of Ope rati on Mos aic, Jou rnal of Au stra lian Studi es, vol.3 8, no .2, and had no tech nical expe rtise or deep und erstandin g 201 5, May 2014, p.2 19 of what was inv olved. Inste ad, it was simp ly ful filli ng th e Dr Eli zabeth (Liz) T ynan is sen ior le cturer at the James 10 Bea le, Ho ward. Th is In ch of Ti me: Memoi rs of Polit ics and wishes of ano ther count ry, its original colonise r, Britain . Cook U niver sity Grad uate Research Sch ool, a nd t eaches Dip loma cy, Me lbou rne Univ ersi ty Press, Melbo urne 197 7 The Austral ian Gove rnment seem ed unable to work out ac ade mic writing to p ostgradu ates. Her PhD from the 11 Bea le, Ho ward. Le tter to Rob ert Men zies, Futu re atomic test s how to deal with this unique set of ci rcumstanc es, an d Australian Nat ional Uni versity exa mined aspects of in Au stra lia , 12 No vemb er 19 53, Na tion al Archiv es of Austr ali a its ineptne ss and complac ence we re to have seve re the British nu clear tes ts in Austral ia in the 19 50s and Ser ies No .A64 56, Item R075/ 062 consequen ces . 19 60s. Her b ook on Mar aling a, t itled Atomic Th und er: 12 Will iams, Geo ff and O’Br ien, Rich ard. Appra isal of The Black Mis t and its Af terma th – Or al Hi stor ies by Lall ie Le nnon , Aust rali an Nucle ar col oni alism cla imed p art of our territory, The Marali nga Story, has been pu bli shed by NewSouth Rad iati on Prote ction and Nucle ar Sa fety Agen cy, Me lbou rne , but the n ation’s lea ders at the time s eemed remar kab ly Publi shing in 2 016, t he 6 0th ann iversary of the first 20 Ap ril 2010 un con cerned, particula rly at fi rst. Prime M inister R obert at omic weap ons test at the s ite. She al so p ubl ishes Menzi es was alm ost unb elievab ly a cquie sce nt. Australian textbooks w ith U niversity P res s.

34 13 Kan ytji (via inter preter ), Na tion al Archi ves of Aus tral ia, Ro yal 22 Wal sh, Pe ter. Con fess ions of a Fai led Finan ce Mi nist er, Random Com miss ion in to Br itish Nuc lear Tests in Au stra lia, A644 8, 13 , House Australia, Mils ons Poin t, N ew S outh Wales 1995 Trans cript of procee ding s, 11 /4/85 – 2/5 /85 23 Turne r, Gra eme. Of rocks and ha rd place s: The col oniz ed, 14 Will iams, Geo ff, and O’B rien, Ric hard. Appra isal of The Bla ck the natio nal and Au stra lian cult ural studi es, Cultu ral Studi es, Mist and its Af termath – Oral His tori es by Lallie Len non , 6:3, 1992 Aus tral ian Ra diat ion Prote ction and Nucle ar Sa fety Agenc y, 24 And erso n, Ian. Bri tain ’s di rty de eds at Mara ling a, New Sci enti st Mel bou rne, 20 Apr il 20 10 12 Ju ne 19 93, p.12– 13 15 Mat ting ley, Chr isto bel. Atom bombs before Abo rigi nes : 25 Mo rone y, Joh n. Ai de Me moi re on the nucle ar tes ts in Aust rali a Mar alin ga, in Chri stob el Ma ttin gley and Ken Ham pton, Su rviva l in the con text of the Brit ish weapo ns dev elop ment progra m, in our own Land, ‘Abo rigi nal’ expe rien ces in ‘Sou th Au stra lia ’ unp ubli shed brie fing doc umen t, 24 Decem ber 1992 sin ce 183 6, AL DAA in asso ciat ion with Hodder & Sto ught on, 26 And erso n, op. cit. Ade laide 1988 27 Kea ne, Jo hn. Maral inga ’s Af terl ife , The Ag e, 11 May 20 03 16 Rep ort of the Ro yal Commi ssio n, op. cit. 28 Par kins on, Al an. Maral inga: Aus tral ia’s Nucle ar Waste Cov er-u p, 17 Pea rce, Noah. Final Rep ort on Resi dual Radio acti ve ABC Books, Syd ney 2007 Con tami nati on of the Ma rali nga Range and the Emu Site , AWRE Repo rt No. O-16/ 68, (the Pearce Re port). Atom ic Weap ons Resea rch Es tabl ishm ent, Unit ed Ki ngdom Atom ic Ene rgy Au thor ity. 18 Par liam enta ry De bates (Han sard), House of Re prese ntat ives , Thi rd Se ssion of the Thi rtie th Par liam ent, vol. 102 , 16 No vemb er – 9 Dece mber 1976, The Acting Comm onwe alt h Gov ernme nt Pr inte r, Can berra 1977, p.35 74 19 Kil len, D J, Mi nist er for Defe nce. Cabi net submi ssion No.2 606 , Plu toni um Bur ied Near Maral inga Air field , 11 Septe mber 1978 . Nat ional Archiv es of Aust ralia Seri es No .A12 909, Item 2605 20 Toohe y, Bri an. Killen wa rns on plut onium pil e, Aus tral ian Fin anci al Rev iew , 5 Oct ober 1978 Toohe y, Bri an. Maral inga: The ‘do no thin g’ so luti on, Au stra lia n Fin anci al Rev iew , 11 Oc tober 1978, p.1, 10 and 37 Toohe y, Bri an. Govt may exh ume pluto nium wast e, Aus tral ian Judy Watso n Fin anci al Rev iew , 12 Oc tober 1978, p.1, 10 and 14 (Waany i, b.1 959) 21 Ke rr, Cha rles, cha ir. Rep ort of the Ex pert Com mitt ee on the bomb drawing 5 1995 Rev iew of Data on At mosp heric Fall out arisi ng from Briti sh ink and water colour on pap er Nuc lear Tests in Au stra lia, 31 May 1984 50 x 40 cm Cou rtesy of the artist and Mila ni Gall ery, Brisb ane © the artist

35 Regi nald Ro wed (Aus trali a, b.19 16, d. 1990) Hi roshi ma 1946 wate rcolour on pap er 48 x 63 cm © Aust ralian War Mem orial AWM2 6374

36 ATO MIC TEST ING IN AUST RAL IAN ART JD MIT TMA NN

Around the world artists have be en conce rned wit h Within a radius of 800m the dest ruction is co mplete . and Walle r. He docume nted the Austr alian New Gui nea nuclear iss ues, from the first application of atomic bomb s Over 70,000 die instantl y. campaign and its afte rmath . at Hi roshima and Nagasaki, to at omic testing, uraniu m A person stan ds lost amongst the ruins of a house . In 1946 he was se nt to Japan whe re he witnes sed mining, nuc lear waste tra nspo rt and storage, and We don’t see the chi ld’s exp ression, but it can only be the effects of the ato mic bomb. He doc umented the va st scenarios of nuclear Armageddon. The Australian artisti c one of shock and suffering. A charred tree towers ov er dest ruction from a distant vi ewpoint, spa ring the viewe r response to Bri tish atomic te sting in the 195 0s is les s the rubble. Natu re has withe red in the on slaught of hea t the ho rri fic deta ils. His sketch Rebuilding Hi roshim a well-know n, as is the sto ry of the tests . and shock waves. Simply titled Hi roshima , Albe rt Tucker’ s shows civil ians clearing away the rubble. Li fe ha s Cloaked in se crec y, the British atomic testing progra m small wate rcolour is quiet and conte mplative. Pa inte d retu rned to the ci ty, in the new age: Li fe after the bo mb. and its consequenc es remained out of p ublic sight unt il in 1947 in Hi roshima, the Melbou rne mode rnist painte r Albe rt Tucker arrived in Jap an with the Aust ralian Army the late 197 0s. A g ene ration la ter, it seems much of tha t presents a lone survivo r, a hibakusha in Japanese . as an art co rrespondent in 1947, a year af ter Lt Rowed . knowledge has been fo rgotten. A youn ger generati on of He travelled on suggestion and in the comp any of Australia ns have practi cally no idea atom bombs we re A YOUNG ER GEN ERATION OF AUST RALIA NS HA S American po et Ha rry Roskolen ko, who he met th roug h exploded in their count ry, wh y, and what the lo ng-te rm PR ACTICA LLY NO ID EA TH AT ATOM BOMBS WER E John Reed and the Ang ry Penguins at Heide, a 15-a cre legacies are. DEVE LOPED AND EX PLODED IN TH EIR CO UNTR Y. prope rty, in Melbou rne. John and Su nday Reed nu rtu red Black Mist Bu rnt Count ry is a su rvey exhibi tion curate d a ci rcle of like-m inded mode rnist artists, writers and to fo rm an ove rview of Austral ian artists’ creations an d In stark cont rast to Albe rt Tucker’s work, the pal e intellect uals, which in cluded John Pe rceval, Joy Hest er considera tions, with fo cus on the Brit ish atomic tes ts in monoch rome colou rwash paintin gs by Reg Rowed featu re and Sidney No lan, and of whi ch Tucker was a cen tra l Australia. Artworks have kindly been made available by a vast, devas tated and dese rted citysca pe: the skele ton fi gu re. Tucker and Rosk olenko fl ew in a mili tary DC-3 . private and public lender s, and by the artists themsel ves . st ructu re of the dome of the city’s Exh ibition Hall and th e Tucker had nev er been in a plane befo re. Among th e This essay ex plo res these wor ks, their creators and th eir blasted Aioi Bridge overs hadowed by a th unde rous sk y. various sto ps was Mo rotai in the Philippines, whic h relation to each othe r. The dome, or its remains, have be come an iconic imag e provided a sober ing experien ce and a preparati on fo r Hea rteningl y, mo re than 70 years after Hi roshima , for the insta nt wipe-out of Hiroshima. The ruin, as we wil l scenes to com e. On Okinawa beach Tucker walk ed int o the issues and conce rns arising from the nucle ar see late r, appears time and time again in other artworks , a literal min efield, a ha rrowing exp erience as he la ter Pandora’s Box featu re st rongly among con tempora ry has been kept. Now as the Hi roshima Peace Memoria l admitted. The scale of dest ruction he en counte red in artists; be cause as Japan ese photogra pher Hi rom i (Genbaku Do mu), it se rves as a wa rning and cons tan t Japan left a de ep imp ression on him. Tsuchida points out, “we can nev er pretend that wh at reminder to hum ankind of the te rror of one bom b. Most Austra lian male artists se rved in the arme d happened in Hiroshima has noth ing to do with us.” 1 Lieutenant Reginald Row ed came to Japan at the ag e fo rces, unless they we re rejected for health reason s of 30, as an of ficial artist for the Milita ry Histo ry Sec tio n like Drysdale was, but only few experienced activ e Dawn of a new age – art of the Austral ian modernists of the Austra lian War Memorial. He was a trained artis t se rvice. Affected by the events of WWII, either as act ive 6 August 1945. A new aeon dawns on humanity: nuclea r and had studi ed painting and drawing at Mel bou rne pa rticipants or as witnesses, the Heide artists create d age. At 8.15am local time the Enola Gay , a Uni ted State s Technical Col lege from 1934 to 1938 under John Row ell a number of wor ks dec rying the tr agedy and lame ntin g B52 bombe r, drops ‘Little Bo y’, the first uranium bomb , and Napier Walle r. In 1940 he enlisted in the army, the human con dition. Arthur Boyd, John Pe rceval , onto the unsu specting Jap anese city of Hiroshima . but became a war artist on the urging of his siste r Albe rt Tucker and Joy Hester “we re all af flic ted by th e

37 ATOMIC TEST ING IN AUST RALIAN A RT JD MITTM ANN

Albe rt Tucke r (Aus trali a, b.19 14, d. 1999) Hi roshi ma 1947 wate rcolour on pap er 26 x 35 cm Aust ralian War Memo rial © The Estate of Barb ara Tucke r Cou rtesy of Sot heby’ s Aust ralia

38 Sidn ey Nola n (Aus trali a; Engl and, b.1917 , d.19 92) Cent ral Des ert: At omic Test 1952 –57 oil and enam el on ha rdbo ard 121.7 x 91.1 cm Coll ection Museum of Ol d and New Art (MONA ), Hob art © The Sidney Nolan Trust / Brid geman Images

39 Sidn ey Nola n (Aus trali a; Engl and, b.1917 , d.19 92) Unti tled (M oonboy an d atom blast) 1974 wate r-bas ed fabr ic dy e on ha rdboa rd 25.5 x 30.5 cm Art Galle ry of New So uth Wales Gift of the artist 19 85 Phot o: AGNS W © The Sidney Nolan Trust / Brid geman Images 24.1 985

40 ATOMIC TEST ING IN AUST RALIAN A RT JD MITTM ANN

times, the th reat and enc roachment of war”, wrot e “He makes us fe el the opp ressive fasci nation of thes e Patrick McC aughe y.2 “Out of that they produced an art stark unpeo pled immensi ties of windwo rn rock an d that was new to Australian consciousne ss, which bot h bitter soil. And th rough them all runs the cent ral them e accepted and railed again st the tragic element in huma n of grinding heat.” Central Dese rt: Atomic Test is no existence .” Danila Vassilie ff, Noel Coun ihan, Stell ar exception. But unlike the rest of the pa intings in th e Dilger and Ja mes Cant we re other artists to foc us on series, in th is an ominous mush room cloud rises int o the human cost of (nuclear) war. a blue sky filled with toxic fall-out . The nuclear age, and British atomic testi ng in Austral ia The paintin g, a bold statem ent by an othe rwis e in the 1950s in particula r, we re ra rely add resse d political ly detached artist, ironically was not seen by di rectly in art. In pa rt, the reason might be found in th e the public un til 2001 when it appea red in an exhi bitio n sec recy su rrounding the at omic trials progr am and in Sidney Nola n: Landscapes and Legends at Goul d the general ly positive at titude towa rds the tests am ong Galleries in Melbou rne. 5 An imp ressed Geo ffrey Smit h the Austral ian public. The Australian media responde d commented: “Central Aus tralia reflec ts an image of indeed enth usiastical ly to news of the tests. Polls in the dis ruption, an in tense explos ion on the hori zon tha t mid-1950s showed broad major ity suppo rt hoping fo r reverberates throughout the compositio n.” The mush roo m Australia ’s ascent into the nuclear age and for a futu re cloud and mou ntain ranges appear to be lat er addition s as a ‘middle po wer’ . that Nolan im posed on a previously pai nted landsca pe. Only after the United States dropped the first hyd roge n The new paint ing was “his im mediate response to th e bomb at Bikini Atoll in Ma rch 1954 did pub lic suppo rt news covera ge of the nuclear testing in the remot e slowly wane. Strong public protest evolv ed in the UK ‘uninhabi ted’ Austral ian landscap e, a presumption of and resulted in the Campaign for Nuclear Disa rmamen t the Austral ian Gove rnment and Br itish author ities, ” (CND) in 1957. Living in Lon don at the time, Sidney Nola n he conclude d.6 became ala rmed, and ret rospect ively added a mush roo m Additiona lly, a smaller dra wing of Nolan’s Moonbo y cloud, as a refe rence to the British atomic tests in series also depicts a mush room cloud. In his untitle d Australia, to a painting in his seminal Ce ntral Dese rt 1974 drawing (Moonboy and atom blast) a si mpli fied , series . dark, round shape dominates the cent re of the draw ing . Arthur Bo yd Nolan had pai nted the series after extens ive travels in Two figu res on horses, possibly Bur ke and Wills take n (Aus trali a, b.19 20, d. 1999) Aus tralia, and 47 paintings we re shown to grea t Jonah on the Shoal have n from his iconic pa inting of the do omed explo rers, fly acclaim at Da vid Jones Gall ery in Ma rch 1950, whic h – Outs ide the City ac ross the face of it. Nolan paint ed the first ‘m oonboy ’ Jane Clarke described as “o ne of the most im portan t 1976 in 1939-40, titled boy and the moon and retu rned to oil on canva s events in the histo ry of Austra lian paintin g”. 3 At the time , the moon-boy motif th roughout his ca ree r. The title of 158 x 127 cm James Glees on wrote admiring ly about Nolan ’s Centra l Bund anon Trust Col lecti on this drawing lends the work an additional meaning an d Dese rt paintings in The Sun newsp ape r.4 He co mmented : © Bund anon Trust dimension .

41 ATOMIC TEST ING IN AUST RALIAN A RT JD MITTM ANN

Arthur Boyd, another Aus trali an m odernist painter, Multiple pl umes of smoke ri se as two human survivor s speci fically the Briti sh atomic tests in Australia of th e in clu ded the in sever al wor ks. It a ppe ars drag themse lves from an area of inte nse white light whil e 1950s we re ra re. Australia of the 1950s was closel y as a tiny and distant p henom enon on the horiz on in two another mus hroom cloud grows into the blue sk y. Th e aligned to the British moth er count ry. Robe rt Menzie s pa int ings of the Shoa lhaven series from the late 19 70s, pilot appea rs in a phase shi ft, which gives the painting a a conse rvative and ang lophile Prime Ministe r, single- as a subt le a nd gen eral rem inder of t he h orrors of war su rreal imp ression. It’s as if the shockw ave has becom e handedly al lowed the Brit ish to test ato mic devices fo r and total d estruction. visible. The foreg round is bu rned with sha dows of men , weapons dev elopment in Au stralia. Whi le the Britis h Boyd was cons cripted into the army in 1941 an d women and chi ldren, reminiscent of ’s Gue rnica . worked feve rishly to join the nuclear ‘m egaton club’ of later became a paci fist. He pa rticipat ed in protes t A human skull, a widely used symbol in art for mo rtalit y the US and USSR, a worldwide protest move ment agains t ma rches to Alde rmaston, the nuclear resea rch facility in and death, la ys aside, disc arded, replaced pe rhaps by atomic weap ons slowly fo rmed. England, and in exhibitio ns commemora ting Hi roshima , the powe rful dark mat ter, uranium, the pilot now hold s and protesting against the Vietn am War. He said ab out visibly in aw e. Hope and fear – going nuclear in the 1970s and 80s himself: “F or a long time I was obsessed by wa r, all thos e Inspi red by anti-Vietn am War protests, and feminis t dark though ts about the ind ividual sla ughter in the Fi rst FOR A LONG TIME I WAS OB SESSED BY WAR , AL L and land righ ts movements, in the late 196 0s and earl y World War, people wi th their legs ha cked off and th roat s THOSE DARK TH OUGHTS ABOUT THE IN DIVID UAL 1970s a new gen eration of artists voiced its conce rns cut. Then war got mo re mechanic al and mo re scienti fic SLAU GHTER IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR , PEO PLE and politic al oppositio n. In several screen printin g and mo re awful.” 7 WITH THEIR LEGS HACKED OFF AND TH ROATS CUT. workshops across the count ry students and artist s Harold F reder ick Wea ver Hawki ns ( 1893– 197 7) was produced protest pos ters conce rned with a variety of ed uca ted at Camberwell S cho ol of A rts and Crafts but Warfa re became a recu rrent theme to whi ch Hawkin s topics: Pam Debenham, Toni Robe rtson, Dia nna Wells , WWI put an end to his pla ns to be come an art t eache r. retu rned in a numb er of murals. He brought to Au strali a Bob Clutter buck, Chips Ma ckinolt y, Colin Russe ll an d He was ser iou sly wound ed in t he B attle of the Somme an educated and sophistic ated artistic pract ice . Wendy Black among these . at Gom mecou rt in 19 16 a nd a lmost lost his right arm. “Atomic Pow er exposes war as the conseque nce of At the time, the general pe rception of a nuclear futu re Despi te many operat ions he nev er reg ained full move ment irrational ity and man’s intolerance. Wi th its conf rontin g was positiv e. Toni Robe rtson reflects on this in a seri es and had to ret rain himself to p aint with his le ft h and. ‘end-of-t he-world’ sy mbols it makes for inte resting stud y of poster pri nts titled Ro yal Nuclear Sh ow – an exe rcis e After exten sive travels with his wife and three child ren against the backg round of Aust ralian su rrealist pain tin g for the resensitised consumer , whi ch was exhibit ed at th rough Eu rope and the Paci fic, he migrated from th e in the 1940s. It sha res with those works st rong an d the Experim ental Art Foundation in 1981. The po ste r UK to Austral ia in 1935, whe re he exhibi ted widel y. resonant imag ery and a sense of disi ntegration and se rves as a propaganda tool, ‘selli ng’ the nucle ar “Hawkins’s ambitious, som etimes mural-s ize d, mod erni st dislocati on. Yet Weaver was not out of sympa thy wit h mythology as prog ress, well-bei ng and social harmon y. allegories of morality for an age of atomic wa rfa re and the spirit of Australian Su rrealism. He beli eved tha t But Robe rtson ques tions the posi tive message: Nuclea r global over-population had been so uncommon in Australia su rrealism cou ld too quickly deteriorate into an escapi st Power – What wi ll it be like ? (n o.6) depicti ng a world of when p ainted that most of his fellow artists w ere reverie,” com mented Eileen Channin. 9 nuclear mil itarisation (no.3); life is lived among fa ll-ou t em barrassed by his a rt,” Dani el T homas rem arked.8 While the tra uma of both wor ld wars preoccupi ed shelters in the shadow of a Ha rrisbu rg theme-park (n o.4) ; In his 1947 pa inting Atomic Pow er a f ighter pi lot stands a number of artists, di rect refe renc es to the th reat s and in a police state (no.5) .10 But, “potenti al danger s lo st a midst a complex field of rui ns c asting a long shadow. of the atomic age, the loomi ng arms race and mo re and contrad ictions of the nuclear power indust ry are

42 Weaver Hawk ins (UK; Austra lia , b.18 93, d.1 977) Atom ic Power 1947 oil on hardboard 61 x 78 .5 cm Art Galle ry of New So uth Wales Phot o: Brento n McGe achie /AGNS W © Esta te of HF Weaver Hawki ns 92.1 976

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neutralis ed (naturali sed) by the plea sures of consump tio n Tests . Debenh am (b.1955) produced a var iety of sc ree n and the slick ness of presentation” .11 prints, amo ng these the ico nic No Nukes in the Paci fic, With Dadd y, What did YOU do in the Nuclear War (1977), which featu res mush rooms clouds and palm trees on a a c oll aboration of Rob ertson with Chips Mackin olt y, Hawaiian- style shi rt and refers to the cont inued Frenc h the artists re-app ropria ted a WWI rec ruitment po ste r atomic tests in the Paci fic at Mu ruroa which fuelled fear s by British bo ok designer and illustrator Savile Lumle y of radioact ive fallout in Australia. (1876–196 9). Befo re 1916 the UK had no conscriptio n and only a small standing army. At the onset of WWI th e PROTE STS AND DEMO NSTR ATION S gove rnment found itself conf ronted with the enormou s WERE RAM PANT IN THE 1980S; EASTE R task of gathe ring la rge numbers of abl e-bodied men . SUN DA Y MA RCHES ATTR ACTED HUNDR EDS Th rough staged ev ent s, leaf lets a nd p osters li ke L umley’s, OF TH OUSAN DS ACROSS EU ROPE. considera ble social press ure was brought on men to enlist. As su ggested in Lum ley’s origi nal poste r, in th e While these works document the politic al climate of futu re child ren would hold their fathers to account fo r the 1980s, the dep ressing anx iety of those ye ars is the se rvice they perfo rmed for their count ry. ha rdly reflec ted. NATO strategies of ‘Mutually Ag reed In this ve rsion Rob ertson and Mackino lty amend the Dest ruction’ (M AD), ‘Nuclear Dete rrence’ and ‘Flexibl e or igi nal pr int. Sitting in an armchai r, t he f ather f aces Response’ as preventers of WW III hung like Da mocles ’ the viewer with a p ens ive lo ok a cross his f ace. H is s on proverbial swo rd above of the he ads of humanki nd. pl ayi ng with toy sol die rs is d epicted with a h ump on h is I was in high-s chool in ‘West-Ge rmany’ when mid-rang e ba ck a nd a stunted r ight arm. His sis ter fe atures a third Pershing II missiles we re stationed in Mutlangen, Neu- le g. S he s its on h er f ather ’s k nees a nd p oints to a pa ge Ulm and Necka rsulm, and hun dreds of cruise missil es in her book, which shows a pictu re of the iconic mush room we re position ed in Weste rn Eu rope. Whi le trying to cloud, c rossed out with a large red c ross. S he i nnoce ntly move on par with the USSR and Warsaw Pact’s nuclea r as ks t he q ues tion, “Daddy, w hat did You do in the Nuclear capabilit ies (in pa rticular the superior SS- 20 mediu m War ?” Obv iou sly taking her c lues from the bo ok’s g rap hic range missi les), this was NATO’s strateg ic attempt to and seemin gly unaware of h er own abn ormalit ies, s he trade for the reduction or eliminati on of those weap ons. 12 Pam De benha m qu estions t he p aren ts’ ge ner ation’s res pon sibilit y, or lack It made Eu rope an immedia te and central theat re in cas e (Aus trali a, b.19 55) No Nuk es in the Paci fic 198 4 ther eof, to prevent n ucl ear war. T he unusual p hysic al of nuclear wa r, and reduced the response time down to sc reen pr int on paper fe atures of the chi ldren poi nt to lo ng- term g ene tic def ects minutes. Protests and demonstrati ons we re rampant in 88 x 62 cm as a res ult of exp osure to r adi ation and atmospheric the 1980s; Ea ster Sunday ma rches attracted hund red s Cou rtesy of the artist fa ll- out. W hat did we do to stop nu cle ar wea pon s? of thousands across Eu rope . © the artist Image cou rtesy of Nati ona l Pam Debenham turns the mess age into a simpl e Nuclear Armageddon see med unavoid able. Th e Gall ery of Aus trali a, Can berra yet powe rful and time less graphic with No Nukes No predictable howl of air raid si rens at mid day eve ry

44 Satu rday and the exi stence of fall -out shelters at hig h schools and public buildi ngs we re grim reminders of imminent da nge r. This zeitg eist was also reflected in literatu re, film and music of the era, as Mick Broderic k illustrat es in another pa rt of this book. From Nena’ s 99 Red Balloo ns to Sting’s Russians , and in Australi a Midnight Oi l’s 1982 album 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 many we re conce rned with nucle ar (dis)a rmament . The arms race was in full swing, and Australians had played their part in it – the tr ials programs in Au strali a had led di rectly to the production of the British nu clea r weapons Blue Danube and Red Bea rd. Austra lians , for the most pa rt, we re either un awa re or oblivio us to this realit y. Singer-s ongwriter Pa ul Kelly (b.19 55) wrot e in his 2010 bio graphy that he had never hea rd about th e Abov e: tests until the Royal Commi ssion into the British Atom ic Savi le Luml ey 13 Tests was laun ched in 1984. (UK, b.1876, d.19 60) A s eries of in vestigat ive media article s, as w ell as Dadd y, What did YOU do in a 1 981 tel evi sion d ocu mentary titled Backs to the the Great War? c. 1914– 1915 Colo ur lith ograph on pap er Blast directed by Harry B ardw ell, trig gered the Roy al 76.3 x 51 cm Commission inv estigat ion. As Liz Tynan ill ustrates in h er © Vict oria & Albe rt Muse um, es say earli er in this p ublic ation, these media rep orts Lond on raised conc erns about una ccoun ted amoun ts of hi ghly toxic plutonium that had con tam inated l arge parts of Righ t: the test ran ge at Tar anaki as p art of the s o-c alled Vix en Toni Robe rtson B ‘ min or t ria ls’ from 1960 to 19 63. Additio nal ly, an (Aus trali a, b.19 53) Chips Macki nolty in cr easing n umber of vet erans, or igi nally bou nd to s ecrecy (Aus trali a, b.19 54) through t he C rimes Act, c ame forward and rep orted h eal th Dadd y, What did YOU do is sues alle ged ly con nec ted to exposure to r adi ation and in the Nucle ar War? 1977 radio active d ebr is d uring and aft er t he t ests. sc reen pr int on paper 76 x 50 cm Avon Hudson was one of those who blew the whi stl e © the artists on the neglec tful treatment of service personn el. Jessi e Image cou rtesy of Nati ona l Boylan (b.1 986) po rtrays him at his Balaclava ho me Gall ery of Aus trali a, Can berra

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among resea rch papers for his book Beyond Belief : Pitja ntjatja ra in Yalata and O ak Val ley in 2 009. Paint ings Australia ’s Veterans Spe ak Out, which he co-autho red by Hilda Moodoo, Mau reen Smart, Yvonne Edwards and her with Roger Cross. She int erviewed Hudson, a RAA F son Teren ce t ell the story of dis possession, illn ess and veteran and witness of the Vix en B trials, and extensivel y de ath: Anan gu a re pictured b eing gathered by author ities documented his life in photo and video. and driven away on trucks; m en in w hite prot ective suits Under inc reas ing political pressu re, the Labo r ap pear while a fi erce atom bomb goes o ff in the d istance. Gove rnment under Prime Minister Bob Hawke set up The disloca tion from count ry and its subs equen t a Royal Commi ssion to unea rth the full sto ry of th e dest ruction are dominant and recu rring them es in th e British ato mic tests. Led by Justice James McClelland , Anangu na rrative. While a younger gener ation know th e the Commiss ion set out to li ft the veil of sec recy th e tradition al lands only from stories and occasional visits , British had placed on the program, to fin d out about th e the trauma of forced removal from sand dunes cou ntry true natu re of the test program at Ma ralinga and Em u, to the lime sto ne coast remains a vivid me mory amon g and to add ress issues of responsib ilit y. The finding s an older gene ration. In May 2016 a painting project at we re scathing and emphatica lly criticis ed the lack of Yalata provided an oppo rtunity for an in ter-genera tiona l conce rn for the heal th and safety of service personn el exchange. Nume rous paintin gs we re produced, an d and Aborigi nal people in pa rticula r. The Repo rt made a the collabo rative canvas Maralinga Tjulkurpa has been number of sig nific ant recommend ations, among others , included in the exhibitio n. Cynthia Ch arra, Polly Cha rra , requesting co mpensation to be paid and urging th e Verna Gibson, Edwina Ingoma r, Glenda Ken, Teres a retu rn of Aborig inal lands to the Traditional Ow ners afte r Peters, Ca rmel Windlass, Mellissa Windl ass, Ann Mari e a tho rough clean -up of the test si tes. Woods and Natasha Woods worked on it, guided by Hilda Moodo o Elders Mima Smart, Ma rga ret May and Rita Bryant. (Pit jantj atjar a, b.19 52) Mamu tjuta, evil spirits are comin g Few Anangu remain who ex perienced the tests 60 Mara linga Bomb 20 09 – the Aborigi nal experien ce years ago. Yvonne Ed wards (who sad ly passed away in ac rylic on canva s 40 x 50 cm The story of at omic testing at M aralinga is t he d islocation 2012) was six years old at the time of the Bu ffalo serie s. Produ ced for Maral inga, of Ana ngu Pit jantjat jara and K oka tha peo ple from the ir “Grandfat her and Grandm other telling lots of stori es. The An angu Story by Yalata la nds in t he G reat Victoria Des ert a nd f rom the United They had to live at Yalata. Their home was bombe d. and Oak Vall ey Comm uniti es Aborigines Mis sion s tat ion at Ool dea. A lon gside the act ual That was their home whe re the bomb went off. Reall y with Christ obel Mattin gle y, first publ ished by All en & nu cle ar exp los ion, b oth events fe ature prom inently in a frightene d. They thought it was mamu tju tja , evil spir its Unwin in 200 9. nu mber of pai ntings by Indi gen ous artists from the 199 0s coming.” 14 While Anan gu witnessed the bombs go off on Cou rtesy of Hil da Mood oo on ward. Four pa intin gs w ere s elect ed f or t his exhib ition their land from a distanc e, many retu rned and trave rse d © Mara linga Tja rutja Inc. from a g roup of o ver 40 w orks, whi ch h ad b een produced the land in sub sequent year s, especial ly when the Yalat a rep resen ting the Oak Valle y and Yalata Commu nitie s, for the b ook Maral inga – t he A nangu Story, a coll abo ration community was commissio ned to dismant le some of th e 2009 of Ade laide aut hor Chr istobel Mat tingl ey a nd the Anangu remaining inf rast ructu re at Marali nga. Mabel Que ama

46 said: “We walked to Taranaki. We been the re. Couldn’ t sleep that ni ght. Coughing all night. Co ughing, coug hing , coughing. Couldn’t walk much. Now eve ryone at Oa k Valley has breathing problems.” 15 Yvonne Edwa rds recalled: “I do n’t know why I am still alive. I went eve rywhe re at Maralin ga. Eve rywhe re I shouldn’t have. Nobody to ld us. … We didn’t kno w the place was dange rous, poiso ned. One of our so ns, Tedd y, got ve ry sick. He was just a bab y. He was take n back to Yalata and later to Adelaide be cause he was st ill sick. My husb and got sick la ter, couldn’t see properl y. His eyes. Died of lung cance r, sp reading fa st. Cance r all over his lu ngs. … All Anan gu men who worked at Maralinga are finished no w. Lost a sis ter too from cance r. In her 20s. And an uncle in his 40s from cance r. And an auntie from cance r. Two of my sons died in their 40s from cance r. Sometimes I cry at night. ”16 Fi rst attem pts to c apt ure t he story v isually w er e un dertaken by Lance A tki nson w hen he c ond ucted a creative arts works hop at Oak Valley. A tki nson ( 197 1– 20 14), a K amilaroi /Yorta Yorta artist from Mil dur a, Victor ia, had established a clo se rel ationship w ith the small community no rthwest of Maralinga in the late 1990s and contin ued to vis it f or s eve ral ye ars. Pain tin gs resulting from the workshop were s ubseq uen tly presented in an Lance Atkin son ex hib ition at t he A del aide F estival in 20 02. Atkinson’s (Kam ila roi/ Yorta Yorta ; b.19 71, d.2 014) own ren dit ions p resent the v iew er with an in triguing mix Mara linga Fields of Thu nder of Weste rn- style realism and symbo lism. 2009 As Heather Lee obse rves: “Atk inson’s beli ef tha t ac rylic on canva s his paintin gs should raise awa reness rath er tha n 173 x 130 cm Mara linga Piling Trus t being polit ically cha rged, or offending, continues in his Cou rtesy of Chr is Guil le Maralinga series … the Mar alinga series seeks to info rm and Ja ck Kir by the viewer of a devastating historical event, in this ca se © Mara linga Piling Trust

47 Je ffrey Qu eama (Pit jantj atjar a, b.19 47, d. 2009) Hilda Moodo o (Pit jantj atjar a, b.19 52) Dest ruct ion I 20 02, Oak Valle y, SA synt hetic polymer paint on can vas 119 x 98 cm Sant os Fund for Ab origi nal Art 200 2 Art Galle ry of Sou th Aust ralia , Adel aide Cou rtesy of Hil da Mood oo 2002 5P24

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the 1950s nuc lear tests and their afte rmath … Atkinso n does not desp air at the dest ruction and desolation th e nuclear tes ting has caused the people and their land . Th rough his work s, Atkinson ce lebrates the persistenc e and continu ance of the Ance stral teach ings and tradi tion s of the Oak Valley people, which he has wi tnessed; th e community ’s spirit safe gua rded by the st rength of th e Eagle Spiri t.” 17 A central mus hroom cloud domin ates the backg roun d of Maralinga Fields of Thun der . A powe rful (wedg e-tail ) eagle ca rrying violet and red roses in his claws soar s Lin On us above, while a flock of Black Gala hs cross over th e (Yorta Yorta, b.1948, d.199 6) lower end of the canvas taki ng flight from a darkene d Mara linga 1990 fibreglas s, syn thetic polym er pai nt, landscape. The exact shape of the mush room cloud is ac rylic and paper stick ers repeated in a num ber of Atkinso n’s painting s, includin g (a) 16 3.0 x 56.0 x 62 .0 cm (figure) Maralinga IV Purple Dreaming (2001 ), Maralinga Vi sio n (b) 12 5.0 x 119.0 x 45.0 cm (cloud ) of Hope (2003) and Maralin ga (2009); the identica l State Art Col lecti on, Art Galle ry of Weste rn Aus trali a outline is al so recognisable in Hilda Moodoo and Je ffrey Pu rchas ed 1990 Queama’s co llaborative paintings Dest ruction I and II . © Lin Onus Es tate/ Licen sed by Hilda Moodoo (b.1952) was a participant of Atkinson’ s Visco py, 2016 workshop. She and her husba nd Je ffrey Queama (1947– 2009) paint ed in traditio nal style, yet Atkinson’s influenc e 1984, the Sou th Australian Gove rnment retu rned pa rts Lin Onus was the first to respond di rectly to th e on the work is cl early visib le. of the 3000 squ are kilomet re test range to the tradition al Maralinga story. Son to a Scottish mother and a Yorta Queama, a Pit jantjatjara man bo rn in the Unite d owners. Que ama and his wife were among those wh o Yorta man from the Cumme ragunja Abor iginal rese rve on Aborigines Mission (UAM) at Ooldea on the easte rn edg e founded the Oak Valley commun ity. the Mu rray River in New South Wales, William McLintoc k of the Nullab or Plain, was inst rumental in set ting up th e An inc reasing number of Aboriginal artists tu rned to Onus (1948– 96) was a politi cally minded Koori artist . small Oak Valley commu nity in 1984. With the dispersa l ac rylic canvas paintings in the 1990s, expa nding th e From a young age he was influ enced by his fa ther Bil l of residents af ter the closu re of the miss ion in 1952 , tradition al ways of oral st ory-telling, sand painting, son g Onus (1906– 68), a success ful ent rep reneur (he ra n depicted by other Anangu artists as we have seen , and dance. At the same time ur ban artists develop ed Aboriginal Enterprises in Belgrave, not far from Bu rrinj a he was sent to the Lutheran mis sion school at Koonibba , their own sty le, which was less info rmed by trad itiona l Dandenong Ranges Cultur al Cent re) and a politica l ne ar C eduna. For many years he lobbied ti relessly fo r designs and symbols but mo re by Eu ropean techniq ues activist who had campaign ed for the Abor iginal vote in the retu rn of the Maralin ga–Tja rutja land s. In Decembe r and materia ls. 1966-67. In the late 1940s Bill Onus had veh ementl y

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protested with the anth ropologist Dr Charles Dug uid , Jonathan Ku mintja rra Brown was one of these artists . MP Doris Blac kbu rn and Pastor Doug Nicholls (lat er Although he came to art only later in life, he created an Gove rnor of South Au stralia) aga inst the estab lishmen t extensive body of paintin gs and several installati ons of the Woomera rocket test ran ge on Aborigin al land s cent red on the Ma ralinga sto ry, driven in pa rt by his urge in South Aust ralia. The cam paign was smo the red by to ove rcome his own trauma. Th ree canvas pa intings are the App roved Defence Projects Act of June 1947 whic h included in the exhibitio n: Maralinga (1992), Black Rain decla red anyone who “by speech or writ ing advocate s (1995) and Frogmen (199 6). or encourag es the preventio n, hindrance or obst ructio n Jo nat han Brown ( 196 0–97), a member of the ‘ Stolen of ca rrying out an approved defence project” was liabl e Gener ations’, was removed from h is P itjant jatjara paren ts of a fin e of £5,000 or one year impris onment. at a very e arly ag e. He grew up with a fos ter family Lin Onus was not yet born t hen but the re is no dou bt in Mel bourne (and la ter in t he H unter Val ley) and w as that he le arnt about his fat her ’s polit ical ac tiv ities as he ed uca ted at Camberwell G ram mar. In his late 20s he t ook grew up. He was often d escribed as a ‘br idge be tween up Abo rigin al S tudies at the Sou th A ustralian C oll ege for cu ltures’ for h is e fforts to rec oncile I ndi genous and Advan ced Educa tion in Underda le, Adela ide, and s tarted European h eritage. His tradem ark pa int ing style merged pa int ing. B rown a ctively s oug ht and eve ntual ly f ound h is Wes tern realism with t he t raditio nal rarrk pa rents in t he s mall co mmunity of Yal ata on the Great cross-ha tch ing techn ique. Lin Onus w as g iven p ermission Australian Big ht in S outh Australia. He l earnt he h ad a to pai nt in rarrk by a senior member of t he M urr ungun brother a nd m et h is p aren ts, but unable to speak their Djina ng cla n, J ack Wunu wun. la ngu age, f elt estrange d. The story of the c ommunit y’s In his lat er a rtistic c areer Onus also created a series di slo cation a nd t he d estruc tion of the ir lan ds c aused him of f ibre- glass scu lptures, a mong these Maralin ga (1990): co nsiderable dis tres s. Fab ian Peel, a nurse at the loc al An Abo rigin al m other prote cts her chi ld from the app arent cl ini c, now direc tor of Tul law on Hea lth Centre in Yal ata, pressure wave of an atomic bla st. In defian ce s he is took h im on a t our throu gh t he l and s. He remem ber s: fa cing it hea d-on. A stylis ed a cryl ic mus hr oom c loud with “Jona than w as c ryi ng the who le way.” em bed ded radia tion s ymbols ac com panies t he life- size The monumen tal canvas pai nting Maral inga Befo re sculp ture. Mother and chi ld a re i nnoce nt a nd u nkn owing the Atomic Test is pa rt of the Yarra Ranges Council’ s Oppo site pa ge (de tail above) : vi ctims of t he e xpl osion. Yet the mot her’s bod y-langu age McLeod Gift Collection, which is housed at and manage d Jona than Ku mintj arra Brown al so s peaks of o utrage and resis tan ce in t he f ace of (Pitjantjatjara, b.1960, d.1997) by Bu rrinja, and sho ws the count ry undistur bed. By this h orrific e vent. The sculp ture is he ld in the co llect ion Mara linga 1992 contrast, Maralinga con fronts the viewer with the obviou s of the Art G allery of Western A ustralia. It is a powerful ac rylic, sand and liza rd obliterat ion of the land: Dese rt sand is pou red ove r skel eton on line n response to the story of at omic testing and of t he i mpa ct the traditi onal dot paint ing, obscuri ng the symbol s. Th e 167 x 106 cm on Abo rigin al p eople, and un den iably a key w ork, and an Ebes Collec tion Tjuku rrpa is lost. Signi ficant sites have been eradicated . in spi ration f or o ther artists. © artist estate A central liz ard skeleton is all that remains .

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In Black Rain, Brown expands the story refe rencin g Maralinga region in the 1950s and 60s. As well as this , we re frighten ed and they we re saying: ‘We have got to do the ‘Milpud die incident’ by depicting a group of figures my community is su ffering social and physical il ls tha t something .’ They used woo mera (spear -th rowers) to mak e in the lowe r, sandy pa rt of the canvas. Ed ie Milpuddie , occur in other Aboriginal communities that have bee n that ‘somet hing’ to change direction and go away, not to her husband, two child ren and dogs we re found cam pin g disposses sed.” 18 come to the main camp.” 19 near the crat er caused by the only ground-level test at The minimal ist but sizable painting Bl ack Rain refer s Tj ariya Stanley has p ain ted the story of t he ‘ black Maralinga, codenamed Ma rcoo. The ir disturbing sto ry wa s to radioact ive fall-out caused by the at omic explosi ons , mist’, or puyu in her langu age, which is al so t he t itle for tho roughly inv estigated by the Royal Commi ssion and ha s and allows for associatio ns with the sto ry of th e her acryl ic pai nting. She says she chose to paint “happy been retold by Liz Tynan in detail in her essa y. ‘black mist ’, a mysterious black cloud, which rolle d da ys” when A nan gu P itjantjatjara famil ies gathe red in Jonathan Ku mintja rra Brown was mentored artistical ly ac ross the land and affected an unk nown number of ca mps arou nd fires in a lan dscape filled with b ush flow ers by his friend, photographer and field collector Neil McLeod. Aboriginal people in its wa y. The 1984 Royal Commissio n in pin ks, mau ve, ye llow and w hit e. Puyu is d epi cted in the He got to kno w, and later co llaborated with Lin Onus, for gathe red many accoun ts from Aboriginal witnesses an d fo rm of d ang erous black s nakes, w hich en gulf the c amps. example on Ni ssan Dreaming for the seminal Qu eenslan d white pasto ralists, and concluded that the cloud wa s “The w ati (men) were worried. They h ad kul ata (spea rs) Art Galle ry exhibiti on Balance 199 0: Views, Visions , probably a result of the first atomic test at Emu in 195 3 and miru (spe ar t hr owers – woomera). All t he m en w er e In fluenc es , an exhibiti on which had or iginally bee n codenamed Totem. Yet, its origins and composit ion of ho ldi ng the kul ata hig h, they were g oing to spear t he planned for the Bicentena ry celebration s. Brown’s ow n ‘black mist’ remain unexpla ined despite several scien tific en emy coming with the puyu. T hey wanted to throw the oeuv re was presented at Tandanya Abori ginal Cultur al investiga tions . spears at the puyu. Institute at the 1996 Adela ide Festival as pa rt of th e “The A nangu were f righten ed, so t hey started to run exhibition Native Title Now (cu rated by Do reen Mellor ) MY PO LITIC AL OUT LOOK HAS BEEN SHAR PENE D aw ay f rom the smoke aband oni ng the ir c ampsites. When under the tit le Maralinga Nullius. It we nt on to be on BY WH AT HAP PENED TO MY FAMI LY. MU CH OF MY some of them ret urned la ter to E rna bel la they heard t he show at SH Ervin Galle ry in Sydney the following ye ar. Bu t ANCE STRAL LANDS ARE IN ACCE SSIBLE TO ME AS stories of t he ngan karri (witch doctor s) w ho t ried to save Brown did not live to see it. Only days befo re the openi ng, A CON SEQUE NCE OF ATOMIC TEST ING. the people when they h eard a bout this black puy u. They he passed away due to liver fa ilu re in the presence of hi s pe rfo rmed a cerem ony and by rem oving the ir tar ka (bone) friend Neil McLeod. Yami Lester OAM, a Yankunytjat jara man, was ab out from their forearms and throwing it towards the smoke, It is a surpris ing coincide nce that Jona than Kumintj arra 10 years of age at the time and li ving at Wallatinna , tried to p ush it a way and stop it from ha rming the Anang u. Brown’s work and spirit will retu rn to SH Ervin Galle ry 120km no rtheast of Emu. He recalls that he hea rd a But the smoke w as t oo p owerful, too strong. Many Anangu almost 20 yea rs later for the opening of Bla ck Mist Bu rnt loud bang. “It was coming from the south – bl ack, lik e di ed.” she s aid. Tja riya Stanl ey lost h er parents sho rtly Count ry and the launch of its national exhibition to ur. smoke. I was th inking it mig ht be a dust sto rm, but it af ter the inc ident.20 As he stated in Maralinga – He art of the Count ry, a sho rt was quiet, ju st moving th rough the trees and above the Yami L ester, n ow a Yan kun ytjat jara Elde r, d escribed the documenta ry commiss ioned by Tandanya and di recte d trees and above that again. It was just rolling and mo vin g effe ct of puy u: “I cann ot rem ember how l ong aft er we were by Rick Cavag gion for the 19 96 exhibitio n: “My politic al quietl y. … The old peop le we re frighten ed. They reckon it ge tting sick and sore e yes and wat ery e yes and diarrhea outlook has been sharpened by what happe ned to my was mamu , a pretty hard wo rd to translate into En glis h … v omiting a nd s kin ras hes … pu rtju, sore on the s kin famil y. Much of my ance stral lands are inacces sibl e … It could be som ething that could be bad or evil spirit , … I could not see with both eyes.”21 Des pite m edi cal to me as a conseq uence of atom ic testing in th e or something we are not su re what it is. The old peopl e treatment he lo st h is s ight soon aft er a nd t hen com pletely

52 Tjar iya Sta nley (Nga anyat jarra, b.1939 ) Puyu – Black Mist 20 15 ac rylic on canva s 98 x 121 cm Ma rgo Bi rnbe rg and the artis t © Ma rgo Bi rnbe rg and the artist

53 Jess ie Boyl an (Aus trali a, b.19 86) Yami Le ste r, Walla tinn a Stat ion, So uth Au stral ia 2006 digi tal ink jet pr int 85 x 85 cm Cou rtesy of Yami Leste r and the artist © the artist

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in 195 7. He was sent to Royal Adela ide hospi tal, without le ns. Belin da M ason ( b.1 971) p res ents an eer ie black we re exposed to, and what they th ought about th eir an int erpret er, w here his left eye was removed. He was and white 3D lentic ular holo graphic p hot ograph, which ‘experien ce’, was not kno wn until long after the tests . told he had gone bli nd becau se of measles. His medical em pha sises Les ter’s bli ndness. It o rig ina tes in Mas on’s Veils of sec recy clouded the true natu re and thei r rec ords have be en rep orted m issing. Unf inished Bus iness series, whi ch was lau nched in extensive haza rds. Bound to sec recy by respectiv e When in the 198 0s Lester hea rd on ABC radio an September 2 013 at t he P alais des Natio ns in Geneva laws, many ve terans only un locked their memories an d inte rview with Sir Ernest Titte rton, a nucl ear physicis t to coi ncide with the 24th Session of the UN Com mittee on histories to wives and fami lies when mys terious illn esse s who was a member of the Austra lian Atomic Weapon s the Rights of P ersons with Dis abilities. In c ont rast, Jes sie and dec reasing health affected them. Only gradual ly di d Tests Safety Committee from its incepti on in 1955 to Boylan (b.1 986) plac es Yami Le ster in the famil iar bush the general public become aware of these stor ies, usuall y 1957, and cha irman of the committee from 1957 unti l of his tradit ional cou ntry at Wal lat inna S tat ion standing th rough the voic es of whistle- blowers and jo urnalists. 1973, he had a realisati on. Lester wri tes in his awa rd- strai ght, w ith hands loc ked in f ront of him as in p ray er. Kate Downhi ll’s father was a member of a team of winning aut obiography Yami (1996) that “he was talkin g Yet, his fa ce a nd h is t eeth appe ar as cl enc hed in pai n, British sci entists present at the ‘m ajor’ and some of the about the ato mic weapons te sts at Emu in 1953 and from an inv isibl e, d eep hu rt. In t his portrait we e nco unter ‘minor’ tes ts at Monte Bello and Maraling a, and durin g at Maralinga in 1956 and 195 7. I was in bed list ening , an upright pose, fac ing an unknown and unimagin able hyd rogen bomb te sts on Christm as Island. For Downhill , but didn’t really pay mu ch attention to what he wa s ev ent – li ke t he m any innoc ent soldi ers and off icers who her paintin gs take on an imp ortant funct ion: th e saying. Then I hea rd the inte rviewer ask him: ‘And wha t turned their b acks to the bo mb a fter t he w hite nu clear “memorial isation of tho se events, dra wing on famil y about the Abo riginal peop le?’ Sir Ernest Titte rton says : flash had ab ated to witness the g reat s pec tacle . memor ies and histor ies, and my own c hil dhood imaginings ‘Oh, the black people we re well looked afte r. We ha d and pe rceptions about Austra lia”. 23 two pat rol of fic ers in the area.’ He was tal king like that . Roads to Mara ling a Downh ill (b .19 55), w ho m oved to Australia from the UK And I said to the radio: ‘Bull shit.’ I remember now! I wa s – Contempor ary concerns in 200 9, d raws on fragments of memory and scr aps of at Wallatinna. I remember that pat rol of ficer used to come With his bronze scul ptu re, Maralin ga Test Dumm y, in formation, which she weaves into qui lt-like ‘pa tchwork’ to the camp. All the Anangu ca lled him kuta – brothe r. … Craig McDon ald recalls a fami liar image from the earl y pa int ings ( Ope rations Hurricane, Mosaic, Tot em a nd All day I thoug ht about what he said. And thin gs sta rte d blasts: a sole obse rver watch es the blast th roug h Buffa lo). Along side o ther works and a var iety of person al coming back to me”. 22 an impenetr able viso r, pe rhaps in aw e, admiring th e pa rap hernalia s he presented these in an ex hib ition at Yami Lester’s account fo rmed a co rnerstone amo ng demonic scene, unaware and, as they o ften w er e, kept Macqu arie U niv ersity A rt G all ery in 2013 titled Chain Indigenous witness acco unts during the enqui ry of in the dark about the true natu re and potential danger s React ion. In the exh ibi tion’s c atalogue Brian M aid ment the Royal Com mission. In Ju ne 1984 he trav elled to of the haza rdous event. McD onald (b.195 5) notes in hi s ob served “a recogni tion of the social hi story of q uil ts as a London, acc ompanied by his wife Lucy and lawye r artist stat ement: “Blin dness, from viewing the bl asts , fo rm of m emorisat ion collect ive ly und ertaken by w omen to Richa rd Bradsha w, and to Japan in 1989, to camp aig n was a real th reat, but this figu re expl ores the notion of en sure t hat the his tory of the tribe or nation is maint ained for recogniti on and compens ation for the vi ctims of a mo re menacing blindness – that of ignorance couple d in hum an m emory. S uch memor ial ising turns personal British ato mic tests. with coloni al arrogance. Yet, the rendering of the fig ure memor ies and experienc es into em blematic shapes that In Bla ck M ist Burnt Cou ntry two p hot ographic po rtrai ts gives him a he roic qualit y, as if these pa rticipan ts we re ha ve s uffi ci ent weight to stand for the col lec tive h istorical show Yami Le ster in qui te varied ways and offer d iffe rent somehow free of no rmal moral constraints .” na rrativ es t hr ough whi ch nat ions begin to mytho logise a nd pe rspectives of t heir subject throu gh t he p hot ographe rs’ The full exte nt of what se rvice and civi lian personn el un der stand the ir own his torie s”.24

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Operation Hurricane (20 13) quotes Bri tish Prim e In Rev enge of the S tormboy, Adel aide b ased Ngarrindj eri Minister Cl ement Attlee, promoting a New World Order at artist Trev or N ickol ls ( 1949– 201 2) dis pla yed his outrage the dawn of the atomic age in 19 45: “This so rt of thin g ab out the atomic tests. Nick olls unus ual ly (al mos t) has in the past being been con side red an Utopian dream . monoc hrom atic pain ting depi cts an I ndi genous m an w ho It has today be come the esse ntial condit ion of su rviva l br ings with his ce remon ial spear f lames to a cit y, s etting and of civili sation and pos sibly of life on this . ” hi gh- rises, h ous es a nd e ven Luna Park on fire. Alarmed, Since the f irst a tom ic test at Ala mog ordo in New Mex ico nu merous w hite fi gu res wave the ir arms in t he f oreg round, as part of t he Americ an Manha ttan Proj ect, t here h as while a mother leads away a ch ild, an image N ickolls used be en an on goi ng fas cin ation with the d evi lish b omb and repeatedly used. She carries a dil ly b ag, whi ch con tai ns a its majestic t oxic c loud as it r ises, like in slow m otion, tiny mush room cloud. The painting was inspi red by the to even greater h eights a nd p ower. N ot s urprisin gly, t he Australian movie Storm Boy made in 1976, which is placed ‘m ushroom cl oud’ is an in triguing artistic m otif – a symbol at the Coorong ne ar the mouth of the Murray Riv er and tel ls for human a bil ity to achieve sci entifi c b ril lia nce, a nd to the sto ry of a young bo y, Sto rm Boy: he fo rms a specia l ca use unpreceden ted destruc tion. relationship with Mr Pe rcival, one of th ree pelican chick s As Sydney a rtist Hugh Ramage notes: “The development he rescues and nu rtures, but is eventually shot by hunters. of the atom bomb was the culmi nation of an ext rao rdina ry The British atomic test p rogram was one of the fi nal acts commitment of resou rces, ene rgy and creativity an d of colonialism in flicted on Australians. The subsequent rep resented two of the most irrep ressible char acteristic s report of the R oyal Commission has been des cribed as a of humanity being: the pote ntial for mas sive creativit y signif ica nt d ocument marking the arrival of a pos t-imper ial and violenc e.” 25 Ramage (b.1 958) has paint ed the Britis h Australia, “for it ide ntified Britain as a foreign country testing of three devices in oil on canvas: Totem (at Emu) , – an idea that would have b een incom pr eh ens ible to and Taranaki and An tler (series) at Maralinga. Thes e Australians of the 1 950 s”, co ncl udes p oli tical jou rnalist paintings are small, but the da rk renditions fill the canva s Fr ank Bongi orno. “It p res ent ed the British as prone to and beset the ir sinister im pression on the vi ewe r. manip ulating and exp loi ting t he A ustralian peop le, with In comparis on, Judy Watson (b.1 959), a Waanyi woma n the assistance of a lo cal cla ss of c ons erva tive A ustralian from Queenslan d, produced a series of sublime pai nting s Anglo philes a nd e xpa triate Britons.”26 simply titl ed bomb test (1 –5, 1995), two of which are Rosema ry Laing (b.19 59), another artist from a Craig McDon ald (Aus trali a; New Zealan d, included in the exhibitio n. These offer no histo rica l generation born in the Menz ies era, set out from Sydne y b.19 58) refe rence, nor do th ey depict the actual event. They are to see the epic ent re of British colonialism with her ow n Mara linga Test Dum my 201 0 minimalis tic in size and co lou r, quite the op posite to th e eyes. After a long, arduous jou rney th rough ‘outbac k bronz e real spectacle; yet they draw the viewer in to a close stud y, Australia’ she arrived at Emu. In a re-enactm ent of 55 x 38 x 24 cm Cou rtesy of the artist contempla ting the unima ginable power of dest ruction an d Cook’s land ing, she plant ed an old Briti sh flag given to © the artist its invisib le th reat to life and health. her by one of her Wi radjuri frie nds. “I found the wonk y

56 Hugh Ramage (Aus trali a; New Zealan d, b.19 58) Totem 2014 oil on canva s 40 x 35 cm Cou rtesy of the artist © the artist

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metal tripod lying around in the general vicin ity. I erecte d experienc es, not just to si mply erase hi sto ry and suppo rt it and attach ed the fl ag. … I used the fl ag to emphasis e a collective amnesia.” 28 Black Wind in tegrates foo tage of the infe rred event ownership announced by the ins criptio n the Aborigi nal Tent Embassy on the lawns of Pa rliamen t on the brutalist mo nument.” 27 For genera tions to come , House in Canb erra, a beacon of political ac tivism an d this and other ‘monuments’ will mark tri al sites at Mont e protest for Abor iginal (land) rights since 1972. Th e Bello, Emu and Maralinga, memorials of Australia n work was made with the suppo rt and ag reement of tent subse rvience to the Br itish mother count ry. embassy mem bers Isabel Co e, Ray Swan, Ma isie an d Inte rnationally renowned video artist Susan No rri e Brendan Cook and screened in the Ne therlands an d (b.1953) co ntinues the th eme of coloni al disposses sio n Belgium in 20 05 and at the Ade laide Festiv al in 200 6 and its ongoi ng rami fica tions in the vi deo edit Black Wind . accompani ed by an orchestral soundtrack by Sydney- She states: “We are at a critic al and signi fi cant momen t based compo ser Kim Bowman . in the histo ry of the world and as an artist one fee ls an Black Mist was c ommissioned by t he Dut ch G overnm ent eno rmous responsi bility to docu ment the truths of ou r and written by Bowman (b.19 57) for Clai re Edwa rde s

Oppo site pa ge: Meri lyn Fai rskye (Aus trali a, b.19 50) The Day After (Towe r, Th e Poly gon, Ka zakhs tan) 2015 pigm ent pri nt 36 x 53 cm Cou rtesy of the artist © Meri lyn Fa irsky e/ Lice nsed by Viscop y, 201 6

Top ri ght, and rig ht: Kim Bo wman (Aus trali a, b.19 57) Susan Norrie (Aus trali a, b.19 53) Black Wind 20 05 musi cal com posit ion and si ngle channel video dura tion 29 :30 mi ns dime nsions varia ble Cou rtesy of the artist s © the artists

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and Amste rdam Sinfoniet ta. Two wind tur bines on stag e Kate Shaw (b. 1969 in Sydne y, lives and works in a 1 5m d eep trench in which all previ ous ly and prese ntly accelerate wind chimes producing di sturbing sou nds New York and Melbou rne) and photo graphers Paul Ogie r co ntaminated soi ls, deb ris, t est equip men t, mac hin ery, while the pe rcussive value of the orchestra is exp ose d (b.1974 in Au ckland, lives and works in Sa nta Cruz , bu ild ings a nd b ulldo zers are b uried. by tapping and hitting the body of the inst ruments . USA, and Sydn ey) and Jessie Boylan (b.19 86 in Sydne y, Places with hidden histor ies like Emu and Maraling a Members of the orchestra play specially des igne d works in Cast lemaine, VIC) app roach the sto ry of Britis h are not uncommo n. The photogr aphs by Sydney -base d pe rcussion ins truments, like foot slaps and triangle s. atomic tests in quite di ffe rent, but al so less obvio usl y Merilyn Fai rskye (b.195 0) di rect the atte ntion to Polyg on, Pe rcussion sol oist Clai re Edwa rdes pe rfo rms on a rang e conf ronting wa ys. the fo rmer Sovjet test area in Kazakh stan. The remnant s of addition al pe rcussion in struments, some ho memade . of inf rastruc ture s tand o ut among g reen mead ows – All set to evoke the th reatening slow culmina tion of th e THE HISTOR IES OF THE SI TE, UNAS SUMIN GLY qu ite liter all y, g rass h as g rown over its destruc tive h istory. piece. The ra dio broadcast reco rding of the conce rt at CALL ED ‘FO RWARD ARE A’ REMA IN LAR GELY Yet, these se rve as a reminde r, that nume rous test site s Het Muziekg ebouw in Amste rdam on 12 Novem ber 200 5 INVI SIBLE . ac ross the globe with mo re than 2000 atmospheri c was kindly ma de available by Russell Post ema, chie f and unde rground tests present themselves as sca rred , editor of the Dutch Klassiek Radio 4. Paul Ogier’s monoch rome photograph refers to the sit e contamina ted, lifeless landscapes. As Fairskye explain s of the first atomic test at Maralinga on 27 Septembe r in her artist statem ent these ima ges developed from Counts Per Mi nute … and still countin g 1956, coden amed One Tree , pa rt of the Bu ffalo series . her work about the 1986 Che rnobyl nuclear acciden t – Contempor ary responses (part 2) Ogier presents a void. A sole tree leans aga inst an empt y and the resonances of its after-life. In response to th e For Blak Doug las (b.1970), a descendant of the sk y. The disti nct nuclear cl oud fo rming above si lent mulg a developme nt of the US atomic program, the Sovi et Unio n Dha rug of the Sydney area, successi ve Australian prim e and saltbush is easily imag inable . conducted nuclear explo sions between 1949 and 198 9 ministers and their gove rnments have be en complicit in These days few signs of the el aborate infr ast ructu re at the Polygon Nuclear Test Site in Kaz akhstan . their negli gence of Indig enous landow ners, Austr alia n requi red to conduct and monitor the tests remain : Australian test sites offer the visitor little excite men t se rvicemen and the count ry itself. In the painting Tja rutj a conc rete laun ch pads, steel boxes pa rtially buri ed in th e in the way of bui ldings, lau nch pads and tow ers thes e Traged y, clouds for 23 prime mini sters hover ov er a ground and scatt ered pieces of rusty met al attract th e days, as all th ese we re either ev aporated in the nuclea r sco rched lands cape. A ghostly traditional hunter walk s visitors’ attention. The histories of the site, unas sumingl y blasts or the ir debris removed and bur ied in subsequ ent the ba rren land. called ‘fo rwa rd area’ remain la rgely invisib le in a sca rred Sydney-ba sed Blak Dougl as is pa rt of half a doze n and pa rtly rehabilit ated landsca pe dotted with conc ret e Oppo site pa ge: younger artists in Black Mist Bu rnt Count ry. These Ge n memorials which indicate seven ‘major test’ locati ons Paul Ogier (USA /Aust ralia; New Ze aland , X and Gen Y are, not unlike the rest of their gene ration , at Maraling a: One Tree, Ma rcoo, Kite, Breakawa y, Tadje , b.19 74) a well-educ ated, sophis ticated and in formed grou p Biak and Taranaki . One Tree (f ormer Emu Fiel d of met ropolitan creatives and glo bal citizens, whos e At Taranak i, t he l arge st a nd m ost contamin ated area, atom ic test site) 2010 artistic pr actice is info rmed by soci al and envi ronmenta l ex ten sive e arth-scrapi ng o perat ions as part of t he final carb on pigm ent on rag pap er 72 x 90 cm awa reness. Pa inters, Ka ren Standke (b .1973 in Muni ch, cl ean -up in the la te 1 990s a re c lea rly vi sib le. A l arge 94 x 117 cm fra med lives and wor ks in Melbou rne and Christch urch) , mound, like an oversized gr ave, dominat es the lan dscape. Cou rtesy of the artist Adrian Brie rley (b.1973, lives and wor ks in Melbou rne) , Measuring 2 00m by 1 20m, and 2 .5m in h eig ht, it covers © Paul Ogier

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Abov e: Ian Ho ward (Au stral ia, b. 1947) Enola Gay 19 75 black wax cr ayon rubb ing on three Righ t: shee ts of pa per, two black and Ian Ho ward white photo graph s, wax rubbin g (Aus trali a, b.19 47) 274 x 361 cm B29 Su perfo rtres s Art Galle ry of New South Wales Fuel Line Cl amp 20 16 Gift of the NSW Gove rnme nt Art metal and rubbe r Scho larsh ip Comm ittee 1977 15 x 50 x 35 mm Phot o: Mim Stirli ng/AG NSW Cou rtesy of the artist © Ian Howa rd/Lic ensed by © Ian Howa rd/Lic ense d Visco py, 2016 by Vis cop y, 201 6 229. 1977. a-e

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clean-ups. The changing physical nature of the site hide s various lay ers of its exist ence. A few remaining sig ns in Maralinga village and ac ross the range offer an insig ht into the chan ging ownersh ips of the area. Adam No rto n (b.1964) vi sualises the se past realities by rec reating th e signs. Prohibi ted Area refers to a time when traditi ona l owners we re excluded from their co unt ry because it wa s pa rt of the Woomera Prohibited Zone: the Aust ralia n Gove rnment and Def ence Depa rtment held ownership of the land long after the comp letion of the te sts. In 201 4 Maralinga Tjarutja traditio nal owners gai ned total con trol over their la nds. Similarl y, Mick Broderick (b.1959) rep roduc es a present-day sign, one of over 2000 su rrounding th e ‘fo rwa rd area’, wa rning Aborigi nal visitor s: kuka palya , ‘hunting go od’; ngura wiy a, but ‘no camp ing’. Broderic k points out th at “this sign combines icon ography an d text assumed to be comp rehensible to local Indigen ous peoples. Gi ven the millen nia of deep time requi red to safegua rd the buried nuc lear contami nants, th e semiotics of these signs remain high ly contestab le”. 29 To illustrate the point, samp les of red soil and mo lte n sand from Marali nga’s Breakaway test site acco mpan y context and placed in galle ry/museum disp lays, thes e the wa rning. The ato mic explosion caused a heat ba ll, objects pose impo rtant questio ns. What mean ing do Mick Broderi ck several tho usand times ho tter than the surface of th e these objec ts hold? Are these objects relevant onl y (Aus trali a, b.19 59) sun, which bu rnt the count ry: instant aneously the groun d because of th eir (histori cal) context? What do the y Coun ts Per Minute (CPM) : Alch emy 201 5 melted into glass; this tra nsmutation trapped some of tell us about the laye red histories? What potentia l 2 x gla ss pet ri dish es. the radionu clides inside turning the sa nd green; just lik e interp retations do they offer ? Cont ents: (a) Mar alinga soil ; at the Trinity te st at Alamogo rdo, which has gi ven thes e Artist Ian Ho ward presents an unusual exhib it whic h (b) at omic glass fused an d artifacts the name trinit ite, also known as atomsit e exempli fies the se questions: a B29 Supe rfo rtress fue l tran smuted from so il nea r ground zero or Alamogo rdo glass. Only over time did the radiatio n line clamp , in itself, an un assuming and somewha t 2 x 25 cm each dec rease and the surface glass break up into sha rds. irrelevant pie ce of machine ry. The clamp, howeve r, wa s Cou rtesy of the artist Taken out of its authentic envi ronment and its origina l a pa rt of the bomb bay area on the Eno la Gay , the plan e © the artist

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Howeve r, the world-ch anging so rtie of the Enola Gay is, Cold War period we re promising and led to signi fican t appa rentl y, not identi fied in the displa y.) disa rmament, la rge numbers of wa rheads and deli very The changing histo ry of the Maralinga lands is no t mechanisms remain – they are maintained and, in fact , immediate ly obvious to the visito r. Newly erected signag e up-graded. Jessie Boylan and Linda Dem ent’s multi- se rves to educa te the inte rested pa rticipant of Maraling a channel vid eo Shift, add resses the seeming impos sibilit y Tours, an enter prise operat ed by Maraling a-Tja ruta , of cu rtailing or hal ting the build up of nuclear we apons . about the ext ensive program the Briti sh had planned in “Can h umans and nuc lear weap ons co-ex ist?” they as k. order to be acc epted into the nuclear club in the 1950s . “Can t he s ystems of glo bal sel f-destruc tion be prop itiated, But while the recent acc essibility to the range sugg est s di sen tangled and dis man tled?”31 In t he v iew of i ncreasing it is reasonably free of health ris ks, the area remain s proliferation of fissile materials, global te rror th reats and Mick Broderi ck pe rmanently uni nhabitable for generati ons to come . nuclear rogue states, the p rospect is bleak. If it is any (Aus trali a, b.19 59) Yalata artist Warren Paul (b.1 970) has add ressed thi s indication: in 2015 the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved Coun ts Per Minute (CPM) : Semi osis 20 15 issue poign antly in his clay sculptu re Toxic Austral ia. the ‘doomsday clock’ to th ree minutes to midnight, a point Alum inium frame and In this work the ‘hea rt of Australi a’, as it is often refe rred whe re it had not been since 1984 and 1949, stating: repli ca sig n to, has become a resting place for ominous yell ow “The p rob abi lity of global cat astrop he is v ery h igh, a nd 191 x 62 cm ba rrels usually associated with nuclear wa ste. A bluis h the actions ne eded to red uce the risks of disaster m ust (sign 60 x 30 cm) 32 Cou rtesy of the artist substance seeps from some, fo rming a toxic stream , be tak en ve ry s oon .” The me ssage could not be clea rer. © the artist which, ironicall y, runs to fo rm a lake in Tasmania, a region that is associated with envi ronmental pristinenes s. Wooden fence pos ts and barbed wire secu re the site . that dropped the first atomic bomb. Ho ward (b.1947 ) Cattle ya rds of the 19th and 20 th centuries have bee n came ac ross the plane, co vered in dust, in the far co rne r replaced with the 21st centu ry waste dump . of a storage ha ngar in Suitl and, Ma ryland, wh en he wa s This witty li ttle sculpture hits the ne rve of th e Jan Dirk (‘JD ’) Mittmann (b .1968) grew up in Wes t working with objects of the American spa ce projects . issue: Indi genous commu nities are conce rned abou t Ge rmany during the . He has a Surprised about the unexp ected discov ery, Howa rd too k envi ronmental degradation through uranium minin g MA in Histo ry and Politi cal Science from the Technica l the oppo rtunity and ‘wax- rubbed’ a th ree-met re sectio n and nuclear waste storage issues. Sydn ey-base d University Berlin, and a Gr aduate Dipl oma in Film & TV of the front of the in famous plane. Critic James Gleeso n artist Luke Cornish (ELK) (b.1979) wa rns: Wake Up and Graduate Certi fica te in Indigeno us Arts Management , described the rubbing as a process that “subtracts the to the Stink . both from the Victor ian College of the Arts, Universit y actual presence of the object and leav es us with a kin d In the wider pi ctu re this inclu des conce rns about th e of Melbou rne. He is a fo rmer jou rnalist, award-winnin g of ghost, a residue which summons up the reality of the proliferation of nuclear was tes and weapon grade nuclea r content producer and do cumenta ry film make r. For ove r object”. 30 In this case, it summons the reality of the event. materials, as well as the ex istence of nuc lear weapo n ten years he was worked in the communit y, comme rcia l (The plane, now fully resto red, is at the Smithsonian stockpile s. While Strat egic Arms Reducti on Treaty (S TART ) and public art sectors. He is Curator and Ma nager of National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC . negotiati ons between the US and Russia in the post- Collectio ns at Bu rrinja.

64 FOOT NOTES

1 Tsuchida, Hi romi. Hiroshima , Tokyo 1985, p.5 18 B rown, Jonathan Kumintja rra. In Maralinga – Hea rt of the Count ry, 2 McCaughe y, Patrick. Why Australian painting Matters , p.199 directed by Rick Cavaggion, documenta ry, 12 mins, Adelaide 199 6 3 Clarke, Jane. Nolan – Landscapes & Legends , p.109 19 Mattingle y, Christobel (ed.). Su rvival in our in own land – ‘Aboriginal’ experiences in ‘South Australia’ told by Nungas and 4 The Sun , Sydne y, 31 Ma rch 1950 others, Adelaide 1988, p.92 5 Gayno r, And rew. An odd, ang ry p rotest: Sidney Nolan’s 20 Reco rded by Ma rgo Bi rnberg, E rnabella, December 2015 images of contempora ry political events . Unpublished thesis, University of Melbou rne, 2007 21 Mattingle y, Christobel (ed.). Su rvival in our own land – ‘Aboriginal’ experiences in ‘South Australia’ told by Nungas and others , 6 Smith, Geo ffrey. Sidney Nolan – Dese rt and Drought , p.94 Adelaide 1988, p.92 7 Hawle y, Janet. Leaving the Landscape , in the Good Weekend, 22 Leste r, Yami. Yami – The autobiography of Yami Lester , The Sydney Mo rning Herald , 9 May 1998 Alice Springs 1993, p.174 8 Thomas, Daniel. Hawkins, Ha rold F rederick (1893–1977) , Australian 23 Downhill, Kate. A rtist statement Dictiona ry of Biography , National Centre of Biograph y, Australian National University – http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hawkins- 24 Maidment, Brian. In Chain Reaction – Kate Downhill , harold-f rederick-10457/text18547, published fi rst in ha rdcopy Macquarie Universit y, Sydney 2013, p.9 1996, accessed online 29 Janua ry 2016 25 Ramage, Hugh. A rtist statement, 2015 9 Chanin, Eileen, Steven Mille r, The A rt and Life of Weaver Hawkins 26 Bongio rno, Frank. The Eighties – The Decade that transfo rmed – Weaver Hawkins Memorial Ret rospective Exhibition, 1995, p.62 Australia , Collingwood 2015, p.119 10 The fi rst major reactor accident occu rred at Th ree-Miles-Island, 27 Laing, Rosema ry. Studio notes, November 2013 Harrisbu rg, Pennsylvania, in 1979 28 No rrie, Susan. A rtist statement, 2004 11 James, Rod. Nuclear (R)Age , The Bomb in Australian A rt, Clayton, 29 B roderick, Mick. A rtist statement, May 2016 1993, p.10 30 Gleeson, James. Realism with a Di fference , The Sun-Herald , 12 N ATO’s ‘Double Track’ strategy paid o ff with the 1988 INF Treaty 6 Feb ruary 1972, p.102 (Intermediate Nuclear Fo rces), which regulated the removal and 31 Boylan, Jessie and Dement, Linda. A rtist statement destruction of launcher and rocket motors, but not the elimination of nuclear wa rheads. 32 http://thebulletin.o rg/timeline 13 Kell y, Paul. How to Make Gravy , p.304 14 Mattingle y, Christobel. Maralinga’s Long Shadow: Yvonne’s Sto ry, Melbou rne 2016, p.43 ADi (Aus trali a, b.19 73) 15 Mattingle y, Christobel. Maralinga’s Long Shadow: Yvonne’s Sto ry, In Ant icipa tion of Ma rcoo Melbou rne 2016, p.65 2016 16 Mattingle y, Christobel. Maralinga’s Long Shadow: Yvonne’s Sto ry, oil on canva s Melbou rne 2016, p.67 89 x 41 cm in 18 th cent ury 17 Lee, Heathe r. In Silent Reconciliation , exhibition b rochu re, French gi lt fra me Mildura A rts Cent re, 2009 Cou rtesy of the artist © the artist

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ATO MIC POP MI CK BROD ERI CK

Since the end of World War II the uto pian promise an d Commonwea lth Occupati on Fo rce (BCOF), statione d apocalypt ic th reat of atomic ene rgy has never been fa r in Ku re and responsi ble for the Hi roshi ma Prefectu re. from the Austral ian cultural imagination. This essa y During the se ven-year occ upation, Aus tralian new spapers , provides a sho rt ove rview of some of the popula r magazines and news reels regula rly featu red sto ries abou t manifesta tions of this pa radoxical nu clear bina ry – the diggers in Japan, some of whom had brought ove r the bountif ul ‘peaceful’ atom versus the dread of nuclea r wives and chi ldren to the speci ally const ructed Rainbo w annihilat ion – ci rculating throughout Austr alia’s Cold War Village for ma rried fo reign se rvicemen. zeitgeist. It is not meant to be comp rehensiv e, but rathe r Eight een months after the A mer ican t win A-bomb indicative of the scope and type of pop cult ure reflect ing ex plo sions at B ikini Atoll in the South Pacifi c, a new Australian nuclearism throughout the era .1 co mic book w as l aun ched in Aus tralia. Cap tain A tom was produced by A tlas P ublishi ng in Ja nua ry 1 948 and ran 64 1940s–50s is sues until 1954. At its p eak the com ic out sold impo rted Initial repo rts of the atomic bombings of Hi roshima an d Superman and Batman comics. Captain Atom’s mus cular, Nagasaki were mostly met with jubilation in the Australia n nu cle ar-powered p rowess – drawn f rom b eing ex pos ed to mainst ream press. The com mon sentiment was tha t a B iki ni a tom ic bla st – ent ertained c hil dren with f eats of CAP TAIN ATOM WAS PRODU CED BY ATLA S a brutal foe in war had faced its ulti mate punishm ent . superhu man stren gth and abi lity. Der iva tive of C aptain PUBL ISHING IN JA NUARY 1948 AND RA N In late 1945 repo rters descri bed the Aussie POWs wh o Marvel, Cap tain Trium ph a nd S upe rman, the superhe ro 64 IS SUES UNTIL 1954. AT ITS PEAK TH E had miracul ously su rvived the Naga saki atomic ex plosion , co uld f ly at supe rsonic speed, used x-ray vi sion and super- COMIC OUTS OLD IM PORTED SUPER MAN most of whom wo rked as slave labou rers less tha n sensitive a tom ic-radar power e nab ling h im to pi ck up radio AND BATMAN COMIC S. 2km from the hypoc ent re, and we re recuper ating in th e signa ls. He could produce i ntense, rad iant h eat from his Philippin es or on their way to be demobbed back home . bo dy, d ischargi ng b olts of atomic en ergy fr om his hands, Within a yea r, howeve r, Australian soldiers retu rned to and exhale inc red ible bl asts of air due to h is a tom ically in ked images of Rustus and S ambo ch ewing on l ico rice, the Paci fic , this time as occupation troops (1946– 52) , po werful lung s. T hrou gho ut t he s eries Cap tain A tom was en tic ing readers to s pend “only a penny” a nd “ just dream comprising the la rgest cont ingent of the Br itis h al so k nown as the A tom ic Warrior, A tom Man or Atoman. the day a way ”. As w ith American and British w artime rad io Replete with evildoers crudely drawn from recen t seria ls, Australian com ic rea ders c ould jo in s ecret clu bs in Axis foes (Ge rmans and Ja panese), the se communist s, order to ob tain a c adet membership with l oyalty rew ards. Pam De benha m thugs, crooks, spies and mad sci entists we re freque ntl y Fa ns of the Captain Atom comic book cou ld receive a (Aus trali a, b.19 55) Hi roshi ma 40 ye ars 19 85 caricatu red in wa rtime raci st propaganda sty le, e.g . magic lumin ous ring in the s hape of the epony mous sc reen pr int on paper slanty-ey ed and buck-to othed Asians or goatee-wea rin g he ro’s h elm eted f ace, complete with “ruby” eye s.2 Other 51 x 76 cm Teutons and th ick-b rowed Slavs. Such ste reotypical co ld Australian Cold War comics embracing nuclear adventu re in Cou rtesy of the artist war image ry was not con fined to the comic na rrativ e the same vein incl uded The P han tom Kni ght, Secret Age nt © Pam Debenh am Image cou rtesy of Nati ona l itself. Int erspersed be tween later ed itions we re full-pag e X-9 and Space Ace, fea turing at omic p owered roc ket s, Gall ery of Aus trali a, Can berra adve rtisements for “Nigger Boy” licorice with coarsel y radia tion r ay g uns and inter pla netary nuclear con flict.

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During this period a postwar boom eme rged in Maralinga (1956–57) and so-called ‘mi nor’ radioa ctiv e explorati on for uranium, essential for fueling infa nt trials of non -critical nu clear compon ents contam inate d resea rch into nucl ear applicat ions, and doub ly vita l vast areas of land, loca tions still be ing traversed by th e for the West’s dev elopment of in dustrial sca le atomi c tradition al owners, des pite gove rnment effo rts to clea r weapons man ufacturing. Documentar ies on Ru m out Aborigi nes. Ironicall y, it was the pi oneering out bac k Jungle (NT) and Radium Hill (SA) mines we re show n su rveyor Len Be adell, tasked with opening up the bus h in city and sub urban movie theat res while mag azin e for the atomic tests and rocket trials, who ado rned th e featu res extolled the uranium mine bonanza for intrepi d Emu mess hall with a la rge mural of an Aboriginal man. prospectors us ing geiger cou nters in the out back . Beadell also regularly produced greeting ca rd caricatu res Elsewhe re, Austral ian troops joined American alli es in in his spa re t ime. With hi ghly puni tive D-no tice res trict ions Ko rea alongsi de other UN fo rces while Mac arthu r, Truma n censoring media repo rtage, only of fici ally sanctio ned and Eisenho wer publicly or privately all ente rtained th e news reached ma inst ream audien ces, except for a smal l idea and actu ally th reatened to use at om bombs again st but growing inte rnational con troversy conce rning fallou t communist forces. SHUT E’S NOVEL DESC RIBED HOW A WAR BETW EEN from nuclear wea pons tests. Also in the late 1940s the Chi fley Labor gove rnmen t SUCH LOCAL ISED COMB AT ANTS SOON ES CAL ATED The most sign ificant cultural response to the loca l ag reed to estab lish a long-ra nge weapons es tablishmen t INTO A GLOB AL NUC LEAR CONFLI CT, TERM INAL LY and global im pact of the fal lout debate ca me with th e in South Aust ralia. A ne w, remote ‘oasis’ town – POIS ONING THE PL ANE T. IT WAS A SOBERI NG publicati on of On the Beach by British exp atriate auth or Woomera – was const ructed for scienti fi c bof fi ns, mil ita ry, AND STOIC RENDIT ION OF HUMAN FRAI LTY AND Nevil Shute. The accompli shed writer settled with hi s security pe rsonnel and th eir families. The app ropriati on wife and two da ughters in La ngwa rrin, south-ea st of of this Abori ginal te rm, Woomera, de scribing a woo den HUBR IS IN THE ATOMIC AGE PLAYED OUT IN TH E Melbou rne, during the mid- to late -1950s . implement to help propel spears was widely lau ded DYING AND DIS INTEG RATING SOUT HERN CAPI TAL As a reti red aviation engineer who had worked on as enti rely apt for the new facilit y, dedicated as it wa s CITY OF MEL BOURN E. sec ret weapons development during WWII, Shute wa s to test- fir ing missile s, rockets, jets and drones. Som e uniquely co nnected with British and Au stralian mil ita ry- media comme ntators invo ked a clash of ci vilisations in After th ree atomic det onations of Br itish atomic device s political elites. His nov el was a simple elaboration of the the central Australian de sert, whe re nomadic peo ple s at the Monte Be llo Islands (Operation Hu rricane) an d potential for nuclear proliferati on to continue unchecke d whe re displac ed by an eme rging Anglo-A ustralian mi lita ry at Emu Field in central South Australia (Totem 1 and 2) until even the minor nations (e.g. Albani a) owne d industrial complex. New spaper ca rtoonists lampoone d a similar int er-gove rnmental agreement was st ruck by powe rful the rmonuclear weapons. The se weapons we re this develo pment with a sto ne age meets the space ag e Prime Minis ter Robe rt Menzies to establish a nu clea r laced with co balt in order to render an en emy te rrito ry or atomic age trope. Th roughout the Cold War, envelop es, proving ground at Mara linga. The vi llage of Maral inga an d lifeless from ex posu re to ext remely dirty, long-liv ed of fi cial statio nery and fi rst day covers celebratin g the swathes of surrounding gaze tted land was excise d fallout. Sh ute’s novel de scribed how a war betwee n successive Woomera te chnical mile stones we re ofte n as a pe rmanent nuc lear testing facilit y, as had occu rred such locali sed combatan ts soon escala ted into a glob al ado rned with image ry juxtapo sing Aborigi nes wit h under the Woomera Prohibited zone only a few year s nuclear con flic t, te rminally poi soning the pla net. It wa s rocket ry. earlie r. A series of at mospheric nu clear explos ions at a sobering and stoic rendition of human frail ty an d

68 hubris in the atomic age pla yed out in the dyi ng an d disintegr ating southe rn capital city of Melbou rne. Shute’s book was hugely pop ula r, serialis ed in newspapers around the world and adapted for ra dio , including the ABC. The movie rights to the novel we re bought by pow erful indepen dent American producer- di recto r, Stanley Krame r, who brought his cast and crew to Australia in 1959 to film on location. Both book an d film captu red the imaginat ion of a generat ion, depicti ng individual and global sui cide resulting from the intr insi c instabili ty of an escalat ing nuclear arms race.

1960s By the 1960s the allu re of atomic energy and nuclea r weapons beg an to be contest ed, if not some what wane , in popular cu ltu re. At the time Australian te levisio n was awash with impo rted American and Britis h programming, often depicti ng the perils of nuclea r science and technolog y. Despite child ren’s shows suc h as Disneyla nd and the Mick ey Mouse Club ex tollin g the vi rtues of “our fr iend the atom” in nuclear-p owe red Tomo rrowlands of the futu re, most tele vision fa re of the era ente rtained episo dic scenarios involving se cret agents atte mpting to thwa rt nuclear te rrorists, or the theft of atom ic sec rets (e.g. Dange rman , I Spy , The Man from UNCLE ). Oth ers casually depicted atom ic ene rgy Luke Cornish (ELK) (Aus trali a, b.19 79) powering fu turistic car s, laborator ies, submari nes, spac e Wake Up to the Stink craft or the pe rils of futu re nuclear war (e.g. Dr Who , 2009 Thunderbi rds , The Jetso ns, Voyage to the Bo ttom of th e spray enamel on board Sea , The Time Tunnel , Batman , Star Trek ). Howev er, al l 141 x 87 cm Priv ate Col lecti on of these productions presented su ch technolo gies as © Luke William Co rnis h/ inhe rently problematic with the dangers of radiation and Lice nsed by Viscop y, contamina tion always im minent and clo se by. A child of 2016 ATOMIC POP MICK BRODER ICK

the Cold War growing up in Australia cou ld be thrilled by ASIO or prejudicing its public image .3 Decla ssi fied Col d chant in unis on with “Sieg heil!”, follo wed immediat ely saboteurs dest roying a centr al Australian nuclear reacto r, War defence and cabinet do cuments now reveal ho w by a booming and protracted nucl ear explosio n. Thi s sending a dea dly plume of ra diation towa rds Melbou rne close Austr alia came to dev eloping its own nuclea r atomic fris son sent shive rs down the spi nes of radi o (Thunderb irds ), or watch a race against time by specia l dete rrent during the pe riod, as well as uncoverin g listeners and TV viewers who watched Mo rris pe rfo rm agents to prevent a te rrorist plot to contaminate a substanti al programs of dome stic su rveillan ce ta rgetin g solo on Uptig ht, accompan ied by di rector Robbie Weekes ’ “clean” nuc lear bomb test in the outback run by th e a broad section of the general com munit y, including ant i- psychedel ic music video montage. Australian milita ry (The Champio ns). nuclear protesters ra llying ac ross the count ry, ongoin g Few domestic dramas appeared regularly on Australia n from the 1950s. 4 1970s comme rcial televisi on until Hector Crawfo rd broke th e Befo re the renaissance of Australian ci nema in th e drought with his long- running Homi cide police se ries . AUST RALIAN TELE VISION EMBR ACED A RANG E mid-1970s an offbeat expl oitation fil m depicted th e Following up this success, Crawfo rd created the Co ld OF NU CLEAR THEMES IN TH IS DEC ADE , FROM consequen ces of an atomic attack on cent ral Melbou rne . War espion age series Hun ter (1967–69 ). Hunter was a THE HISTOR ICAL AND CON TEMPO RAR Y, TO TH E Released in 1970 the low-bu dget film Beyond Rea son domestic spy series film ed ac ross Austral ia at stunnin g SPEC ULATIVE AND FUT URIST IC. depicts a group of psychi atric sta ff and their libidinou s locations including the Gold Coast, Woomera an d mental pati ents trapped inside a hospi tal fallout sh elte r. the Snowy Mou ntains. Hunt er was an extra ordinaril y One-o ff Australian TV drama also conside red nuclea r When they eve ntually esca pe and eme rge into th e ambitious program that challenged the prevailin g themes. Silo 15 (1969), st arring Jack Tho mpson in imp ressively film ed urban holoc aust, the remnant docto rs dominance of impo rted content . an early role, was set at an un disclosed US -Australia n are conside red pat ria rchic opp resso rs and killed by Hunter’s succe ss can perhaps be a ttrib uted to its defence fac ility whe re two missile operators occ upy a the su rvivors, who are left to stumb le fo rwa rd into an self- conscio us rep res ent ations of Australian intelli gence subte rranean ICBM launch compl ex. A nuclear al ert unce rtain new world orde r. op eratives con fron ting external threats or unmaski ng of erupts and the pair argue over orders to prepa re thei r Australian television embraced a range of nuclea r subve rsive dom estic infiltratio n. The se t hemes ena bled rockets for imme diate launch, debating the ir moral an d themes in this decade, from the histori cal an d lo cal telev ision scr ipt writers and directors to rep resent ethical obl igations in the nuclear age. Produced an d contempor ary, to the spec ulative and fu turistic. One mid-t o-late 1 960s Australia as an ev olv ing na tion at a time broadcast at the time of the cont roversial Australian- early Austr alian TV series to be filmed in colour wa s of rad ical s oci o-pol itical and cultur al c hange. American al liance during the War, Silo 15 rai sed Ba rrier Reef (1970–72) for the 0/10 netwo rk. Sho t As an index of Au stralian co ld war develop ment , conce rns about sol diers blindly following orders tha t on the la rge New Endeavo ur yacht, a cor porate crew Hunter’s te levisual gaze traversed a range of nation - could lead to Armageddo n. of scienti fic inv estigators operate a sec ret nuclea r building projects that were imagined ta rgets fo r The same year Russell Mo rris’ acid rock singl e powe red sensi ng apparatus MINUS 5 as contra ctor s espionage and sabotage, such as a ficti onal missil e The Real Thing (1969) topped the cha rts. Written by to gove rnment or pri vate enterpr ise. Several episode s being launc hed from Woomera and the Snowy Mountai n Johnny Young, the song was produced by Ian ‘Molly ’ featu re atomic theme s, including encountering radioactiv e Hyd ro facility destined for nu clear dest ruction by fo reig n Meld rum, inspi red by Beatl esque techni ques to mel d fish and uranium sm ugglers, the crew falling vict im to agents. The Australian Se curity Intel ligence Organisatio n electric di sto rtion with foldb ack and a Hitler Youth son g errant expe rimentation and radiation sickness, and the (ASIO) brie fed Crawfo rd’s team on relevant matte rs an d at the final e. Real Thing reaches its ep ic and distur bin g salvaging of Apollo 13’s disca rded radioiso tope caniste r cooperated in order to avoid the producers emb arrassin g crescendo as an air raid si ren wail s. The Ge rman child ren befo re it could contaminate the Great Ba rrier Reef .

70 In a two-pa rt episode of Spy force (1971–73) Australia n intellige nce agents (pl ayed by Jack Th ompson, Pete r Sumner and Ki tty Wild) are sent to New Guin ea at th e request of the US milita ry to extra ct a paci fist physicia n due to his invo lvement in the Manhattan Project . By the mid-19 70s the ABC com missioned a nu mber of sho rt- run science fiction series, especially for child ren . Alpha Scorp io (1974) feat ured two univers ity student s vacationi ng in coastal Vic toria whe re they encount er extra-te rrestrials assuming hum an identity and securit y agents trying to recover two tonnes of mis sing deuteri um oxide, dive rted from Austral ian atomic ene rgy projects . Two years lat er the ABC Chil dren’s Unit produced Andra (1976), set two millennia into the futu re after a glob al nuclear war has devastated the planet’s surface an d su rvivors live in a subte rranean met ropolis. Graphic arts during the 197 0s frequently ad opte d anti-nucl ear positions in posters st rewn ac ross Australi an cities. The Earthworks Po ster Collect ive drew from Britis h counter cul ture and San Franc isco psyched elia to creat e multiple wo rks that mocked the media and Australia’ s growing contri bution to the gl obal uranium and nuclea r indust ry. Chips Macki nolty’s faux Daily Mi rror billboa rd (1977) , for example, replicates the tabloid newsp aper stan d with an ironic “of fici al” headline suggesting “u raniu m income to fin ance H-bomb shelters”, whereas Coli n Kate Shaw Little’s po st-Th ree Mile Island reactor melt down poste r (Aus trali a, b.19 69) (1979) sati rises the Amer icanisation of local cult ure by Cha rcoal, UK: Ma ralin ga wedging an Au stralia-sh aped beef patty inside a bu rge r 2012 ac rylic and resin on boa rd bun, playfu lly asking “do you want a Nucle ar Australia in 120 x 240 cm a HARRISBUR GER with the lot ?”. Cou rtesy of the artist Similarl y, a broad range of simple but often witty an d © the artist

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amusing Aus tralian anti -nuclear protest badges were which depic ts an American journalist (B arry Sullivan ) ubiquitous in the 1970s and 80s, extolli ng solar ove r investiga ting a la rge, seismic tremor in the ou tback , nuclear pow er, an end to the nucl ear arms race an d suspected to be caused by a nu clear detona tion. Whe n a ban on uranium expo rts. he discovers exto rtionists have hidden anoth er nuclea r device in Syd ney the repo rter races ag ainst time an d 1980s inte rfering ASIO ag ents to help fin d and disa rm the bomb. This decade was undoubted ly the most proli fic Cold War It was the con tinued bo om in Austral ian feature d rama decade for Au stralian ant i-nuclear au diovisual cultu re. that e nabled film mak ers to exp lore n uclear issues Echoing hei ghtened publ ic activism wh ich saw hund red s throughout the d eca de. Prod uced in the i mmediate wake of thousands of Australia ns taking to the streets in of the Three Mile I sland rea ctor melt dow n, Ian Barry’s annual protest ma rches, the strik ing sc reen-pri nt graphic s The Chain R eac tion (198 0) is a rem arkably pr es cie nt of the 1970s were re-ene rgised and flo urished. Re dbac k thril ler. T he film de pic ts a gov ernment-sup ported Graphix and Tinsh eds created compe lling and col ourfu l radio logical was te t reatment facil ity exper ien cing a campaign artwork that ado rned Austral ian capital ci ty “one in ten millio n” c hance “ex cursion” which relea ses cafés, univ ersity and col lege campuse s, municipa l nu cle ar was te, f loo ding into the gi ant Australi an artesian libraries and public spac es. Arresting ima ges by artist s ba sin. The p lot an tic ipates t he l eaking of radio active such as Micha el Callaghan, Pam Debenham and Bo b contaminants into highly sensitive and p rotected Australian Clutterbu ck included po sters that urged “No Mo re en vironmental areas, such as the leaks at t he R ang er Hi roshimas”, a “Nuclear Free and Indepe ndent Paci fic” , ur ani um mine which is adjace nt to the Kakadu Nat ional and to “End Ura nium Mining” . Park Wor ld H eritage s ite. T his uni que wilde rne ss h as Imp ressive so cio-politi cal document aries reache d be en s ubjec ted to o ver 200 env iron men tal breaches since la rge audienc es with theatr ical cinema screenings an d 19 79 i nvolv ing sever al m illion of gal lons of tox ic was te. 5 broadcast on pub lic televisi on. Backs to the Blast (1981 ) In the fi lm’s fi ctional scenario a mul tinationa l and The Sec ret Count ry (1985), for example, respectivel y corporati on conspi res to cover-up the radiolog ica l recounted the effects of the Bri tish nuclear tests on catast rophe, alongs ide its own clan destine medi cal Pam De benha m se rvice person nel and indig enous commun ities. Home on experimen tation, a scen ario that quic kly moved from th e (Aus trali a, b.19 55) the Range (19 82) and Allies (1983) criti qued the sec rec y realm of science fict ion in the 1980s towa rds ce rtaint y No Nuk es No Tests 1984 su rrounding the American mili tary and intelli gence base s once Cold War declassi ficati ons of nuclear accidents , sc reen pr int on paper at No rth West Cape, Pine Gap and Nu rrunga r, operatin g containme nt breaches and sy stemic inte rnational huma n 76 x 51 cm without Aus tralian over sight despite their assum ed radiation experiments were widely repo rted. 6 Cou rtesy of the artist status as pri mary nuclear ta rgets. Com mercial televis ion Nuclear the mes also attra cted tangent ial though of ten © the artist Image cou rtesy of Nati ona l occasiona lly ente rtained na rratives that played on impo rtant treatment. In ’s contempl ativ e Gall ery of Aus trali a, Can berra nuclear fea rs, such as the telemovie, De adline (1982 ), inner city dr ama, Winter of Our Dreams (1981) a

72 despondent sex worker (Ju dy Davis) tu rns her back on in dig ene co smologies a re s hown in a seemin gly prostitution to join with a group of women in so lidarit y irreconci lab le conf lict o ver urani um m ining – white campaigni ng against ura nium mining and nuclea r man’s law and ‘black fe lla’ l aw. In pa rt t he fi lm portrays weapons . Aborigines see king Wes tern l egal rec ognit ion of t heir Only a few years later Duigan retu rned mo re pointedl y cu stodial respons ibi lities on lands threa tened with mine ral to the topic wi th his absu rdist, and deliberately theatrica l ex plo itation. The t rad itional owners warn of di re, ind eed nuclear nig htma re, One Night Stand (1985). The film li ter ally a poc alyptic con seque nces if the drea ming of featu res a qua rtet of adolesc ents trapped inside th e the green ants is d istur bed by t he e xtrac tive indu stries. Sydney Opera House during a northe rn hemisphe re The atomic age impac ts on Aboriginal Aus tralia a re a lso nuclear att ack . ce ntral to M ich ael Pat tinson’s po litic al t hrill er, Ground Ze ro (19 87). Based loosely on the Roy al C ommission IMPR ESSIVE SOCI O-POL ITICAL DOCUM ENTARIE S he arings in to t he B rit ish nu cle ar tes ts, the f ilm de pic ts RE ACHED LARGE AUDIEN CES WI TH THE ATRIC AL fict ional ASIO and British MI5/6 a gen ts tryi ng to ac quire CINE MA SCR EENIN GS AND BROADCAST ON secr et f ilm that s hows n ot only the de aths of ind igenous PUBL IC TEL EVISI ON. pe ople from radia tion expo sure or fall out but po ssibly hu man exper imentation .8 As the teens se ek shelter in side the venue a radi o These films operated in sh arp distinc tion from th e announcer describes how nuclear devic es have st ruc k populism of Paul Hogan and Peter Faiman’s Crocodil e the US instal lations at Nu rrunga r, Pine Gap and No rth Dundee (198 6). In this dome stic and inte rnational box - West Cape, and that a fou rth device hit sou th of th e of fice hit the eponymous hero Mick Dundee cyn icall y Sydne y. The latter refe ren ce presumably refers to th e resea rch nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights .7 The city is Toni Robe rtson bathed in an un canny blood-red glow as the protagonist s (Aus trali a, b.19 53) fl ee unde rground, fi nding te mpora ry refuge at the nearb y The Ro yal Nu clear Show – 6 Ma rtin Place railw ay station, as ominous booms and 1981 tremors from above rumble th rough the subte rranea n sc reen pr int, colour inks on pap er met ro. The film ends with a freeze-frame on the 77 x 51 cm adolescent protagonists as they wait for the anticipate d Dona ted th rough the atomic coup de grace on met ropolitan Sy dne y. Aust ralian Gove rnmen t’s The overarching p lig ht of Indigen ous communit ies Cult ural Gi fts Progra m by Ama nda Ma rtin in late co ld w ar A ustralia was demon strated in several Flin ders Un ivers ity Art film s, inc lud ing Werner H erzo g’s Aus tralian c o-p roduc tion Muse um Coll ectio n Where the Green Ants Dream (198 4). European and 5024 .006

73 ATOMIC POP MICK BRODER ICK

dismisses an American jou rnalist’s qu estioning of his The inte rnational success of Geo rge Miller’s Mad Max policies. The brass y, nasally lyri cs by John Schum ann opinion abo ut the nuclear debate, the arms race an d films spawned doz ens of post-ho locaust mov ies aroun d sa rdonically bem oan the co-opt ing of Austral ians int o indigenous land rights. “None of my busi ness,” he replie s the world. Pu nk aesthetics and the visual detritus of a uranium eco nomy champio ned by conse rvativ e cu rtl y, adding “who’s gonna hear it out here?” befo re imagined po st-holocau st su rvival was th en eve rywhe re politicia ns: authorita tively asse rting that Abor igines “don’t own th e in music vide os, fashion and adve rtising. 9 By the tim e land, they be long to it” . the thi rd featu re Mad Ma x: Beyond Thun derdome (1985 ) I used to be a fa rmer till my she ep all dropped The cultural hang-over from Austral ia’s 1983 Amer ica’ s was released – ex plicitly set after a nuclear war – th e Doug Anthony made me a Nucle ar Co p Cup victo ry was depict ed in Ma rtha Ansara’s The Pursui t pa rched, anted iluvian Aust ralian outba ck had becom e of Happiness (1987), which dramatised the co rrosiv e etched into our post-apoc alyptic, glo bal imagina tion . Melt down, tu rn around, whe re do you hide ? impact on fam ilies pursui ng sho rt-te rm economic profits Subsequen tly, the Austral ian dese rt inspi red a range of Can’t let your child ren play outsid e from the globali sed arms indust ry. Set in , dystopian futurist films shot he re, for example: The Tim e Put your Geig er counter near your ai rtight doo r the film presented a mi ddle-class family that gra duall y Gua rdian (1987), Salute of the Jug ger (1989), Fortress Watch it jig gle and hear it roa r awaken to their domestic absorption into, and dependence (1992) and Tank Girl (1995 ). upon, the tra nsnational milita ry-industrial econom y. A similar dis play of punk se nsibility in formed Ga ry The re’s so much to celebrat e Quiet ly infl ue nced by commun ity activ ists (inc lud ing Keady’s low -budget, glam rock-mus ical, Sons of St eel Living in Aus tralia’s ura nium stat e then West Australian Nucl ear Disarmament S ena tor (1988). The musical comedy featuring a post-holoca ust Parliament House is Leuke mia Lodg e Jo Val len tine) the f ilm portrays the inc reasingly milit ant agent, Black Alice (in an ou tré pe rfo rmance by Ro b And standing at the door is a Nu clear Cop! mother and t eenage d aug hter a dvo cating p eaceful Ha rtley), who is sent back in time to prevent the nuclea r resistance and alt ernatives to the assumed s ecu rity dest ruction of Sy dne y, caused ironically wh en protester s Following the success of Go anna’s Solid Rock (1982) , of not cha lle nging the American nucle ar u mbrel la. accidenta lly collide wi th a visiting nuclear-a rmed vessel . front man Shane Ho ward released Common Ground , from Trans-Tas man con cerns ov er t he t rip artite ANZUS In contrast, post-punk ae sthetics we re nihilis ticall y the LP in late 1984. Howa rd’s folk rock balla d arrange ments were s imilarly evident in the A ustralia - embraced in Ray Bosley’s sa tirical Smo ke ’em if You Go t gently evok es conce rns of nuclear dread, with “The atom New Zealand co -prod uction of Vincent Ward’s a lle gorical ’em (1988) wh ere, instead of fe aring nuclear holocaust , splits … When mush room clouds ha ng ove rhead, we tuc k The Naviga tor: a M edi eval O dys sey (1 988 ). As p lag ue twenty-so mething year old Melbou rnians pa rty inside a our child ren into bed, saying ‘this is what we’ve all be en is abo ut to co nsume Europe a party of 14th century subte rranean she lte r, slowly succ umbing to fatal radiatio n waiting for’ … when nations battles rise and fall, lov e Cumbr ian pi lgr ims mysteriously appear t ran sported into poisoning amid the sex, drugs and rock-n- roll . walks slowly by the Berlin Wall” . la te 2 0th cen tury A uckla nd, where t hey ar e s hocked Slightly le ss proli fic than Australian ci nema in Two years lat er on Paul Kell y’s landmark doubl e by the both monstrou s, Lev iat han-like appear ance of reflec ting nuclear themes during the 1980s was po pula r LP Gossip (19 86), the singe r-songwrit er draws from a n ucl ear sub marine in the h arbour and grim reaper song. The in fluen tial, leftist bush/ rock band Re dgu m testimony by two central Ab original vi ctims both phy sicall y telev isual imagery of the AIDS e pid emic. The f ilm pe rfo rmed Nuclear Cop on their al bum Vi rgin Ground and emotion ally traumat ised by the Bri tish nuclea r po etically rai ses the narrative p arallels between the (1980). The song belittled the complac ent, politic al tests. In Mar alinga (Rainy Land) , Kell y’s acoustic guita r da rk a ges and end of t he mil len nium c onc erns with acceptance of uranium min ing and the des truction of the mou rnfully accomp anies lyrics that attest to the cognitiv e ap oca lypse. envi ronment un der conse rvative coali tion gove rnmen t dissonance experienced by these Abori ginal witne sses:

74 Toni Robe rtson (Aus trali a, b.19 53) The Ro yal Nu clear Show – 3 1981 sc reen pr int on paper 77 x 51 cm Flin ders Un ivers ity Art Muse um Coll ectio n Image cou rtesy of Nati ona l Gall ery of Aus trali a, Can berra ATOMIC POP MICK BRODER ICK

My name is Yami Lester systems, and Australia’s enmeshment in hostin g I hea r, I talk, I tou ch but I am blind American co mmand, cont rol, commun ication an d My sto ry comes from darkness intellige nce bases . Listen to my st ory now unwind Th eir landm ark album 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 This is a rainy land (1 982) – or simply 10 to 1 as it bec ame po pul arly First we hea rd two big bangs kn own – promulga ted lyrics a bout n ucl ear war, t he B ritish We thought it was the Great Snake digg ing holes nu cle ar tes ts, the atom bombings of Jap an, the arms Then we saw the big cloud race a nd f or eign bases on A ustrali an s oil in s ongs s uch Then the big, black mist beg an to roll as Sho rt M emory, Read A bout It, US Force s, Power and […] the Passion and Maral inga. The band’s offici al m usic A strangene ss on our skin vi deos were inv ent ive, e ntertaining and oft en c harged w ith A so reness in our eyes like weepi ng fire nu cle ar cul ture reference s, s uch as t he rap id m ontage A pox upon our sk in of alm ost sub liminal imagery, s ilently sho wing a tom ic A boulder on our backs all our lives weapo ns exp los ions, nuc lear s ubm arines, ICBMs a nd […] bl ast radii in t he v ideo cl ip f or . My name is Edie Millipuddie Wri tten and reco rded in Tokyo, the follo w-up album , They captu red me and roughly washed me down Red Sails In The Sunset (198 4), maintain ed th e Then my child stopped kicki ng discursive and thematic conce rn with global nu clearism . Then they took away my oId man to town Key tracks su ch as Minutes to Midnight , Be st of Bot h © 1984 MIDNI GHT OI L They said ‘Do you speak Engl ish?’ Worlds and Ha rrisbu rg continued to lyrically ev oke th e He said ‘I know that Jesus lov es me I know lunacy of Mut ual Assu red Dest ruction (MA D) and th e RED SAILS IN THE SUNSET (198 4), MAIN TAINE D Because the bible tells me so’ dangers of ci vilian nucle ar ene rgy. THE DISCUR SIVE AND THE MATIC CONCE RN WIT H This is a rainy land The band comm issioned a Jap anese monta ge artist , GLOB AL NUC LEARI SM. Tsunehisa Kimu ra, to create the al bum design – one of Without doubt the most visib le (and audibl e!) presenc e the most arresting pop cu ltu re images of the decade . implausib ly rende red on an album cover that sold ove r in Aus trali an a tomic pop ular c ult ure d omina ting the 1 980s The LP’s cover renders Sydney Harbour empty and devoi d a qua rter million co pies . was the h igh ly kinet ic a nd p oli ticised rock b and Midni ght of wate r. The no rthe rn entrance to the Harbour Bridge is The followi ng year Midnig ht Oil released the EP, Oil. F rom the la te 1 970s a nd i nto the new mil lennium dest royed and two massive impa ct craters replace th e Species Dec eases (1985), which remained at numbe r ‘t he O ils’ c ons isten tly strove to rai se the consciousn ess wate rfront. A pa rt-subme rged, giant red orb of plasm a one on the Aust ralian cha rts for six weeks. Three of th e of audiences on issues of en vironmentalism, the colonia l engulfs Ci rcular Qua y, recalling atmospheric bubble s four songs ra ised anti-nu clear conce rns and the fou rth , disposses sion of Aborig ines, agricu ltural and mi nera l evident at the point of the rmonuclear ignition, cap tured He rcules , named after the Aus tralian air fo rce troo p exploitat ion, the dange rs of via the in ultra-sl ow motion by Ato mic Ene rgy Commissio n ca rrie r. It alludes to milita ry power and presence in th e uranium fuel cycle and its legac y, nuclear we apon s films. It is a nightm are snapshot, de fying physics and Paci fic, especially the nuclear test ing th roughout the Col d

76 War, which was co ntinuing in the mid-1980s by French , The 1990s and beyond FOOT NOTES

American and British gove rnments. Blo ssom and Blood Australian pop cultu re’s conce rns with ato mic themes di d 1 ‘Nuclear-ism’ is a te rm deployed by psychologist Robe rt Lifton to conju res the tragedy of war, Japan’s impe rialism and the not end with the fall of the Ber lin Wall in 1989 and th e describe a range of con fl icting pathologies, collective and individual, impo rtance of memo ry as a means to conf ront milita rism , dissoluti on of the Soviet Union, events that signall ed th e such as si lenc e, de nial, numb ing and wo rship or de ificatio n, especially in calling for the testimony of hibakusha to be end of the long Cold War. Nume rous cultural artefact s to ex plain cul tural resp onses to living in the nuc lear age. Lif ton, Robe rt Jay and Fa lk, Richa rd. Indef ensi ble Weap ons : prese rved . continue to rep resent con cerns over nuc lear weapons , The Polit ical and Psych olog ical Case Again st Nu clea rism , On the Oils’s next album, Di esel and Dust (1 987) , uranium min ing, proposed tox ic waste dumps and th e New York, Basic Boo ks 19 82 the hushed, haunting track impact of Bri tish atomic te sts, Austra lian social me dia 2 My th anks to hi stor ian and Aus tral ian comic blog ger Ke vin Patri ck. raised the sp ect re of visiting nuclear powered ship s memes, indi genous hip-h op, public pe rfo rmance an d For detai ls of Capt ain Atom . and submari nes, laden with MIRVed SLBMs capabl e visual arts contin ue to conf ront us with the cat ast rophi c http://comicsdownunde r.blogspot.com.au/sea rch?q=captain+atom of devastat ing an enti re continent, stealthily enterin g histo ry and futu re th reats of the nucl ear age. Wheth er 3 Bla xlan d, Joh n. The Protest Years: The Offic ial Histo ry of AS IO 196 3–75 , Sydn ey, Al len & Unwin 2015, p.7 0 Australian ports. The song challenges the assumpti on casting our eyes back to the colonial disp ossession , 4 One examp le of the copio us ASIO su rveil lance foo tage of that nation al and inte rnational freedom can be prese rve d contempla ting politic ians and lobby ists despera te to ant i-nu clea r/pe ace de mons trat ions can be found from the SB S by Australia hosting these undecla red genocidal weapo n reanimate a mor ibund nuclear indust ry, or looking to TV se ries Pers ons of Inte rest (201 4). visits, as the lyrics intone image ry of annihilati ng blac k the long future of containment and rehabilita tion of ou r htt p:// www.sma rtstreet fi lms .com .au/ pers ons- of-i nterest/ fi lm - rain and nucl ear winte r. inherited radioactive legacies, Aus tralian popu lar cultu re gal lery/1 76-a lde rmas ton- march- bris bane -eas ter- 1964 -len gth- 1-50 During the de cade Midnight Oil also coll ectivel y will embrace new modes and new fo rms of exp ression. 5 Mud d, Gav in. Range r’s toxic spill high ligh ts the per ils of sel f-regu lati on, Au stra lian Mini ng, 16 Dece mber 2013 . organised and perfo rmed multiple bene fit conc erts , htt p:// www.aus tral ianm inin g.co m.au /fea tures/ rang ers- toxi c-sp ill- pa rticularly for anti-nuclear causes such as Stop th e hig hlig hts- the- peri ls-o f-se lf- reg ulat ion Drop in 1983, and en vironmental groups. Lead singe r 6 On po pular cul ture’s antic ipat ion of int ernat ional human rad iati on Peter Ga rrett stood for the Australia Senate in 198 4 exp erim ents. Broder ick, Mick. Nucl ear friss on: Cold War Cinem a as a member of the Nuclear Disa rmament Pa rty bu t and Human Radi ation Exp erim ents . Film /Lit erat ure Qua rterl y, Vol. 27, No.3 (1 999): 196 -201 was defeated due to the Labor gove rnment di rectin g Dr Mick Broderick is Asso ciate Professor of Medi a prefe rences to the conse rvative op position away from Analysis in the School of Arts at Mu rdoch Univers ity. 7 This sequ ence runs from 51 :32 – 51:52 mins and can be vi ewe d at – https ://w ww.y outu be.c om/w atch ?v=s WNNE UdRJ Ew Ga rrett. The Oils also donated many of the proceed s Broderick’s ma jor publicat ions include Reconst ructin g 8 The film’s concl uding seq uence 03:33 – 05 :01 mi ns can be of albums and EPs to social ju stice groups figh tin g Strangelo ve and editions of the refe rence work Nucle ar vie wed at – htt p:// vime o.co m/10 5533 967 to prese rve wilde rness and halt ur anium mining and Movies and, as edito r, Hibakusha Cin ema , Inte rrogatin g 9 Broder ick, Mick. Su rvivi ng Armage ddon: Bey ond the Ima gina tion of establish ed a charitable foundation to suppo rt othe r Trauma and Trauma, Media, Art: New Persp ectives . Dis aste r, Sci ence Fict ion Studi es, No.61, Vol.2 0, No vemb er 19 93. causes. Hen ce, the band created a uniq ue and sustain ed His curated exhibitions of Cold War material cultu re htt p:// www.dep auw.ed u/sf s/ba ckis sues /61/ brode rick 61a rt. htm presence with in Australian popular and po litical cult ure, artefacts, Half Lives (20 04–05), Ato micalia (200 9–14 ) deploying their str ident lyri cs, driving music and ene rgise d and Nuke York, New York (2011–14) have been inst alle d public pe rfo rmances to ra ise social con sciousnes s at museums and galleries in Australia, Japan, Canad a th roughout the late Cold War period and beyond . and the US.

77 Regi nald Ro wed (Australia, b.1916, d.1990) Rebu ilding Hiroshim a 1946 wate rcolour on pap er 51 x 66 cm © Aus trali an War Me moria l AWM2 6220

78 AN ALA RMING WIL LIN GNE SS TO DO HARM DR TILMAN RU FF AM

When the first British nuc lear weapon was explode d often inade quately recognised or downplayed. Howeve r custodians of the land from which the ura nium is mine d at Maralinga on 27 September 1956, I was a tod dle r, this does not make the people and families affected an y are deeply dist ressed by th is consequen ce of mining on 18 mon ths old, livi ng in a S outh Australian Hou sing Trust less real, or less dese rving of effo rts to prevent su fferin g their land th at proceeded desp ite their oppo sition . home in the sou the rn suburbs of Adel aide. Over th e and prematu re deat h. In Australia and around the worl d Australia is the only member count ry of a nuclea r next 13 month s, four of the se ven nuclear ex plosion s the re are millions of stories simi lar to mine. weapons free zone, the South Paci fic Nuclear Free at Maralinga sent fallout over Adelaid e. The highes t This essay fo cuses on the nu clear weapons test s Zone, which at the same time claims protection by contamina tion in Adelai de was reco rded after the Kite conducted in Australia; their global context; their healt h nuclear wea pons owned by an other state. Australia n explosion on 11 October 195 6, and after the Taranak i and envi ronmental imp acts; the ongo ing needs of wor ker s facilities and personnel contribute to possible use of explosion on 9 October 1957. The la tter was alm ost twic e and affected commu nities for jus tice: recogniti on, ca re, US nuclear we apons. The ups hot is that the Australia n as powe rful as the bomb which dest royed Hi roshima; the monitoring and compensa tion; and for envi ronmenta l gove rnment active ly opposes a treaty to ban nu clea r Australian Radiation La borato ry estimated th at it cause d clean-up, management and monitoring of test sites. weapons. Th is stands in con trast to Aust ralia’s supp ort the highest level of popula tion radiat ion exposu re of an y for all the oth er treaties that proh ibit and provide for the of the British nuclear tests in Australia . In it up to our ey eballs – nucle ar-enmeshed Australi a eliminati on of other types of indiscri minate and inh uman e At the age of 34, in the absence of any identi fied ris k While Austr alia does not po ssess nucle ar weapon s weapons – bio logical and ch emical weap ons, landmin es factors, I de veloped an aggressive cance r, requirin g or nuclear po wer reactors, the nuclear hist ory an d and cluster munitions – all of them far less dest ructiv e extensive surge ry. Did my exposu re to radioa ctive fallou t enmeshment of our count ry run deep. Mining of radiu m than nuclear weapons. from nuclear bomb tests as a young child have some thin g and uranium commenced in So uth Austral ia about 1906 . to do with my can cer? Fallout from the Brit ish test s Australia is the only nation without nucl ear weapons to Nuclear test explosions – what for? sp read over the whole of the cont inent. Young childre n have mined ur anium for production of nu clear weapons by Between 1945 and 2016, 2056 nuclear expl osion s are 3 to 4 times mo re sensitive to the cancer- causin g another sta te (the UK), whi ch we re then explo ded on it s have been und ertaken glob all y, almost all of the m effects of io nising radia tion than adul ts. Medical x- ray s own te rrito ry. Expo rts of Austr alian uranium to nuclear- for the purpo se of developi ng new nuclear weapon s we re my only other notable expo sure. armed states (Chi na, France, Russia, UK, US and in th e – making them more dest ructive, mo re compact and The re is genera lly no way to dist inguish a canc er futu re possib ly India) cont ribute to the production of mo re delivera ble. By contri buting to nucl ear weapon s caused by rad iation from one caused by sm oking or materials (plutonium and highly enric hed uranium) whic h developme nt, nuclear te sts have fuell ed the existe ntia l chemical ex posu res or other factors, and mo st cancer s can be used to ma ke nuclear bo mbs. Radioac tive wast e danger of nuc lear war – iden tifi ed by the World Healt h have a number of interacting causes. Radi ation is poses intra ctable chall enges to be kept safe and isola ted Organisation as the greatest imm ediate th reat to huma n insidious for a number of reasons. It ca n’t be seen or fe lt from the envi ronment and pop ulations for geologica l health and we lfa re. or smelt or tas ted. Except for acute radia tion sicknes s timeframe s. Despite the conclusion of the Comp rehensive Tes t occu rring follow ing high doses, you can’t feel it doing yo u Australian uranium is the source of much of th e Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, which wo uld prohibit nucl ear ha rm. Long-te rm genetic dam age and cancer typicall y radioacti ve fallout con taminating Japan and the Pa cific explosions eve rywhe re, the treaty has not yet ente red manifest ye ars, often dec ades, late r. So many rad iatio n Ocean from the 2011 Fukus hima nuclear disaste r, stil l into fo rce. Since 1998, North Ko rea has been the on ly victims can not be persona lly identi fied. They melt into th e displacing over 170,000 people, and co ntinuing to le ak state to cont inue explosi ve nuclear te sts. crowd. These fac tors mean that effects of radi ation are from the damaged reactors. Many of the trad itiona l Nucle ar test explos ions have been co ndu cted in the

79 AN AL ARMING WIL LINGN ESS TO DO HA RM DR TILMAN RUFF AM

at mos phere, on t he E arth’s s urface, u nde rground, in the name of en hancing the ir national se curity ; un derwater, a nd in space. All nu clear exp losio ns h ave they have been even mo re willing to ha rm others : simil ar phy sic al and bio logic al e ffects. For practical Soviet nucl ear tests we re conducted in Kazakhstan and in pu rpo ses, it is us eful to div ide them i nto two categor ies: the remote Arctic archipelago of Novaya Zem lya, home to at mos pheric, surfa ce, space and und erwater tests, the minority Nenetz peopl e; most US nucl ear tests we re us ual ly termed ‘a tmospheric’ be cause they release conducted in the in the central Paci fic radio active f all out direc tly into t he a ir a nd w ater; and or in land of the Weste rn Shoshone people in Nevad a; un derground tes ts, where ra dio activ ity is m ostly retained Chinese nuc lear tests we re conduct ed at Lop Nu r, hom e un derground, w ith lon g-t erm r isks of lea kage a nd to the Uygur mi nority; the UK unde rtook its nucle ar groundwater contaminat ion. H owever, a ll u nde rground tests in Aust ralia, in the dese rt lands of the Anang u tests have l eak ed r adi oactive tritium i nto the atmosphere, Pitjantja tjara and Mara linga Tja rutja people; and its la rge r and some ven ted ex plo sively. The British nuc lear t ests in the rmonuclear (hyd rogen bomb) te st explosions were Australia w ere all atmospher ic. Many w ere ‘ grou ndbursts’, conducted in its then Paci fic te rrito ry of the Brit ish Gilbe rt meani ng the f ireb all touch ed the grou nd, sucki ng up soil and Ellice Is lands Colony (Malden and Ch ristmas Isla nd) ; and debris, in crea sing t he r adioa ctive fal lou t. France used its then colony Algeria, unt il fo rced by a Eve ry phase of nu clear weapons productio n, rising inde pendence st ruggle to relocate to its colony of developme nt and deploym ent beginning with mining of French Polyne sia (Mo ruroa and Fangata ufa), the home of uranium, in volves health and envi ronmental haza rds . the Maohi peo ple . Nuclear tes ts have caused the la rgest human release s Attitudes of those conduc ting the test explosions of ten of radioact ivit y, leaving a legacy of ongoi ng envi ronmenta l di ffe rentiated betw een “civilis ed” and “primi tive” people , and health ha rm. as shown by a Bri tish repo rt on radiation levels on The peoples of the Paci fic region have been caugh t Christmas Island: “the le vels recommend ed by the ICR P up in the nucle ar age from its begin nings, as gene rall y (Inte rnational Co mmission on Radiological Protectio n) without the ir knowledge or consent, th eir lands an d would neces sarily be exce eded … (by about 15 times , seas have been used for the de velopment, testing an d however) on ly a ve ry slight hea lth haza rd to people wo uld EXTE NT OF PL UTONI UM CON TAMIN ATION deployment of nuclear wea pons by dista nt powers – arise, and th at only to prim itive people .”1 3 Numb ers ide ntify measurement areas France, UK and US. This has im pacted their health, thei r Australian personnel wo rking on the Br itish nuclea r Plume conto urs (A m241 1 kBq/ m2) homelands, and their future. All nuclear te st program s tests in Aust ralia, and Fij ian and New Zea land personn el Plu me bound ari es are ba sed on th is and prev ious ARL we re claimed at the time to have no signi ficant advers e (in the Paci fic) pe rfo rmed mo re haza rdous duties wit h stu dies and are in dic ative on ly. health and en vironmental con sequences . less traini ng, protection and radiation mo nitoring tha n Plume conto urs (A m241 0. 1 kBq/m 2) Frequently th ey we re imposed on rural, minor ity, their Briti sh counterpa rts. Yet no nation has extende d Inf erred di rect ions of the ma jor plum es are ba sed on th e present mea sureme nts, and are indi cat ive only. disenfran chised and col onised peopl es. Gove rnment s compensat ion for exposure to its nuclear te sts beyon d So urce: MA RTAC 200 2 have been ready to accept harm to their own pop ulation s its own citiz ens.

80 Yvonne Ed wards (Pit jantj atjar a, b.19 50, d.20 12) Mara linga 2009 ac rylic on canva s 30 x 40 cm Produ ced for Maral inga , The An angu Story by Yala ta and Oak Valle y Comm uniti es wit h Chri stobel Matti ngle y, first publ ished by Allen & Unwin in 200 9 © Mara linga Tja rutja Inc . rep resen ting the Oak Vall ey and Yalat a Comm uniti es, 200 9

81 AN AL ARMING WIL LINGN ESS TO DO HA RM DR TILMAN RUFF AM

Radiation health effects: the more we kno w radiation dose. Standa rds for radiati on protection hav e estimated risks for leuka emia 4 and cancer 5, even at the worse it lo oks historica lly always been tightened ov er time, neve r doses well wi thin recommend ed occupatio nal limits . A nuclear exp losion produces an initi al burst of neut ron s slackened. The long-te rm follow-up studies of Hi roshim a Women are about 50% mo re likely to develop cance r and gamma rad iation in the first minute; induc ing and Nagasaki hibakusha (n uclear bomb ing su rvivors ) and about 40% more likely to die of cancer than me n transient radioactivi ty in the ground and ot her material s, have provided the bulk of histor ic data on which radiatio n following the same radiat ion exposu re; girls exp ose d and creating ra dioactive ca rbon-14 from nit rogen in health risks have been esti mated, and recommende d under the age of 5 are 86% mo re likely to develop cance r the ai r. Ongoing gamma, beta and alpha emission s exposu re limits for workers and the public have been set. than boys . occur from hund reds of diffe rent radio active isoto pes These have been shown to have multiple flaws which lead Child ren are subst antially mo re se nsitive to rad iatio n produced, with half-lives va rying from a fraction of a to unde restimation of radiation risk. Powe rful new studies damage than adults – exposures in infancy are 3.7 to second to many millions of years. The long persistenc e have p rovided estimates more accurate and demonstr atin g 4.5 times mo re likely to lead to cancer th an the sam e of a number of im portant radi oisotopes, the impossib ilit y greater risk th an previously est imated. For example, a exposu re at age 30.6 The ri sk of breast or thy roid ca nce r of recovering much of those dis persed, and the potentia l greater than do ubling of leuk emia risk has be en identi fied from ingesting strontium-90 or io dine-131 respec tivel y, for leakage and dispersal from test sit es, includin g for child ren living wi thin 5km of a no rmally operat ing over a girl’s fi rst fi ve years is greater than she wil l unde rground ones, means that hea lth risks will continu e nuclear pow er plant. 2 accumulate over her enti re adult lif e. Hence the hig h for futu re gene rations ac ross hu ndreds of thousan ds A la rge Austral ian study of can cer risk after CT scan s priority to protect foe tuses and young child ren, and girl s of years. Rad ioactive fal lout is not eve n, and was ofte n (a special ki nd of diagnost ic x-ray) in yo ung people , and women, from avoidab le radiation exposu re. inadequat ely monito red, with fai lure to identify ‘hotspots’ , involving more than 10 times the number of peop le For Indigen ous people such as Paci fic islanders an d whe re radioac tivity could be hund reds to many thousand s exposed and 4 times the total radiation do se than th e in close physi cal contact with a of times high er than average levels. Japanese su rvivor da ta for low doses, has demonstr ate d natural env ironment contam inated by nucl ear testing , Because it de livers ene rgy in la rge packets whi ch a 24% inc rease in cancer in the decade fol lowing on e tradition al lifestyles and food sou rces are associa ted can alter the structu re of atoms, ion ising radiat ion ha s CT scan deliv ering an avera ge effective dose of only 4. 5 with inc reased radia tion exposu res. This adds furthe r a high propensity to damage la rge complex molecules , millisiev ert (mS v, less than 2 years average backg roun d layers of jeo pardy, disposs ession and pressu res on like DNA, whi ch la rgely de fin e us, and are both our mos t radiation ), and 16% greater for each additional sc an. 3 cultural we ll-being on top of the discri mination of precious inhe ritance and le gacy for futu re generat ions . Cancers occ urred as early as two years after ex posu re. Indigenous people being disp ropo rtionately put in A dose of radia tion lethal to a human being can contai n While new can cers will cont inue to occur through the li fe ha rm’s way by nucl ear testing. no mo re ene rgy than the heat in a sip of hot co ffee . of exposed in dividuals, the risk for leu kemia related to CT Acute radia tion sickness occurs only after high radi atio n radiation was similar to th at described among hibaku sha Global heal th impacts of nu clear tests doses; howe ver at any dose, radiation ca uses geneti c over several decades, and the risk of solid cancer for a Even though the la rgest radia tion doses ass ociate d mutations and inc reases the risk of most canc ers an d given dose of radiation over the fir st decade in the mo re with above- ground nuclear te st explosions are bo rne by a variety of ch ronic dise ases, such as ca rdiovascul ar powe rful CT study was estimated to be 3.5 to 9 time s people livi ng within hundreds of kilomete rs downwind , and respirato ry disease . higher than in the hibakus ha studies . the la rgest collecti ve radiation exposu re is bo rne The mo re we lea rn about the health effects of ioni sin g New studies of hund reds of thou sands of nucle ar globally by the whole human population – much smalle r radiation, the greater the effects evident for a give n indust ry workers dem onstrate greater than previousl y exposu res but to vast nu mbers of peopl e. In 1991 ,

82 a commission established by Inte rnational Ph ysicians fo r the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) and the Institut e for Envi ronmental and Energy Resea rch (IEER) use d the United Na tions Scient ific Committee on the Effect s of Atomic Rad iation (UNSC EAR) estimat es of globa l population radiation ex posu res from atmosph eric nuclea r tests, and the then cu rrent radiation risk estimat es, to estimate gl obal cancer de aths from the test fa llout. 7 Th e study concl uded that 430, 000 addition al cancer dea ths world-wide could be expec ted by the year 2000, and th e total excess cancer deaths over time we re estimated to reach 2.4 milli on. In light of hi gher and mo re accurat e recent radiat ion risk estim ates, it is like ly that the true long-te rm toll of nucle ar test explos ions is greate r. Fu rthe r, a comparable additional number of non-f ata l cancer cases can be expecte d. These esti mates take no account of pa st or futu re leakage of rad ioisotopes into the biosphe re from un derground nuclear test sites . While these are la rge numbers of ca ncer cases an d deaths, they will not gener ally be disce rnible becaus e cancer is ve ry common, these cases will occur ove r an extended period of time, be widely disp ersed, an d radiation -induced can cers have no spe cific signatu re. Most people who su ffer these cance rs will not be identi fia ble. This does howeve r, diminish the need fo r accountab ility and feas ible preventive and remedia l public heal th action . Warren ‘E bay’ Paul British nuc lear tests in Au stralia (Pit jantj atjar a, b.19 70) Between 1952 and 1957, the UK unde rtook 12 nuclea r Toxic Austra lia 201 5 ac rylic, clay and metal test explos ions in Austra lia – th ree at the Mon te Bell o 10 x 50 x 40 cm and 1 x 6 x 7 cm Islands in Weste rn Australia; two at Emu Field, and seve n Cou rtesy of the artist at Maraling a, South Austr alia, up to 60kt in size – fou r © the artist

83 Trevor Nicko lls (Nga rrindj eri, b. 1943, d.201 2) Reve nge of the Sto rmboy 2010 ac rylic on canva s 142 x 151 cm Priv ate Col lecti on © Trevor Ni ckoll s/Lic ense d by Vis cop y, 201 6

84 AN AL ARMING WIL LINGN ESS TO DO HA RM DR TILMAN RUFF AM

times the exp losive yield of the bomb that dest roye d up to 100km awa y; 101kg of be ryllium; and 8083kg of the tests. Ab original peo ple we re within and lived in Hi roshima. 8 In addition, about 600 “mi nor trials” we re powde red uran ium. Most haza rdous were the final serie s prohibited zon es during and for up to six years af ter conducted at Emu and Marali nga. These in volve d of Vixen B trials at Taranaki in 1960, 1961 and 1963 tests; responsible officials demonst rated “ignor ance , predominantly chemical rat her than nucl ear explosio ns, which dispe rsed 22kg of plu tonium using high explosi ves . incompete nce and cynici sm”; failed to consider “th eir and tested nu clear weapons components; dispersal of Only 900g of pl utonium we re repatriated to Britain. special vul nerability to radioactive fallout”; and decade s radioacti ve material; and the effects of impac ts, fire an d of denial of ac cess to tradi tional lands as a result of other accid ents on nuclear weapons. AU STRAL IAN PR IME MI NISTER ROBE RT MENZ IES the British nuclear test program “con tributed to th eir Australian Prime Min ister Rob ert M enzies immedi ately IM MEDIATE LY AGR EED TO A BR ITI SH REQUES T emotional, social and mat erial dist ress and depr ivation” . ag reed to a British request to host nuclear test explosions, TO HOST NUCLEAR TEST EXPLO SIONS , WI THOUT Although the vast majority of the Austra lian populat ion witho ut con sul ting e ven Cabin et c ollea gue s, ann oun cing: CO NSULTI NG EVEN CABI NET CO LLE AGU ES. we re exposed to relatively small radiat ion doses by “It [an atomic weapon test] will be conducted in conditions the tests, as noted above the exposu re of millions of which will e nsure t hat the re w ill be no danger whatever Those at high est radiation exposu re risk we re loca l people can result in sig nific ant health effects. The Roy al from radio activity to the hea lth of t he peo ple or a nim als Aboriginal people and pas toralists, who we re no t Commission was unable to qu antify these risks, but wa s in the Com mon wealth.” His Minis ter of Supply H oward systemati cally evacua ted or even info rmed; and ov er clear that: “By reason of the det onation of the majo r Beale claim ed: “Engl and has the bomb a nd t he k now how; 16,000 work ers di rectly exp osed to the test s. Warnin g trials and the deposition of fallout ac ross Austral ia, it is we have the open spaces, much technical skill and g reat signs in Engl ish we re usually incomp rehensib le to th e probable that ca ncers which wo uld not othe rwise hav e willi ngness to help the Mothe rla nd.” A high l evel of Aborigine s. Some we re cove red by local fallout. Th e occu rred have been caus ed in the Austr alian popula tion.” secr ecy, obf uscation, d enial and lies a cco mpani ed t he ‘Black Mist’ radioactive fallout cloud from the Totem 1 testing prog ram. It was n ot u ntil a Royal Com mission into test on 15 Octo ber 1953 at Emu contaminated peopl e Not so ‘minor trials’: clea ning-up or re-distr ibuting? the nuclear tests was estab lis hed in 1984 that m uch of living in the community of Wallatinna – who hea rd th e The ‘minor tr ials’ we re not minor in the ir consequen ces , what o ccurred ca me to li ght . explosion – and nearby past oral area of Welbou rn but responsib le for the bulk of persistent co ntaminatio n. The major tes ts produced va rying fallout patte rns Hill. At Wallatin na widesp read vomiting and dia rr hea , No Australi an was present at any of the firing s, and th e which conta minated the wh ole Australi an continen t, headache, skin and eye irritation consistent with acut e Royal Commi ssion descri bed “persist ent deception an d including Adelaide, Mel bou rne, Hoba rt, Canbe rra , radiation sickness ve ry likely sig nifie d that radiat ion paranoid se crecy”, with “Br itish author ities embark ed on Sydne y, and Darwin. The Royal Commissio n exposu res (un measu red) we re high . a course of det ermined conceal ment of info rmation from found that the Australian Atomic Weapons Tests Safet y In May 1957 the Milpuddie fa mil y, as mentione d the Austral ian Gove rnment” . Committee failed in many of its tasks, and “at times it earlier in th is publicati on, we re found on the edge of th e A hasty Briti sh clean-up in 1967 (Operat ion Brumby ) was deceitf ul and allowed unsafe fi ring to occ ur”. Of fi cia l crater created by the Ma rcoo explo sion (a groundbur st) involved pl oughing and di sc-ha rrowing plu tonium- fallout mea surements we re incomplete and conceale d seven months earlie r. The Royal Com mission note d: contamina ted areas, and sha llow burial (u nder onl y from the public and in many cases the gove rnment as “The affairs of a hand ful of natives counted littl e 75mm of clean soil) of mater ial from 180 hecta res of well. The over 600 “minor tr ials” disper sed 24.4kg of compa red to the inte rests of the Br itish Common wealt h heavily con taminated la nd, which was then decla red plutonium with an estimat ed 50,000 fra gments in an of Nations.” The fin al Repo rt was scath ing about th e “radiolog ically safe”. It led to a 1968 ag reement be twee n 18km major pl ume, with soil contaminat ion reco rde d appalling treatment of Indi genous Austr alians durin g the British and Australian gove rnments releasing Britai n

85 AN AL ARMING WIL LINGN ESS TO DO HA RM DR TILMAN RUFF AM

from liability for any futu re clai ms related to its nuc lea r materials. The cost estim ates for the la tter ranged up of 250 mSv by a ge 5 0, rou ghly tran sla ting to a 1 -in -80 tests. Howe ver, a 1984 study by the Australian Radiatio n to A$653 mill ion (1988 doll ars). In 1993, the Britis h risk of fa tal cancer across a pop ula tion. As d iscus sed Laborato ry demonstr ated far mo re extensive and seve re gove rnment ag reed to contrib ute 20 million pound s ab ove, the b est av ail able c urrent e vid ence i ndi cates a contamina tion than had prev iously been revea led, provin g ex-gratia (then about A$45 million), in six annua l ca ncer risk per mSv hi gher t han thi s. E ven the current invalid the info rmation and ha zard assessm ent on whic h instalmen ts, effective ly a repudiation of their contin uin g ICRP rec ommendat ion is t hat for lon g-term res ide nce the ag reement was base d. obligatio ns rega rding the toxic le gacy for which they are in con tamin ated area s, r adi ation dos es sho uld be kept The conclus ions of the Royal Commission rega rdin g responsible. An inte rmediate op tion was chose n, wit h be low 1mSv p er y ear. It is the refore mo re ap prop ria te the ‘minor tr ials’ includ e: a budget of A$1 08 million, involving bur ial of the mos t that t he b oun dary m arkers pl aced a round the Tar ana ki 154. In view of the known long half-life of pl utoniu m contamina ted retrievable material und er at least 5m of pl utonium p lum es enc lose 412k m2, c orrespo ndi ng with (24,000 yea rs), the Vixen se ries of minor tr ials shoul d clean soil, and placing wa rning fences (in the end onl y an estimated extra d ose for permane nt res ide nce on t he never have be en conducted at Maralinga. markers we re us ed) around areas within which it wa s bo und ary of about 1mSv/year. 163. The treatment of the plutonium- contaminat ed estimated that Aborigin al people could receive additi ona l Engin eer Alan P arkin son was app ointed in 1994 to areas during Op eration Brumby was inadeq uate, base d radiation doses of 5mSv/yr or mo re. ov ersee the cle an-up pr ojec t, u ntil he was remov ed f or on the wrong assum ptions, and le ft the area in a mo re qu estioning t he p roj ect’s man agement. In ext ens ive pu blic dif ficult state for any proper futu re cleanup . LESS THAN 2% OF AR EAS CO NTAMI NATED AT mater ial in clu ding h is b ook, P arkinson has doc umented 169. The Mara linga Range is not acceptab le in it s THE TARANA KI ‘MI NOR TR IALS’ SITE MEET TH E shortcoming s, f ailures, a nd p oor man agement of t he present condi tion and must be cleaned up. CLEA N-UP CLEARA NCE CR ITERI A. ch all enging p rojec t; a nd a num ber of h is con cerns have The Commiss ion recommended that “Action shoul d be en e choed by o ther kn owled gea ble scien tists. He poin ts be commenced immediately to effect the cl ean-up of The basis f or t his criterion w as that the an nual risk of out for e xam ple that a July 2 001 go vernm ent pa per on Maralinga and Emu … so that th ey are fit for unrestricte d fa tal cancer throu gh e xposure to contam ina ted mater ial safe s torage of radio active w aste states that lon g-liv ed habitation by the traditi onal Aborigi nal owners as soon should not e xceed one in 10 ,000 by age 50, estimated radio active w aste, w het her co nsidered low or i ntermediate as practica ble”, and that “All costs of any futu re clean- to be a ssocia ted with a dditional expo sure of 5mSv/ le vel, is not suitable for nea r-surface dis posal (le ss than ups at Marali nga, Emu and Mo nte Bello Isla nds shoul d ye ar, c ove ring 1 20k m2. Not only d oes this c riter ia n ot 30m deep). He a rgu es that the p rocess of soli dif ying be bo rne by the Gove rnment” as th e withs tand t he t est of t ime, it is more f und amental ly the major p lut onium -co ntamina ted sites through intense previous clea n-up in 1968 was clearly inade quate an d fr aug ht. It is based in part on the c urrent low l ife he ating (in situ vi trif ication), ag reed to be techn ically t he based on insu fficient info rmation . ex pec tancy of A borig inal peop le a nd a ssuming t hat this be st o ption, was ina ppropriately aba ndo ned to cut co sts. A Technical Ad viso ry Group examined options fo r will c ontin ue. The can cer risk f ollow ing any rad iation He is c rit ical of hig hly pl utonium-co ntaminated deb ris management of the worst of the residual conta minatio n ex pos ure is cumulat ive and accrues over the rest of the be ing buried in shall ow tren ches; and large qu ant ities at the test sit es, repo rting in 1988 on op tions rangin g li fe of the affected ind ividu al. The con vention al ( now of con tamin ated soil blo wing a way dur ing rem oval. He from fencing ent ire areas and maintai ning an Austra lia n da ted) risk estimate is that the risk of fa tal cancer ac ross em pha sises that the f ull ext ent of c ont amination rem ains Protective Se rvices presence in per petuit y, to eliminati ng a p opu lation is in cr eased by ab out one in 2 0,000 for each un kno wn, ci ting iden tificati on of 40 ‘minor t ria l’ grou nd the need for fe ncing and su rveillance through collect ing ad dit ional mSv of r adi ation exp osure. Ongoi ng a nnual ze ro sites, whereas UK rec ords ind ica ted 26, with at l east and bu rying or di luting conta minated soil and othe r ex pos ure of 5mSv would amount to a cumula tive total three con taminat ed s ites b eing fo und by a cci dent.

86 CLOUD TRAJE CTORI ES OF ATOMIC TESTS IN AUS TRALI A

Darwin Darwin

Maralinga was nonethele ss decla red safe by feder al Round 4 Senator Nick Minchin in 2000 after this cle an-up. 9 Monte Bello Monte Bello Islands Round 1 Townsville Islands Townsville Mount Isa Mount Isa Parkinson documents that a region of over 400 km2 Port Hedland Port Hedland remains unsui table for pe rmanent occup ation wit h Round 3 bounda ry markers that will last 50 yea rs, while half the AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA plutonium -239 will still be the re in 24,400 years. Les s Round 2 Brisbane Brisbane than 2% of areas contami nated at the Taranaki ‘mino r MARALINGA MARALINGA Round 1 trials’ site meet the clean -up clearan ce criteria, and 84 % Perth Round 2 Sydney Sydney Adelaide Adelaide of the pluton ium contamin ation remains on the su rface . Round 3 The clean-up added only 0.5 km2 of land suitable fo r Melbourne pe rmanent habit ation . The Maralin ga Tja rutja ag reed that diggi ng up soi l contamina ted by fine pa rticulate plu tonium in plu mes ANTLER TESTS Hobart BUFFALO TESTS Hobart no rth and west of Taranaki over 250km 2 would probabl y create an envi ronme ntal disaster greater than the curren t plutonium contaminati on. A fundamen tal reality is tha t much of the ha rm done by wide dispersal of ra dioactiv e Darwin Darwin and other haz ardous mater ial cannot be un done, and no clean-up can render radioac tive material safe or dest roy Monte Bello Monte Bello Islands Townsville Islands Townsville it; only loca te and manage it to be less acces sible an d Mount Isa Mount Isa Port Hedland Port Hedland pose less of a ha zard. Round 1 In 2011, a repo rt obtained under Freedom of AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA Round 2 Info rmation doc umented that only a decade on , Brisbane Brisbane signi ficant remediation has been requi red bec aus e MARALINGA MARALINGA of erosion of the ma ssive Taranaki bur ial trench, an d Perth Perth subsidence and erosion have ex posed asbest os- Sydney Sydney contamina ted debris at ot her burial pi ts. Inde finite Adelaide Adelaide monitoring of such contam inated sites is essential , Melbourne Melbourne especially in the context of climate dis ruption caus ing mo re frequent and in tense ext reme ev ents includi ng bush fi res, sto rms, fl oods and ext reme winds. HURRICANE TEST Hobart TOTEM TESTS Hobart The Royal Com mission recommended that: “It is app ropriate and fair that after the loss of use of the So urce: The Re port of the Royal Co mmi ssi on into Bri tish Nu cle ar Tes ts in Au str alia Vol 1

87 AN AL ARMING WIL LINGN ESS TO DO HA RM DR TILMAN RUFF AM

lands the Abo riginal peop le be compens ated.” In exposu res of up to mo re than 400mSv (following the firs t announced prov ision of free ca re for ca ncers to all tes t 1991, the Mar alinga Tja rutja conclud ed negotiati ons Monte Bello test) we re documented . pa rticipa nts (milita ry, public se rvan t, and civilia n); and in with the Comm onwealth whi ch resulted in pay ment of The Royal Commission concluded that test pa rticipatio n 2010 milita ry vetera ns we re extended the same bene fits compensat ion for 25 Abori ginal people affected by th e had inc reased the risk of cancer among nuclear veter ans , as veterans involved in ope rational se rvice or se rvic e tests – having been cove red by fallout clouds, sent on but given ina dequate radi ation monito ring, was una ble recognised as haza rdous. However there is still no ful ly perilous jo urneys by range pat rol of ficers, or found in to quantify the probable inc rease in the ri sk of cance r non-adver sarial and readily avai lable compen sation fo r and fo rcibly removed from the test rang e. Howeve r, thi s among the pa rticipants in the trial program. “Becau se of all test pa rticipants. Cl aimants have faced dif fic ultie s includes on ly a small propo rtion of the Aboriginal pe opl e the de fici encies in the av ailable dat a, the re is now littl e getting evi dence – Marali nga hospital rec ords are no t displaced, dispossess ed and put in ha rm’s way by th e prospect of ca rrying out any worthwhile ep idemiologi cal available and dosage reco rds are grossly inc omplet e tests. A fu rther A$13.5 mil lion (of $45 mi llion sought ) study of those involved in the tests nor of ot hers wh o and for reasons not explained, have been removed from was ag reed to be paid to the Maralinga Tja rutja in trus t might have be en di rectly affected by th em.” It wa s the National Archives. 11 For su rvivors, ti me is runnin g as compensa tion for 120km 2 of land contami nated fo r recommended that a national register of nuclea r out. In 2013, it was estimat ed that only 2000 of th e the next 240, 000 years, and loss of connec tion wit h veterans, Aborigines and other persons who may hav e over 16,000 Australian te st pa rticipants we re still ali ve. 480km 2 of land for decad es. been exposed to the ‘Black Mist’ or othe rwise expose d Justice so de layed is justi ce denied. to radiation by the tests sh ould be compil ed. Test worke rs A belated Aus tralian gove rnment-fun ded mo rtality an d Unethical resea rch The nuclear test program was a mas sive industr ial cancer study of test vetera ns was conclu ded in 2006. 10 The conduct of much resea rch and monitori ng of unde rtaking. Over 16,000 Austr alians, mili tary an d It con firmed that some servicemen had been intentiona lly nu cle ar test fallout has be en s eriou sly defi ci ent in ethical civilian, worked on the program, in add ition to Briti sh exposed to ra diation. Test workers were generally a co ndu ct, respect for human rights, transpa rency an d personnel. Permissible radi ation dose li mits for whol e relatively yo ung populati on healthier than average , accountab ilit y. An Austr alian example is an extensiv e body penetr ating radiat ion for workers from 1950 we re evident in th eir reduced mo rtality rates from causes ot her program of sampl ing of human bon es for st rontium- 90. 5mSv per week, compa red with cu rrent occupatio nal than cancer (‘healthy wor ker effect’). Despi te the majo r From 1957 to 1978, hospital path ology se rvices we re limits aver aging 20mSv per year and 1mSv per yea r limitatio ns of a ret rospective st udy with inco mplete dat a paid to remove sometim es quite sizea ble samples of for the publi c. Yet measu res to comply with even th e unde rtaken 50 years after the nucl ear tests beg an, it bone from about 22 ,000 bodies at autops y, pa rticularl y then cu rrent low standa rds we re frequ ently de ficient . found stati stically sig nific ant 23% higher rates of cance r of infants and child ren. Samples we re initially sent to Veterans des cribe lack of protective clothing an d and 18% higher cancer deaths between 1982 (29 year s the UK or US (und er Project Sunshi ne) for testi ng; late r equipment, soldiers sent into ground ze ro the sam e after the fir st test) and 2001 in test vete rans compa red they we re tested in Aust ralia. Pe rmission was not sough t day after an ex plosion, and unp ressurised aircraft flyin g with the gene ral populati on. The study excluded abou t from families, who we re not awa re of the progr am, no r th rough fallout clouds. The Ro yal Commissi on describe d 7000 of the est imated 17,000 di rectly expos ed persons . that many remains we re kept without their knowle dge “depa rtu res, some se rious and some mino r, from These we re Aboriginal and other local residents expo sed or consent for decades. 12 The re are disturb ing repo rts compliance with the prescribed rad iation protection poli cy to fallout, and include some of those likely to hav e of families being denied ac cess to their dead child ren’ s and standa rds”. Despite no more than 4% of vete ran s su ffe red the highest ra diation expo sures. bodies, or not being able to bury them after bones had having radi ation film ba dge data avai lable, exte rna l In 2006, 54 years after the tests began, the gove rnment been removed; their foetuses having been di sca rded or

88 buried anon ymousl y. This study was one of app roximatel y unique nature, scale and pers istence of nuc lear impacts ; 4000 human ra diation expe riments cond ucted under the the impossi bility of comprehensive clea n-up of radioa ctiv e auspices of the US Atomic En ergy Commission betwee n materials dispersed into the atmosphere as fallout, or 1944–1974, and was add ressed by the Au stralian Hea lth blasted in to the sea or unde rground; and the impossib ilit y Ethics Comm ittee only in 20 02. of reversing the genetic and ot her health dam age cause d by radioact ivit y. Fallout is fo rever: public health need s The two most recent treaties banni ng a class of and humanit arian impera tive intrinsic ally indiscr iminate, inh umane weapon s, th e With mounting public conce rn over radioac tive fallout , 2008 Conven tion on Cluster Munitions , and th e the Austral ian gove rnment in 1956 rejected hydroge n preceding ant ipersonnel Mine-Ban Conv ention conta in bomb trials for safety reasons. As a con sequence , ground-b reaking prov isions for vic tim assistan ce. Th e Britain had to take its hyd rogen bomb dev elopment – Comp rehensive Test Ban Treaty (not yet in fo rce) include s involving explosions up to 3 megatons, 50 times th e no such provisio ns. The re is cu rrently no inte rnationa l explosive yield of the la rgest nucle ar test in Austr alia – legal inst rument that provides for victims and su rvivor s to Christmas and Malden Isl ands in the cen tral Paci fic . of nuclear ex plosions to se ek assistan ce towa rds th e Radioacti ve discrimin ation reg rettably does not li e realisation of their rights, nor any speci fic int ernationa l solely in the past. For exam ple, conce rns have bee n obligatio ns to decontam inate or othe rwise remediat e raised that the Royal Commi ssion into the nuclea r areas affected by nucle ar explosion s. Both these as pect s indust ry established by the South Au stralian gov ernmen t could usefu lly be add ressed in the dev elopment of ne w in 2015, in its promotion of storage and di sposal of use d legal measures for the prohibiti on and elimina tion of nuclear reactor fuel and other inte rnational radi oactiv e nuclear wea pons. waste in South Australia, may have an obje ctive of At the second World Nucle ar Victims Fo rum held in promoting use of ‘sacri fice zones’ on Indig enous land s Hi roshima in Nov ember 2015, Dr aft Elements of a contamina ted by fallout from British nuclear test s. Cha rter of World Nuclear Vi ctims’ Rights we re develope d Humanitar ian prioriti es in rega rd to nuclear tes t which can provide a valuable refe rence for promotin g explosions include the ne ed to prevent fu rther nuclea r tests; to min imise fu rther radio active leaka ge th roug h long-te rm monitoring of contaminat ed sites, empl acemen t of feasible barriers to lea kage of contam inants into th e Jona than Ku mintj arra Brown biosphe re, and clean -up of contami nated debris; and (Pit jantj atjar a, b.1 960 , d.199 7) Black Rain 1995 to provide recognit ion, an of ficial apolog y, ongoing ca re ac rylic and sand on line n and fair comp ensation for workers and co mmunities pu t 244 x 90 cm in ha rm’s wa y. However it is es sential to recognise th e Priv ate Col lecti on AN AL ARMING WIL LINGN ESS TO DO HA RM DR TILMAN RUFF AM

and protecting the rights and he alth of the su rvivors of FOOT NOTES 13 nuclear exp losions. 1 Oul ton W E (Air Vice -Mar shal ). Da nger Area, Top Secret Pape r, 8 Roy al Com miss ion into Briti sh Nu clear Tests in Aus tral ia. Eve ry human bei ng alive ca rries in their bod y No. GRA/T S.10 08/1 /Ai r, 19 Novem ber 1956; and Mi nutes of The Repo rt of the Roy al Com miss ion into Briti sh Nu clear Test s radioisot opes from nuclear test explosio ns, the la rges t mee ting on 27 Novem ber 19 56 ma rked Top Secret – UK Eye s in Au stra lia. Canb erra: Austr alian Gove rnment Pub lish ing collective sou rce of radiat ion exposu re by human hand s. Onl y, XY/ 181/ 024, cited in Ma clel lan N. Grap pling with the bomb : Se rvice 1985 opp osit ion to Paci fic nucle ar te sting in the 1950 s. Proce edin gs of The victims and su rvivors of nu clear weapons productio n 9 Par kins on A. Maral inga: the clean -up of a nuc lear test site . the 14th Bienn ial Labour Hist ory Co nfe renc e, De ery P, Ki mber J Med icine & Glo bal Survival 200 2:7( 2):7 7-81; and Parki nson A. and testing around the wo rld number in the millions . (ed s). Me lbou rne: Austr alian Soc iety for the Stu dy of Labou r The Maral inga reha bili tati on project: fi nal rep ort. Me dici ne, Confl ic t Nuclear test explosions have not only di rectly cau sed His tory; 2015 p.11 and Surviv al 20 04:2 0(1) :70- 80 profound and per sistent heal th and envi ronmental ha rm 2 Kaa tsch P, Spix C, Sc hulz e-Ra th R, Schmi edel S, Bl ettn er M. 10 Gun R, Par sons J, Ryan P, Crouch P, Hil ler J. Aust rali an which will ex tend ac ross many ge nerations, but hav e Leu kaem ia in young chi ldren li ving in the vic inity of German nucl ear pa rtic ipan ts in Briti sh nu clear tes ts in Austr alia. Vol 2: Mortal ity pow er pla nts , Int J Canc er 200 8;12 20:7 21-6 been integr al to building the dest ructive cap acity of and cancer inc iden ce. Canbe rra: Depa rtm ent of Veter ans Affai rs 3 Mat hews J, For sythe A, Br ady Z, But ler M, Goe rgen S, By rnes G, 2006 p.xv ii the eno rmous nucl ear arsenals that now const itute an et al. Can cer risk in 680, 000 people expo sed to com pute d 11 Wal ker F. Ma rali nga: the ch illi ng ex pose of our secret nu clea r unp recedente d, urgent, exist ential danger to humanit y tom ogra phy sc ans in chi ldho od or adole scen ce: Data Linka ge sha me and betr ayal of our troops and co unt ry. Sy dney: Hac hett e and life on Ea rth. The human itarian impa cts of nuclea r Stu dy of 11 mil lion Austr alia ns. BMJ 20 13 May ;346 :f23 60 Aus tral ia 2014 p.2 46 tests are seve re eno ugh, but they provi de but a smal l 4 Leu raud K, Ric hardson D, Ca rdis E, Da niels R, Gi llies M, 12 Aus tral ian He alth Ethi cs Co mmit tee, Nati onal Health and Medic al glimpse of the largely irreparable deva station that woul d O’H agan J, et al. Io nisi ng ra diat ion and ri sk of death from leuke mia Res earch Co unci l. Et hical and pract ical issu es co nce rning ash ed and lymph oma in rad iati on-m onit ored worke rs (I NWOR KS): an be wrought by nucl ear wa r. The evide nce of test imp acts , bon es from the Com monw ealth of Austr alia ’s stronti um 90 int ernat ional coho rt stu dy. Lancet Hae mato logy 2015; 1:e2 76-8 1 progra m, 19 57–1 978 . Canb erra: NHMR C; 20 02 Ma rch, p.4–6 and the lived human experie nce and compe lling testim ony 5 Ric hards on D, Cardis E, Dan iels R, Gi llies M, O’ Hagan J, Dra ft Ele ments of a Charter of World Nuc lear Victi ms’ Right s. provided by test survivors, can play an impo rtant rol e 13 Ham ra G. Risk from oc cupa tion al ex posure to ioniz ing World Nucl ear Victi ms Fo rum, Hiroshi ma, 21–23 Nove mbe r in info rming and motivating hu manitarian -based effo rts rad iati on: retrospe ctive coho rt stu dy of work ers in Fran ce, 201 5. Avai lable at: http ://w ww.fw rs.i nfo/ topi cs/2 015/ 341 to stigmati se, prohibit and el iminate nucl ear weapons . the United Kin gdom, and the Un ited Stat es (IN WORK S). BMJ 2015; 351: h535 9 The su ffering caus ed by nuclear ex plosions wor ldwid e demands jus tice for the su rvivors, and that nuclea r 6 Nat ional Acad emy of Sci ence s, Com mitt ee to Asse ss Hea lth Risk s from Ex posure to Low Le vels of Ion izing Rad iati on. Health risk s weapons are era dicated befo re th ey claim mo re vict ims. from ex posure to low le vels of ion izing rad iati on: BEIR VI I, Ph ase 2. Wash ingt on DC: Nat ional Acad emy of Sci ence s; 200 6:47 0-99 7 Rob bins A, Mak hija ni A, Yih K. Radi oact ive heaven and earth : Dr Tilman Ru ff AM is an infectious diseases and public the health and environme ntal effects of nu clear wea pons test ing Beli nda Mas on health physician. He is Associate P rofesso r, Nossal in, on and above the Earth . Repo rt of the IP PNW In ternati ona l Com miss ion to Inve stig ate the He alth and En vironme ntal Effect s (Aus trali a, b.19 71) Institute for Global Health, University of Melbou rne, of Nu clear Weap ons Produc tion and Insti tute for En ergy and Mara linga 2012 co-p resident of Inte rnational Physicians for the P revention Env ironm ental Res earch, New Yor k: The Apex Press /Lon don : 3D len ticul ar hol ograp hic phot ograp h of Nuclear War (IPPNW), founding chair of the Inte rnational Zed Books 1991 60 x 90 cm Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), and Cou rtesy of the artist inte rnational medical advisor for Australian Red C ross. © the artist

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Arnold, Lo rna, and Sm ith, Mar k Dav enpo rt, Su e, and John son , Jun gk, Ro bert Pal mer, Kin gsle y, an d Tyn an, El izab eth Bri tain, Aust ralia and the Bo mb: Pet er, and Yuwa li Bri ghter than a Tho usand Sun s Bra dy, Ma ggie Ato mic Th under – The Mara ling a The Nucle ar Tests and Th eir Cle ared Out – First Conta ct in – The Sto ry of the Men who Diet and Dust in the Dese rt: Sto ry, NewSo uth Publi shin g, Aft ermath , Sec ond Ed itio n, the Wes tern De sert, Ab orig ina l made the Bomb An Ab orig inal Comm unit y Ken sing ton, 2016. Pal grave Macm illa n, New York , Stu dies Press, Can berra, 2005. (Tran slat ed by James Cleu gh) , Mar alin ga Lan ds, Sout h 200 6. Grove Press, New York, 1958 . Aus tral ia, Ca nbe rra, 1991. Wal ker, Fra nk Drewe, Robe rt Mar alin ga: The Chi lling Exp ose Aus tral ian St udies in Law, Mon tebe llo – A Memo ir, Hamis h Len non, Jessi e Par kins on, Al an of Our Secret Nucle ar Sha me Cri me and Just ice Serie s: Ham ilto n, Mel bou rne, 2012 . I’m the one that know thi s Mar alin ga: Au stra lia’s Nuc lea r and Betra yal of Our Troo ps an d Way ward go vernanc e: il lega lit y cou ntry! Abori ginal Stud ies Was te Cov er-u p, ABC Boo ks, Cou ntry, Hache tte, Sydn ey, and its co ntrol in the publi c Gra bosk y, P N Press. Canb erra, 2000. Syd ney, 200 7. 201 4. sec tor . Austr alian Ins titu te of A Toxic Lega cy: Briti sh nu clea r Cri mino log y, Ca nbe rra, 1989 , wea pons tests , Cha pter 16 of Les ter, Yami Ru ff, Tilm an A Wilk s, Ju dy pp 23 5–25 3. Way ward go vernanc e: il lega lit y Yami – The Au tobi ogra phy of The human itar ian impac t Fie ld of Thund er, the Mara ling a and its co ntrol in the publi c Yami Leste r, Ju kurrpa Books , and impli cati ons of nuc lea r Sto ry, Frien ds of the Ea rth , Bea dell, Len sec tor , Austr alian Ins titu te of IAD Press, Ali ce Sp ring s, 199 3. test expl osio ns in the Paci fic Col ling wood, 1981 Bla st the Bush , Rig by Lim ited , Cri mino log y, Ca nbe rra, 1989 . reg ion , Inte rnat ional Rev iew Ade laid e, 196 7. Mat ting ley, Chr isto bel of the Red Cross, ava ilab le Yalata and Oak Vall ey His key, G F Atom bombs bef ore on CJO 201 6. do i:10 .101 7/ Com muni ties with Chris tobe l Broder ick, Mick The Yala ta Co mmun ity an d Abo rigi nes: Maral inga , in S18 1638 3116 0001 63. Mat ting ley Nuc lear movie s: a filmogr aph y, Mar alin ga Lan ds, Adela ide : Chr isto bel Ma ttin gley and Mar alin ga: The Ana ngu Story, Pos t‑Mo dem, Northco te, 19 88. Abo rigi nal Le gal Right s Ken Hampt on, Surviv al in Smi th, Jo an All en & Un win, Crows Nest , Mov ement Inc, Adel aide, 198 3. our own La nd,‘ Abor igin al’ Clo uds of Dece it: the de adl y 200 9. Broino wski, Ric hard exp erie nces in ‘So uth leg acy of Brit ain’s bomb test s, Fact or Fi ssio n? The truth abou t Hol dsto ck, Do ugla s, an d Aus tral ia’ si nce 1836 , ALDA A Fab er and Fabe r, Lo ndon, 1985 . Aus tral ia’s nucle ar am biti ons , Ba rnab y, Fra nk in as soci ation with Hod der & Scr ibe Pu blic atio ns, Melbo urne , The Briti sh nu clear wea pon s Sto ught on, Ad elai de, 1988. Tame, Adri an, and 200 3. progra mme, 1952 –200 2, Rob otha m, F P Rou tled ge, Lo ndon, 200 3. Mat ting ley, Chr isto bel Mar alin ga: Br itish A-B omb Caw te, Al ice Mar alin ga’s Long Shado w: Aus tral ian Le gacy , The Domi nio n Ato mic Au stra lia 1944– 1990 , Jac obs, Robe rt A Yvonne ’s St ory, Al len & Unwin , Press, Melb ourne, 1982. New South Wale s, Un iver sit y Fil ling the ho le in the nu clea r Crows Nest, 2016 . Press, Kens ingt on, 1992. fut ure: art and popu lar cultur e The Repo rt of the Roy al res pond to the bomb , Lanh am, Mil like n, Rob ert Com miss ion in to Br itish Nuc lea r Ma rylan d, US A, 20 10. Cross, Roge r No Co ncei vable Inj ury: Th e Tests in Au stra lia , Oppo site pa ge: Fal lout: Hedl ey Ma rston and the sto ry of Brit ain and Aus tral ia’ s (Ro yal Co mmis sion er, Mr Justi ce Linda Demen t Bri tish Bomb Tests in Au stra lia , Jun gk, Ro bert ato mic co ver- up, Pengu in Bo oks McC lell and), 2 vol s, Au stra lia n Wak efield Press, Kent Town , Hel ler als Taus end Sonnen – Aus tral ia, Ri ngwo od Vi ctor ia, Gov ernme nt Pu blis hing Servic e, (Aus trali a, b.19 60) 200 1. Das Schic ksal der Atomf orsc her . 198 6. Can berra, 1985. Jess ie Boyl an Be rn, 1956. (Aus trali a, b.19 86) Cross, Roge r, and Huds on, Avon Shift 2016 Bey ond Be lief: The Brit ish Bo mb multi chann el vid eo Tests: Aus tral ia’s Veter ans dime nsions varia ble Spe ak Out , Wake field Press , Cou rtesy of the artist s Kent Town, 2005 . © the artists

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ADi Mick Broderi ck Kate Downhi ll Jona than Ku mintj arra Hilda Moodoo & Warren ‘E bay’ Paul Kate Shaw Mell issa Wi ndlas s, In Ant icipa tion of Coun ts Per Minut e Oper ation Hurrica ne Brown Je ffrey Qu eama Toxic Austra lia 201 5 Cha rcoal, UK: Glen da Ken , Ma rcoo 20 16 (CPM ): Alch emy 2013 Frogmen 1996 Dest ruct ion II 2002 Page 83 Mara linga 2012 Polly Cha rra, Page 65 2015 Page 20 Page 32 Page 31 Page 71 Cynt hia Cha rra , Page 63 Hugh Ramage Ca rmel Wi ndlas s, Lance Atkin son Terence Edwa rds Jona than Ku mintj arra Hilda Moodoo & Taran aki 20 14 Mima Smart Edwi na Ingo mar, Mara linga Fields of Mick Broderi ck End of Oolde a Brown Je ffrey Qu eama Page 6 Unti tled 20 09 Verna Gib son , Thun der 200 9 Coun ts Per Minute Miss ion 200 9 Mara linga 1992 Dest ruct ion I 20 02 Page 8 Teresa Peters , Page 47 (CPM ): Semi osis Page 11 Page 51 Page 48 Hugh Ramage Nata sha Woods , 2015 Antl er 2014 Ka ren Sta ndke Ann Ma rie Woods Kim Bo wman & Page 64 Yvonne Ed wards Jona than Ku mintj arra Trevor Nicko lls Page 26 Road to Mara linga II Mara linga Tjurku rpa Susan Norrie Mara linga 2009 Brown Reve nge of the 2007 2016 Black Wind 20 05 Luke Cornish (ELK) Page 81 Black Rain 1995 Stormboy 2010 Hugh Ramage Page 2 Page 12 Page 59 Wake Up to the Stink Page 89 Page 84 Totem 2014 2009 Meri lyn Fai rskye Page 57 Tjar iya Sta nley Jess ie Boyl an Page 69 The Day Afte r Rose mary Lai ng Sidn ey Nola n Puyu - Black Mis t Avon Hu dson in his (Towe r, The Polygo n, One Do zen Cent ral Des ert: Toni Robe rtson & 2015 room of archiv es, Pam De benha m Kaza khsta n) 2015 Cons idera tions : Atom ic Test Chips Macki nolty Page 53 Bala klava, Sout h No Nuk es in the Page 59 Totem I – Emu 1952 –57 Dadd y, What did YO U Aust ralia 2006 Paci fic 19 84 2013 Page 39 do in the Nuc lear Albe rt Tucke r Page 25 Page 44 Meri lyn Fai rskye page 22 War? 19 77 Hi roshi ma 1947 The Day Afte r Sidn ey Nola n Page 45 Page 38 Jess ie Boyl an & Pam De benha m (Bri dge, The Pol ygon, Craig McDon ald Unti tled (M oonbo y Linda Demen t Hi roshi ma 40 ye ars Kaza khsta n) 2015 Mara linga Test and at om bla st) Toni Robe rtson Judy Watso n Shift 2016 1985 Page 95 Dummy 2010 1974 The Ro yal Nu clea r bomb drawing 1 Page 92 Page 66 Page 56 Page 40 Show – 6 1981 1995 Weaver Hawk ins Page 73 Page 15 Jess ie Boyl an Pam De benha m Atom ic Power 1947 Chips Macki nolt y Susan Norri e Yami Le ste r, No Nuk es No Tests Page 43 & Toni Rob ertso n & Kim Bowman Toni Robe rtson Judy Watso n Walla tinna Statio n, 1984 Dadd y, What did YO U Black Wind 20 05 The Ro yal Nu clea r bomb drawing 5 South Austr alia 2006 Page 72 Ian Ho ward do in the Nuc lear Page 59 Show – 3 1981 1995 Page 54 Enola Gay 19 75 War? 19 77 Page 75 Page 35 Linda Dement & Page 62 Page 45 Adam Norton Arthur Bo yd Jess ie Boyl an Prohibi ted Area Regi nald Ro wed Jonah on th e Shift 2016 Ian Ho ward Beli nda Mas on 2010 Hi roshi ma 1946 Shoa lhaven 1976 Page 92 B29 Su perfo rtres s Mara linga 2012 page 7 Page 36 Page 41 Fuel Line Cl amp Page 91 Blak Dougla s 2016 Paul Ogier Regi nald Ro wed Tja rutja Trage dy Page 62 Hilda Moodo o One Tree (f orme r Rebu ilding Hiroshim a 2016 Mara linga Bomb Emu Fi eld at omi c 1946 Page 29 2009 test site) 2010 Page 78 Page 46 Page 61

94 Meri lyn Fai rskye (Aus trali a, b.19 50) The Day After (Brid ge, The Po lygon, Kaza khsta n) 2015 pigm ent pri nt 36 x 53 cm Cou rtesy of the artist © Meri lyn Fa irsky e/ Lice nsed by Viscop y, 201 6

95 AC KNOWL EDGEM ENTS

Thank you to all of the many pas t, present and futur e Weste rn Austral ia; Clai re Baddele y, The Hon. Brenda n Robin Matth ews, Ashley Mi lroy, Kali Mos chos, Shillo h contribut ors of this project. A sincere thanks to al l Nelson, Sha nnon Hutchin son, Austral ian War Memorial ; Peel, Keith Peters, Richa rd Preece, Mima Sm art; an d authors: Mi ck Broderick, Rus sell Bryant, The Hon. Pete r Aa ron O’Connel l, Jessica Webe r, Bolinda; Gi ulia Leali , in pa rticular to Des ley Culpin and Sha ron Yendall fo r Ga rrett, Tilman Ru ff, Mima Sma rt, Liz Tynan. Thanks als o Bridgeman Images; Jenni fer Thompson, Bundanon Trust ; their suppo rt. A wa rm thank‑you also to Peter Bo ehm , to my colleag ues at presenting galleries who contribute d Jessica San guesa, Nic Brown, Fiona Sa lmon, Flinde rs Jessie Boyl an, Arlene Brookes, Paul Brown, Jo Cly ne, to the production of this public ation and to the plannin g University Art Museum; Pa uline O’Ca rolan, Harpe rCollins ; Geo rgia Cribb, Satta van Daal, Pam Diment, An drew and preparati on of the touring exhibition; to Bu rrinj a Chris Guill e, Katharine Ware, Maralinga Piling Trust ; Gayno r, Karina Leste r, Yami Leste r, Christo bel Mattingl ey, Executive Director Ross Fa rnell for his sage advice, trus t Kate Buckin gham, Roger Bu tle r, Nick Nicho lson, Gera rd Carly O’Brien, Tilman Ruff, Oli Schol z, M arya nn Sep ar ovic, and ongoing suppo rt; to Bu rrinja sta ff, volunte ers an d Vaughan, Nati onal Galle ry of Austral ia; Nicole Dur ling , Liz Tynan, Si mone Vinall, Ra chel Woodlock and Kate inte rn Fe rnanda Seg reto; and to designer Anna Wolf an d Sophie Mora n, Walsh, Jacq ui Woolf, Museum of Woodlock for the ir gene rous suppo rt and helpful advice. her fine eye for detail. Old and New Art; Lucy Song, So ny Music Ente rtainmen t This project has been assisted by the Australi an App reciative thanks to all ex hibiting artists , Australia; John , So theby’s Aust ralia; Shan e Gove rnment’s Visio ns of Australia program. It ha s rep resenting gal leries and est ates who gene rous ly len t Agius, Trisha Kidd, So uth Australi an Museum Archives ; received deve lopment assi stance from NETS Vict oria’ s artwork. And thanks to the pu blic collec tions, their staff, Patricia Perez, Victoria & Albe rt Museum; Glen Menzies , Exhibition Development Fund Grant, su ppo rted by th e and private lenders who are kindly loa ning artwork fo r Viscopy; Mari ta Smith, Gal lerysmith; Rebe cca Joyce , Victorian Gov ernment th rough Creative Vict oria . the exhibit ion and pe rmitting artwork rep roductions : Tim Walsh, Milani Galle ry; Tina Douglas, Jan Michin , Fu rther fin ancial assi stance was received from Ca rey Sch roete r, Erica Wagne r, Allen & Unwin; Mi chae l Tola rno Galler ies; Ma rgo Bi rnbe rg; Hank Ebes; Dun can Go rdon Darling Fou ndation. The project is su ppo rte d Brand, Jude Fowler Smith, Brent Willison, Art Galle ry Ke rr and Anna Pafitis; Neil McLeo d; Angelika Ty rone . by Anangu Pit jantjatjara people in Yalata and Oak Valle y of New South Wales; Nick Mit zevich, Jan Robison , Special tha nks to the commu nities of Yalata and Oa k Maralinga, in pa rtnership with Yalata Communi ty Inc. Lisa Slade, Vic ki Pet rusevics, Art Galle ry of Sout h Valley; Russe ll Bryant, Peter Clarke, Desley Culpin , Australia; Tanja Colem an, Jude Savag e, Art Galle ry of Greg Franks, Mi chelle and John Harrison, Je remy LeBoi s, JD Mittmann

With the supp ort of: In pa rtners hip wit h

This pr oje ct is sup ported thro ugh an Arti st or Cur ator Res ide ncy gran t. The Artist or Cura tor Res iden cy progra m is supp orted by the Copyri ght Agen cy’s EDF Cul tur al Fund and is ma naged by Mus eums & Galle ries of NSW. Vi sions of Aus tra lia

96 BL ACK MIST BURNT CO UNT RY BURRINJA TOURING EXHIBITION

Black Mist Bu rnt Count ry is a national tourin g exhibition produced by Bu rrinja Cultural Cent re in Upwe y, Victoria. It commemorates the Britis h atomic test series in Australia th rough the artwork s from public and private collections by Indigenou s and non-Indigenous artists with works ac ros s the mediums of painting, printmaking, sculptu re, photograph y, music and new media spannin g seven decades. Set in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges on th e outski rts of Melbou rne, Bu rrinja is a multi-facete d cent re combining pe rfo rming, visual and communit y arts with museum and collection management . Bu rrinja’s vision building community th rough arts was bo rn out of community arts and activism in th e late 1990s that led to the foundation of Bu rrinja as a cultural cent re. It was named Bu rrinja (Yorta Yorta for ‘star’) in homage to Koorie artist Lin Onus wh o was a local Upwey resident .

bu rrin ja. org.a u England has the bomb and the know-how. We have the open spaces, much technical skill and g reat willingness to help the motherland. Howa rd Bea le Australian Minister of Suppl y, 4 May 1955

Merilyn Fairsk ye (Austr alia, b. 1950) The Day After (Towe r, The Pol ygon, Kaz akhsta n) 2015 pigment print 33 x 50 cm Cou rtesy of the artist © Meril yn Fairsk ye/ Licens ed by Visco py, 2016

Since Trinit y, the fi rst ato mic te st which led to the bom bing of Hiroshima an d Naga saki, over 2, 500 nuc lear weapons have be en exp loded across the globe . Unbe known to man y, Aust ralia too bec ame a nu clear testing ground: for th e deve lopme nt of Br itish atomic weapo ns in the 1950s. Black Mist Bu rnt Co unt ry revi sits the sto ry and co ntinu ing leg acy of the Emu and Mara linga tests throug h work by Indig enous and non -Indi genous artis ts from the last se ven dec ades.