http://www.metromagazine.com.au https://theeducationshop.com.au A STUDY GUIDE BY © ATOM 2020 ISBN: 978-1-76061-358-7 THOMAS REDMAN SYNOPSIS
Maralinga Tjarutja tells the story of an infamous chapter in Australian history. It is a story told by the traditional owners of the Maralinga lands. It is the story of the British nuclear trials that took place in their country, of what came before and what came after.
Beginning in the red-earth spinifex country community of Oak Valley, Maralinga Tjarutja introduces the local Anangu ranger program as an active, contemporary caring for country. The rangers are local Anangu who have had connections to this country for countless generations. Through their work, we explore the personality of the land and the sky. Through the land we see their story.
From Oak Valley Anangu Elder Jeremy Lebois travels south to the Ooldea siding, the nearby site of the Ooldea Mission and the Ooldea Soak. Jeremy is met by Mima Smart, an Elder from Yalata, whose parents Glenda Hansen, Oak Valley Art Centre and grandparents also lived at the Ooldea Mission. They talk of the fact that the nuclear testing was not the first disaster that befell the Anangu. The first was CONTENT HYPERLINKS the coming of the railway in the 1910s and the resulting abuse of women, the removal of half-caste children IN THE CLASSROOM 3 and the over-exploitation of the water sources. The WRITER AND DIRECTOR 4 second was the closing of Ooldea mission in 1952 and the removal of people from the red country to the grey PRODUCER 5 country where many people died of pneumonia or flu. AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM 6 Jeremy and Mima then travel to Adelaide, to the South Australian Museum to reclaim photographs and other PRE-VIEWING ACTIVITIES 8 archival material and return them to Yalata where POST-VIEWING ACTIVITIES 12 Mima shares the images with the community, sparking memories and stories. SOME USEFUL LINKS 16
From Yalata, Jeremy travels to the scarred-country site of the Maralinga tests, now a tourism enterprise for the community. Here, Jeremy tells the story of the testing and its impact on the Anangu. Through the story we learn of the contrast between the destructive aspects of Western science (as it is utilised in weaponry and war) with the sustainable and nurturing philosophies of Indigenous knowledge systems (which appreciate the © ATOM 2020 fragility of complex ecosystems and their symbiotic relationship with the people who live in them). 2 Not only did the British Nuclear Test Program Jeremy returns home to Oak Valley, a community remove Anangu from their lands, it also produced rebuilt with strong cultural and economic activities. He contamination that was devastating for the Anangu takes a pilgrimage to the cemetery where many of the and their environment. Jeremy heads back to community members that have been part of the story Adelaide, to visit Andrew Collett, the lawyer who are laid to rest. He spends the evening out on country represented the community in the Royal Commission with the rangers. Connection with country continues. and in the subsequent compensation claim and The Anangu remain strong. They have been here for handback process. They recount the Anangu’s legal over sixty thousand years and will be here for another struggle for compensation, clean-up and the return of sixty thousand. the land to its traditional owners.
IN THE CLASSROOM
* Cultural Safety Before proceeding with this study guide it is essential for teachers and students to become familiar with standards for cultural safety. The following links provide directions in (1) developing cultural safety in the classroom, (2) tackling the problem of tokenistic study and discussion of Indigenous subject matter and (3) creating safe environments for the use of visual media.
* Cultural Safety and Respect in the Classroom Where appropriate, providing opportunities for members, students, or children, and when, where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, and with whom they can be shared. This activity Elders, families and wider community members encourages staff to consider scenarios, evaluate to share their perspectives, histories and cultures policies and principles and consider how cultural in the classroom can be incredibly enriching. safety could further be promoted within the wider However, it is important for teachers and educators school or early learning service community. www. to be careful not to assume what stories or narragunnawali.org.au/professional-learning/90/ knowledges can be shared by particular community cultural-safety-and-respect-in-the-classroom
* Tackling Tokenism ‘Tokenism’ is often cited as a barrier to demonstrating respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and perspectives, particularly in visible and tangible ways. This activity encourages staff to reinterpret or reinvent a demonstration of respect which may, on the surface, appear to be tokenistic. In doing so, they consider how to effectively turn ‘tokenism’ into meaningful symbolic and practical action. www.narragunnawali.org.au/ professional-learning/40/tackling-tokenism
* Ensuring Film Screenings are Culturally Safe and Respectful
The following link provides general guidelines post-screening discussions. www.sbs.com.au/sites/ © ATOM 2020 around how to facilitate culturally safe and sbs.com.au.home/files/reconciliation_film_club_ respectful screening sessions and pre-screening or planning_guide.pdf 3 WRITER AND DIRECTOR
* Larissa Behrendt Larissa Behrendt is an award-winning writer/director and author of fiction and non-fiction with a passion for telling the stories of Indigenous Australia. She has a legal background, is an experienced researcher and is involved with several arts organisations and educational programs. She won the 2018 Australian Directors Guild Award for her documentary After the Apology which confronts the disturbing rise of Indigenous child Film Festival in 2015. Her short filmClan won Best removals since the 2008 National Apology to Australia’s Documentary at the Canberra Short Film Festival and the Indigenous Peoples. Larissa also wrote and directed the Shorts Film Festival in Adelaide in 2015. Her short film, documentary Innocence Betrayed which aired on NITV Barbara, has been nominated for an AACTA Award and in 2014. Her short film,Under Skin, In Blood, screened Dendy Awards. Larissa is the host of Speaking Out on at the Sydney Film Festival and Melbourne International the ABC National Radio network.
* Writer/Director’s Statement Many Australians would not know of Australia’s direct role While the community was deeply impacted, it never lost in the development of nuclear weapons and the extensive resilience or the ability to adapt. We see how the fight back testing which occurred in South Australia in the 1950s has witnessed cultural renewal and political engagement and 1960s. Even less known is the remarkable story of from the halls of power in England to a Royal Commission the traditional owners of the country that was devastated and a successful struggle to gain formal recognition of land by the bomb tests. Maralinga Tjarutja gives voice to these rights. Wonderful characters like artist Mima Smart and peoples and reveals a story of deep tragedy but inspiring ranger Hillary Williams take us through a world of tradition, resilience. vibrancy and discovery. As part of the reclaiming of their land and history, Jeremy and Mima travel to the South The colonisation of Australia has been aggressive and Australian Museum and take the photographic archive nowhere more so than the use of Aboriginal country for back to the communities in Yalata and Oak Valley to ensure nuclear testing. This display of the destructive power that they control their story and keep their memories. of Western science demonstrated by nuclear weaponry stands in stark contrast to cultural knowledge of land The removal from Ooldea was the start of a fight for land care, the husbanding of scarce water supplies and fire rights that would eventually lead to the land being returned management by the Anangu that assisted them in living and a Royal Commission into what had been done by the sustainably for tens of thousands of years. British and Australian governments during the nuclear testing. This also led to the clean up of contaminated Yet, this clash commenced well before the Nuclear tests. areas. On the back of this victory, some people returned As Jeremy Lebois, the Chair of the Maralinga Tjarutja to country, establishing Oak Valley with its school, medical Council, explains, there were three tragedies that the clinic, art centre and an aged care facility. Through the communities faced. The first was the transcontinental Maralinga Tjarutja people we get a glimpse into a world railway which brought alcohol, rape and half-caste children that is a joy to visit. then subject to forced removal. Environmental damage from the steam engines ruined in a few decades a desert This is an extraordinary story and it is a privilege to bring it water source that had sustained the traditional owners for to the screen. The red earthed country that stretches under millennia and caused the second tragedy - the closure of blue skies provides a cinematic backdrop to the story of a the Ooldea mission and forced movement which saw many community that has rebuilt itself to be vibrant, strong and people die through flu and pneumonia on country they proud of its culture. It is a story that deserves to be told © ATOM 2020 were not used to. The third tragedy was the nuclear testing through the voices and art of the people who lived it. which closed the lands for thirty-five years and polluted some areas for thousands more into the future. – LARISSA BEHRENDT 4 PRODUCER
* Darren Dale & Blackfella Films For over twenty years Blackfella Films has created innovative and high-quality content across factual and drama in both series and feature formats for theatrical, television and online platforms. Its award winning productions have screened at the premier international film festivals including Sundance, Berlin and Toronto, and distinguished its team as creators and curators of distinctive Australian content.
The company was founded in 1992 by writer/director/producer Rachel Perkins who was joined by producer Darren Dale in 2001. In that time Darren has produced some of Australia’s most innovative and thought-provoking film and television productions.
Darren Dale
• First Australians (2008): Darren, together • In My Own Words (2017): Darren produced the with Rachel Perkins, produced the landmark feature documentary In My Own Words, written multi-platform history series First Australians, and directed by Erica Glynn. broadcast on SBS to over 2.3 million viewers and • Filthy Rich & Homeless (2017-2020): Darren accompanied by an internationally acclaimed and writer and series producer Jacob Hickey interactive website. have produced three seasons of this popular • The Tall Man (2011): Darren produced the three-part documentary series. The program feature documentary The Tall Man for SBS, based attracts huge numbers of viewers and prompts on the award-winning book by Chloe Hooper widespread discussion of homelessness and concerning the death in custody of Cameron social responsibility in Australia. Doomadgee. • How ‘Mad’ Are You? (2018): Darren and series • Mabo (2012): Darren produced the acclaimed producer and writer Jacob Hickey produced this telemovie Mabo with Miranda Dear, which was two-part documentary series which explores broadcast on the ABC in 2012 to commemorate mental health. the 20th anniversary of the landmark High Court • Total Control (2019): Darren and Miranda Dear decision. produced the AACTA Award winning Best TV • Redfern Now (2012-15): The ground-breaking Drama Series Total Control, starring Deborah ABC series, the first drama series on Australian Mailman and Rachel Griffiths. television to be written, produced and directed by • In 2020: In addition to the documentary Indigenous Australians. Maralinga Tjarutja and the third season Filthy • First Contact (2014-16): Darren and writer and Rich & Homeless, Darren and Jacob Hickey are series producer Jacob Hickey produced two producing an historical series First Wars and seasons of this award winning documentary a major series about addiction. They are also series for SBS. producing a feature documentary about iconic fashion designers Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson • DNA Nation (2016): Darren and writer and and a series adaptation of Bruce Pascoe’s series producer Jacob Hickey produced this ‘big acclaimed book Dark Emu. science’ series for SBS. • Deep Water (2016): Darren produced the feature documentary Deep Water: The Real Story which investigated the gay hate epidemic of crimes in © ATOM 2020 Sydney during the 1980s and 1990s. The film had For more information on Blackfella Films a companion four-part SBS crime drama series visit the website: blackfellafilms.com.au Deep Water, starring Noah Taylor and Yael Stone. 5 AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
Cross-Curriculum Priorities intercultural understanding as they learn to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of The Australian Curriculum sets consistent national others. They come to understand how personal, group standards to improve learning outcomes for all young and national identities are shaped, and the variable and Australians. ACARA acknowledges the gap in learning changing nature of culture. Intercultural understanding outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander involves students learning about and engaging with students and their non-Indigenous peers. It recognises diverse cultures in ways that recognise commonalities the need for the Australian Curriculum to provide every and differences, create connections with others and opportunity possible to ‘close the gap’. cultivate mutual respect.
Therefore, the Australian Curriculum is working towards National Programs and Standards for Teachers addressing two distinct needs in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education: The National Professional Standards for Teachers specify many key areas in which teachers should • that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students develop programs inclusive of Aboriginal and Torres are able to see themselves, their identities and their Strait Islander students and communities. Programs cultures reflected in the curriculum of each of the also need to be developed which are informed by a learning areas, can fully participate in the curriculum knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and can build their self-esteem. histories, cultures and languages. Examples of these • that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories areas are listed below (From http://www.qct.edu.au/pdf/ and Cultures cross-curriculum priority is designed for QCT_AustProfStandards.pdf): all students to engage in reconciliation, respect and recognition of the world’s oldest continuous living Standard 1.4 cultures. Develop teaching programs that support equitable and ongoing participation of Aboriginal and Torres General Capabilities Strait Islander students by engaging in collaborative relationships with community representatives and The Australian Curriculum specifies seven General parents/carers. Capabilities which are to be developed throughout all learning areas. Standard 2.4 Provide opportunities for students to develop Intercultural Understanding understanding of and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages. In the Australian Curriculum, students develop
* Australian Curriculum Links Maralinga Tjarutja can be linked to the following subject and imposed control, including conquest, treaty and areas within the Australian Curriculum: the doctrine of ‘terra nullius’; and the consequences for the legal status and land rights of Indigenous - Year 11 Modern History - Humanities and Social peoples (ACHMH071) - Languages Sciences • The nature of government policies and their impact - Media Arts - Law and Citizens on Indigenous peoples, for example protection, - Civics and Citizenship - Health & Physical assimilation (including the Stolen Generations), and - Geography Education self-determination (ACHMH072) • The role of individuals and groups who supported Year 11 Modern History, Unit 2: ‘Movements for the movement for Indigenous recognition and rights, Change in the 20th Century’ including the methods they used and the resistance they encountered (ACHMH073) Recognition and rights of Indigenous Peoples • The economic, political and social challenges and • The nature of the relationship of Indigenous peoples opportunities Indigenous peoples have faced, with their land and their response to perceptions including the role of cultural activity in developing of, and feelings about, the arrival of the colonisers awareness in society (ACHMH074) © ATOM 2020 (ACHMH070) • The achievements of Indigenous peoples at the • The basis on which the colonists claimed sovereignty end of the 20th century, including the right to vote, 6 land rights/native title, and attempt at reconciliation • Critically evaluate information and ideas from a range (ACHMH075) of sources in relation to civics and citizenship topics • The continued efforts to achieve greater recognition, and issues (ACHCS084) and (ACHCS097). Account reconciliation, civil rights, and improvements in for different interpretations and points of view education and health (ACHMH076) (ACHCS085) and (ACHCS098) • Recognise and consider multiple perspectives Languages - Framework for Aboriginal and Torres and ambiguities, and use strategies to negotiate Strait Islander Languages (Years 8 and 9) and resolve contentious issues (ACHCS086) and (ACHCS099) • Investigate programs, initiatives and techniques that • Present evidence-based civics and citizenship keep Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages arguments using subject-specific language strong (ACHCS088) and (ACHCS101) • Understanding the importance of intergenerational • Reflect on their role as a citizen in Australian, regional collaboration and transmission in keeping languages and global contexts (ACHCS089) and (ACHCS102) strong and discussing some of the associated challenges Geography (Years 7–10):
Media Arts (Years 9 & 10) • Spiritual, aesthetic and cultural value of landscapes and landforms for people, including Aboriginal and • Manipulate media representations to identify and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (ACHGK049) examine social and cultural values and beliefs, • The perceptions people have of place, and how including those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander these influence their connections to different places Peoples (ACAMAM074) (ACHGK065) • Analyse a range of media artworks from contemporary and past times to explore differing Humanities and Social Sciences: viewpoints and enrich their media arts making, starting with Australian media artworks, including • Understanding and knowledge of developments in media artworks of Aboriginal and Torres Strait technology, public health, longevity and standard of Islander Peoples, and international media artworks living during the twentieth century, and concern for (ACAMAR079) the environment and sustainability (ACOKFH024)
Media Arts (Years 7 & 8) Law and Citizens:
• Develop media representations to show familiar • How Australia’s international legal obligations shape or shared social and cultural values and beliefs, Australian law and government policies, including including those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (ACAMAM067) Peoples (ACHCK093) • Analyse how technical and symbolic elements are used in media artworks to create representations Health and Physical Education content descriptions: influenced by story, genre, values and points of view of particular audiences (ACAMAR071) Personal, Social and Community Health: Being healthy, • Identify specific features and purposes of media safe and active artworks from contemporary and past times to • Evaluate factors that shape identities and critically explore viewpoints and enrich their media arts analyse how individuals impact the identities of others making, starting with Australian media artworks (ACPPS089) including of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander • Propose, practise and evaluate responses in media artworks (ACAMAR072) situations where external influences may impact on their ability to make healthy and safe choices Civics and Citizenship (Years 8 and 9) (ACPPS092)
• How and why individuals and groups, including Personal, Social and Community Health: Contributing to religious groups, participate in and contribute to civic health and active communities life (ACHCK079) • Plan and evaluate new and creative interventions • How Australia’s international legal obligations shape that promote their own and others’ connection Australian law and government policies, including to community and natural and built environments in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ACPPS097) Peoples (ACHCK093) • Critique behaviours and contextual factors that • Identify, gather and sort information and ideas from influence health and wellbeing of diverse communities © ATOM 2020 a range of sources and reference as appropriate (ACPPS098) (ACHCS083) and (ACHCS096) 7 PRE-VIEWING ACTIVITIES
Pre-Viewing Activity 1 as a society. They lose an important part of their identity. * Anangu & Cultural/ Non-Indigenous Australians can find this difficult to understand. In non-Indigenous modern Australia Geographical Context land is first and foremost considered property (to be bought and sold), scenery (to be observed and admired) or resources (to be used for economic CONNECTION TO COUNTRY purposes). None of these ways of commodifying land can make sense of the spiritual and cultural value that “The land is a sacred entity, not property or real country has for Indigenous peoples. estate... The two most important kinds of relationship in life are, firstly, those between land and people Stories like Maralinga Tjarutja demonstrate the and, secondly, those amongst people themselves... profound implications of dispossessing Indigenous Therefore, all meaning comes from land.” - Mary peoples and destroying their land. So, to begin this Graham story we need to first reflect on what connection to country means. The above quote from Mary Graham explains that land is the basis for all Aboriginal law, culture and QUESTIONS knowledge. The way people relate to land is the premise for all social rules and relationships. • Who are the traditional owners of the country your school or home occupies? For Indigenous peoples the English words “land” • How many generations has your family lived on and “country” mean a great deal more than simply the country your home occupies? “property” or “geography”. Indigenous country • What is the estimated length of time that forms the basis for all cultural and social life. Without Indigenous peoples have lived in Australia? country there can be no stories, no songlines, no • If a generation is 20 years, for how many culture. generations have Indigenous peoples lived in Australia? If an Indigenous people lose their connection to • What does the term “traditional owner” mean? © ATOM 2020 country, they lose not just their physical environment • How is “traditional owner” different from “legal but also the things that define them as a people and owner”? 8 • Discuss as a class your ideas of what “connection non-Indigenous culture? to country” means. • How familiar are you with the natural environment • What are some of the ways that Indigenous of your school or home area? cultures are connected with their land (for • Can non-Indigenous people appreciate the example, in their Creation Stories, Traditional significance of “connection to country” for Laws and forms of artistic expression)? Indigenous peoples? • Discuss the spiritual significance of land for • What forms of respect and understanding can Indigenous cultures. non-Indigenous people show for Indigenous • What does “custodianship” mean? “connection to country”? • How is a person’s identity defined by their • What examples of disrespect have been shown “custodianship”? by non-Indigenous peoples for Indigenous • In what ways does modern non-Indigenous “connection to country”? culture treat land as a commodity? • How does someone acquire property in modern
Pre-Viewing Activity 2
* Maralinga Country groups at www.aiatsis.gov.au/explore/articles/ aiatsis-map-indigenous-australia) “Whatever happened here, at the end of the day this is my country. I have a responsibility as a Wati Today the main community settlement in the [initiated man]. Our grandfathers left it behind for us to Maralinga region is Oak Valley. The region is owned look after it.” - Anangu Elder Jeremy Lebois and administered by the Marlinga Tjarutja Council. The people of Oak Valley primarily speak the The name “Maralinga” is not a local word. It is an Ilgar Pitjantjara and Yankunytjatjara languages, which language word from the North-West of the Northern they share with the Anangu peoples to the north, all Territory. It was chosen by a scientist by the name of the way up beyond Uluru in the Northern Territory. William Butement. Maralinga means thunder. It was (Anangu simply means “people” in a number of chosen by Butement to designate the place as the Western Desert languages). site for British nuclear testing.
The Maralinga region is located in the Great Victoria Desert, about 1,200 kms north-west of Adelaide. In terms of its proximity to town and cities, Maralinga is one of the most remote places in Australia. This is a place of red sand hills, eucalypts, acacia trees and distinctive desert oaks.
The Maralinga region lies at the meeting point of several Western Desert language groups: Kokatha, Ngalea, Yankuntjatjara, Pitjantjatjara, Nakako and Wirangu. Indigenous geographical boundaries are fluid, not fixed. Peoples move with seasonal and other environmental changes. Over thousands of years these different groups have travelled and lived on these lands following © ATOM 2020 their Traditional Laws. (See the interactive map of language 9 Jeremy Lebois The typical bush tucker of the country includes a variety of mai (plant food) and maku (meat). Foods include:
• tjanmata (bush onion) • wakati (native pigweed) • wakalpuka (dead finish) • kampurarpa (desert raisin or bush tomato) • malu (kangaroo) • maku (witchetty-grub) • tjala (honey ant)
To the south of the Maralinga region is the important meeting place of Ooldea. Ooldea is the site of a permanent “soak” (fresh water source), and a place of immense spiritual and cultural significance for different peoples. For thousands of years peoples from the north, east, south and west have met and camped at Ooldea.
Water is sparse in this region and finding it relies on an intricate knowledge of country. The sacred knowledge of this country has enabled traditional owners to survive and carry on culture for thousands of generations.
QUESTIONS Pre-Viewing Activity 3 • Refer to map of Aboriginal language groups: www.aiatsis.gov.au/explore/articles/ aiatsis-map-indigenous-australia * Maralinga & the • What desert is the Maralinga region located in? Cold War Context • What language groups border on the Maralinga region? Students may well wonder what a remote part of • Why are traditional borders described as Australia like Maralinga had to do with the Cold “fluid” rather than “fixed”? War nuclear arms race of the 1950s and 1960s. • What are some of the key sources of food in this region? In the years following the Second World • What does “Anangu” mean? War the victorious USA and USSR quickly • What does “Wati” mean and how might it became enemies and went into competition for differ to the word “man”? military supremacy. The key technology in this • Why does Jeremy Lebois say that as a Wati competition was nuclear weaponry. Britain had he has a “responsibility” to look after “his collaborated with the USA in the development of country”? nuclear weapons in the Second World War. But • For traditional peoples what essential after the war Britain was required to develop its skills might be required for survival in the own nuclear program. With limited territories to Maralinga region? test weapons at home, Britain looked to its former • How important would geographical details be colonies for testing sites. for traditional Western Desert peoples? • What reference points for navigation might Australia was not the first nation to be asked, be used? but it was the first to agree to testing. The • How were story and song used to help in agreement to test British nuclear weapons in navigation and survival? Australian territories was made in 1949 in a highly • How important would a knowledge of unorthodox manner by then Prime Minister Robert seasons and weather patterns be for survival Menzies. Menzies agreed to the British testing in traditional Anangu culture? without discussing the matter with his Cabinet • Discuss the relationship of country and or presenting it to Parliament. Menzies’ actions © ATOM 2020 culture in traditional Anangu life. remain highly controversial.
10 The British conducted major trials of nuclear QUESTIONS bombs and minor trials of radioactive components used in nuclear weapons between • What was the “Manhattan Project” and why was it 1952-1963. The first major trial of nuclear bombs significant? (“Operation Hurricane”) took place near the • What Allied forces were involved in the “Manhattan Montebello Islands near Broome in Western Project”? Australia. In 1953 major tests were done at Emu • On what dates were atomic bombs dropped on the Field to the north of Maralinga. The Maralinga Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? site was then chosen and seven tests took place • How many people are estimated to have died at in 1956-57. Some resulted in mushroom clouds Hiroshima and Nagasaki? reaching heights of over 14,000 metres, and • What two world powers became the dominant radioactive fallout blown by wind was detected military forces after the Second World War? as far away as Townsville. • These two powers were said to be in a “Cold War”. Why was that term used? The “minor trials” which took place in Maralinga • How did nuclear weapons function as a deterrent for were far more numerous - over 500 in total. conflict? These included experiments with highly • What were the reasons for the British asking radioactive materials, such as plutonium, Australia to host nuclear trials? beryllium and uranium. • Why was Australia likely to agree to British trials? • What was unusual about the way Prime Minister During the period of the trials and the Menzies gave approval for the British trials? subsequent restrictions, the traditional Anangu • What two locations in Australia were first used before owners of the Maralinga Lands were removed Maralinga? from and dispossessed of their country. In some • How many major trials took place at Maralinga? cases, Anangu re-entered the restricted areas • What were the minor trials, and what did these during the trials and were exposed to radioactive involve? fall-out. There is strong evidence that this • What is the consequence of exposing land to nuclear has led to significant inter-generational health fall-out and materials like plutonium, beryllium and problems. uranium? • Discuss as a class the Australian government’s For many years after the trials the entire approval of British nuclear trials on the traditional Maralinga region remained restricted as lands of Western Desert peoples. What were the uninhabitable. In 1985 a Royal Commission into reasons and what are the problems? the trials found that the British clean-up effort (“Operation Brumby”) failed in many respects to WATCH THE FILM remove radioactive debris. More successful efforts were made in the 1990s to clean up the area and now the region is deemed safe for people.
In November 2009 the Australian and South Australian governments and the Maralinga Tjarutja Council signed the Maralinga Nuclear Test Site Handback Deed, which gave effect to the return of the test site and Maralinga Village to Maralinga traditional owners. In 2014 the last restricted radioactive area, known as “Section 400”, was excised and returned to free access. © ATOM 2020
11 POST-VIEWING ACTIVITIES
Post-Viewing Activity 1
* What is Colonisation? “The colonisation of Australia has been aggressive and • introduced flora and • introduced nowhere more so than the use of Aboriginal country for fauna technologies nuclear testing.” - Larissa Behrendt, Writer & Director • other influences
In Australia the word “colonisation” can mean Over two centuries these different forms of very different things for different people. For many colonisation have changed and adapted. However, Australians “colonisation” is thought to simply refer colonisation has maintained at least two key traits: to the colonial period in the 19th century when large dispossession and assimilation: numbers of migrants arrived by boat from Britain, Ireland and Europe to settle in the early British • Dispossession means removing people from their colonies. From this point-of-view Australia today land or claiming legal ownership and governance is regarded a modern “post-colonial” society and of that land. independent of Great Britain. • Assimilation refers to strategies used to integrate Indigenous peoples into the dominant non- Another view of “colonisation” is that it has never Indigenous culture, primarily by means of ended. This is the view many Indigenous Peoples education, religion and the forced removal of take. From this point-of-view, the so-called “colonial children. period” of the 19th century was only the first stage of a process that has continued to force colonisation on Sometimes dispossession and assimilation occur Indigenous peoples in many ways, for example: very blatantly. Removing Indigenous people from their traditional lands and the placing of them in the • introduced cultures • introduced care of the state is one example. But in other cases, • introduced belief systems of law and these forms of colonisation can be more subtle. A systems government Native Title, for example, might benefit a community © ATOM 2020 • introduced forms of in some ways, but might not give traditional owners education the power to protect their lands from mining interests. 12 An Aboriginal community school might promote cultural pride and self-determination, but it might be required to teach students the English language state curriculum.
To recognise colonisation and your part in it, it is important to begin to ask questions about Australian society and its history. How has colonialism worked in Australian history? And how can we recognise and be critical of colonisation today?
QUESTIONS Jason Coombes To think about your relationship to colonisation, consider:
• How much do you know of the traditional Post-Viewing Activity 2 country and culture on which you live? • How often do you pay respects to the Traditional Owners of the land on which you live? * Before the Nuclear Trials • What does colonisation mean to you? • Why do some people use the term “post- In Maralinga Tjarutja Elder Jeremy Lebois tells that for colonial”? What does that mean? the Anangu and other peoples of the Western Desert two • Define and give five examples for the terms major disasters came before the nuclear trials. dispossession and assimilation? • What are some of the primary examples of The first disaster came with the Trans-Australian railway dispossession and assimilation in Australian line linking Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie history? in Western Australia. Work on the line was completed • Why do many people argue that colonisation is at Ooldea in 1917. The influx of people brought by the continuing today? railway led to the introduction to Western Desert peoples • How might Indigenous peoples experience detrimental foods (like sugar) and alcohol. Jeremy introduced flora and fauna as colonisation? Lebois reports that many rapes were committed by non- • How does the school system you are in benefit Indigenous men passing through the area, leading to the English language speakers? birth of Aboriginal children with non-Indigenous fathers. • How does the school system benefit students Jeremy also speaks in the film of the environmental with a cultural background in English and impact the railway had, especially for the sacred European cultures? permanent water source at Ooldea, which until then had • What form of law does Australia follow and remained the only ever reliable source of water in the where does this law come from (on what is it region. based)? • What traditional Indigenous cultural practices The second disaster came with the removal of Aboriginal are not allowed in public areas? children to Ooldea Mission and later to Yalata Mission. • What cultural practices are promoted in public The Ooldea Mission was established by the United spaces? Aboriginal Mission in 1933, and in 1938 an Aboriginal • How do the laws for public spaces promote Reserve was set up, including a dormitory for up to 60 certain cultural values over others? children. One of the functions of the Mission was to • Brainstorm some other cultural values in modern house and educate Aboriginal children considered by Australia. How are these values examples of the government to be of “mixed race” or “half-caste”. colonisation? According to the assimilationist policies of that time • What are some of the difficulties faced for “the Commonwealth [was] to do everything possible to Indigenous peoples following traditional culture convert the half-caste into a white citizen”.* Traditional in a modern Australian culture (e.g. schooling, language, law and culture were outlawed at the Mission language, laws, accommodation)? and children were educated in Western knowledge and • How have Indigenous peoples taken on Christian belief systems. introduced cultures and technologies and © ATOM 2020 transformed them to their own culture (e.g. In 1952 the Ooldea Mission was closed and all residents painting, hip hop, football)? were moved to the government Reserve and Lutheran 13 Mission at Yalata, 140 kms south. The children were of Ooldea Mission was in fact due to a separate removed further away from their land and people, administrative matter. from the red sands of the Western Desert to the grey sands of the Nullarbor Plain. As this occurred at the *As stated at the Initial Conference of Commonwealth same time as the beginning of British nuclear trials and State Aboriginal Authorities in 1937 - https:// it has widely been assumed that the move to Yalata aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/catalogue_ was because of the trials. However, the closure resources/18801.pdf)
QUESTIONS • For how many years did the Ooldea Mission operate? • How do the words “colonisation” and “contact” • Locate on a map Ooldea and Yalata and the mean different things for Western Desert peoples distance between these two places. than they do for Indigenous peoples in regions • Why did residents of the Yalata Mission refer to colonised much earlier by non-Indigenous their new home as “grey” country? people? • In what sense is the removal of children to • When did the peoples of the Maralinga region first missions an example of both dispossession and experience regular contact with non-Indigenous assimilation? cultures? • What languages were residents required to • What technology brought non-Indigenous people speak? to the Maralinga region? • What belief systems were residents of missions • What destructive influences did non-Indigenous forced to adopt? cultures bring? • How are these missions powerful and frightening • How did the train line separate traditional examples of colonisation? language-group and clan boundaries? • Discuss some of the reasons why government • How did the train line affect the Ooldea soak? and church authorities believed it in the interests • What crime does Jeremy Lebois explain was of Indigenous children to be removed from their common after the arrival of the train line? family, country and culture. • How was the assimilationist policy implemented • As a class, read or watch the National Apology in the 1930s related to the criminal behaviour of to the Stolen Generations: aiatsis.gov.au/explore/ non-Indigenous men brought by the train line? articles/apology-australias-indigenous-peoples
Rita Bryant © ATOM 2020
14 their very presence in the landscape was disregarded - as in this statement from the British nuclear physicist Sir Ernest Tittleton:
“Why Australia as a geographical locality [is chosen] is really rather obvious. Within Australia you can choose from very large areas which are totally devoid of buildings and totally devoid of people.” Sir Ernest Tittleton Willy Tingu For these reasons the Maralinga trials should be critically discussed as violent acts of colonisation. Although the British Post-Viewing Activity 3 did not claim and permanently settle on the land, the technology they brought was an act of environmental colonisation, transforming the country and * Colonisation in dispossessing the traditional peoples. The trials are also an act of cultural colonisation: a violent imposing the Atomic Age of one form of science, one set of values and one form of culture on another. As writer-director Larissa Writer and director Larissa Behrendt states: “the Behrendt writes: colonisation of Australia has been aggressive and nowhere more so than the use of Aboriginal country “This display of the destructive power of Western for nuclear testing.” science demonstrated by nuclear weaponry stands in stark contrast to cultural knowledge of land care, There are many ways to understand the British the husbanding of scarce water supplies and fire nuclear trials at Maralinga as an example of management by the Anangu that assisted them in colonisation. Firstly, the trials demonstrate the living sustainably for tens of thousands of years.” continuation of a colonial relationship between Australia and Britain. Although by the 1950s an In January 1985, the Maralinga Tjarutja native title independent Commonwealth nation, Australia land was handed over to the Maralinga people. Under continued its role as an apparatus for British interests. an agreement between the governments of the United Britain required space for nuclear testing and Kingdom and Australia, efforts were made to clean up Australia provided. This is expressed in the following the site before the Maralinga people resettled on the statement from 1955 by then Australian Minister land in 1995. They named their new community Oak Howard Beale: Valley. It is approximately 128 km from the original township. Oak Valley is home to a proud community “The whole project is a striking example of inter- and school. Commonwealth co-operation on the grand scale. England has the bomb and the knowhow; we have the open spaces, much technical skill and great willingness to help the Motherland.” Howard Beale, Minister of Supply, 4 May 1955
Secondly, the Maralinga trials are a powerful example of the colonial idea of terra nullius. Terra nullius was the doctrine first used by James Cook in 1770 to justify taking Crown possession of the Australian continent. Terra nullius claimed that the country belonged to no one.
In the Australian and British attitudes toward the Maralinga country we can recognise this colonial © ATOM 2020 attitude very starkly. At Maralinga, not only was the ownership of the traditional owners ignored, but Andrew Collett 15 • What is the relevance of the doctrine of terra nullius in these misconceptions? • In what sense were these trials an act of environmental (or ecological) colonisation? • How do the Maralinga trials impact not only Anangu country but Anangu culture? • As a class, discuss the stark contrast between the science of nuclear weaponry, which concerns military dominance, and the science of traditional Anangu knowledge, which concerns survival and Tom Gara ecological conservation. • What are the goals of each science? • What are the methods of each science? • What are the cultural values of each science? QUESTIONS • What is the connection to country (or value of country) of each science? • As a class, discuss the many ways that the • In what ways did the British nuclear trials nuclear trials at Maralinga are an example of endanger human lives? colonisation. • In what year did the Royal Commission into British • Why does Larissa Behrendt call the trials perhaps nuclear tests in Australia take place? the most aggressive example of colonisation? • In what year was native title recognised for the • How does the case of Maralinga differ from traditional owners of Maralinga? the older concept of colonisation (the arrival of • How many years after native title were traditional migrants, early settlement, etc)? owners able return to the Maralinga region? • What cultural and political values are promoted • What is the name of the new community in Howard Beale’s statement: “England has the established there? bomb and the knowhow; we have the open • In what year were restrictions lifted on the final spaces, much technical skill and great willingness areas in the Maralinga region? to help the Motherland”? • In light of this film, discuss the following quote • What cultural attitudes are represented in Ernest from Jeremy Lebois: “Whatever happened here, Tittleton’s argument that Australia has areas at the end of the day this is my country. I have a “totally devoid of people.” responsibility as a Wati. Our grandfathers left it • Why did Tittleton (and many others) assume the behind for us to look after it.” country for testing was devoid of people?
SOME USEFUL LINKS
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait atomic bomb testing”: https://www.abc.net.au/ Islander Studies (AIATSIS): www.aiatsis.gov.au news/2019-07-01/maralinga-retelling-the-story-of- Maralinga Tjarutja Council: maralingatjarutja.com/ britains-atomic-bomb-testing/11249874 community.htm Mary Graham, “Some Thoughts about the National Museum of Australia: www.nma.gov.au/ Philosophical Underpinnings of Aboriginal defining-moments/resources/maralinga Worldviews”: australianhumanitiesreview. National Archives of Australia: www.naa.gov.au/ org/2008/11/01/some-thoughts-about-the- explore-collection/first-australians/publications- philosophical-underpinnings-of-aboriginal- and-other-resources-about-first-australians/ worldviews/ british-nuclear-tests-maralinga National Apology footage and transcript: ABC article, “The lesser known history of the aiatsis.gov.au/explore/articles/ Maralinga nuclear tests — and what it’s like apology-australias-indigenous-peoples to stand at ground zero”: www.abc.net.au/ The Conversation article “Sixty Years on the Maralinga news/2020-03-24/maralinga-nuclear-tests- Bomb Tests Remind us not to put Security over ground-zero-lesser-known-history/11882608 Safety: theconversation.com/sixty-years-on-the- © ATOM 2020 ABC article, “Maralinga story to be told through maralinga-bomb-tests-remind-us-not-to-put- eyes of traditional owners affected by Britain’s security-over-safety-62441 16 Creative Spirits: www.creativespirits.info/ Australian Human Rights Commission – Social aboriginalculture/history/maralinga-how-british- Determinants and the health of Indigenous nuclear-tests-changed-history-forever peoples n Australia -a human rights based Indigenous Weather Knowledge: www.bom.gov.au/ approach. www.humanrights.gov.au/about/ iwk/index.shtml news/speeches/social-determinants-and-health- The Central Land Council (Northern Territory) www. indigenous-peoples-australia-human-rights-based clc.org.au The Aurora Project – for more information on Reconciliation Australia www.reconciliation.org.au initiatives in Indigenous education. www. The Uluru Statement: www.ulurustatement.org auroraproject.com.au Indigenous Peoples at the United Nations (incl. The Indigenous Knowledge Systems in the Australian United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Curriculum: www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/ Indigenous Peoples): www.un.org/development/ article/2018/11/05/experts-say-indigenous- desa/indigenouspeoples/about-us.html knowledge-will-enrich-science-education Closing the Gap website outlining the many different Indigenous X: Indigenous X is an Australian areas of the government led initiative: www. Aboriginal-owned and -operated independent closingthegap.pmc.gov.au media company www.IndigenousX.com.au Lowitja Institute - Australia’s National Institute for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health Research www.lowitja.org.au
This study guide was produced by ATOM. (© ATOM 2020) ISBN: 978-1-76061-358-7 [email protected] Study guide designed by Pascale van Breugel. To download other study guides, plus thousands of articles on Film as Text, Screen Literacy, Multiliteracy and Media Studies, visit
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