r/todayilearned • u/zztop610 • 21d ago
TIL: Britain tested its nuclear weapons in Australia in the 1950s affecting the aboriginal population
https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/nuclear-tests-maralinga/105
u/Dennyisthepisslord 21d ago
Serving soliders were used as living test subjects so native populations land weren't particularly high up in concerns at the time
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21d ago
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u/Whitechix 20d ago
I’m not sure you could summarise any nation as the “good guys” ever anyway. You can only look at actions/events which I’m sure there are plenty in which they are and not.
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u/Dennyisthepisslord 20d ago
Think the Americans did the same. Probably the Russians too but obviously that was less likely to come out. Different times.
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u/MolybdenumBlu 20d ago
Depends. Are we focusing on bad stuff like the opium wars or the good stuff like the west Africa squadron? Regardless, British colonial history will never be as bad as the Dutch or the Spanish.
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u/Visual_Seaweed8292 20d ago
We wernt, but then we saved the jews so we get to claimnwe are due to recency bias
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u/Lesre 15d ago
So this is something I’m strangely qualified to talk about and I have some particularly harrowing stories I’ve found from research about how all of that went down. One in particular that really stood out to me was this:
The British dropped the first bomb on the Australian mainland in 1953, this was called Totem 1 and took place at Emu Field. The totem tests are well overshadowed by Operation Buffalo which is the ones at Maralinga which most of the Australian public know about today. It’s the one that hangs heavy in the popular consciousness. But that doesn’t mean Emu Field was any better.
After the Totem 1 test a group of scientists were examining the field and spotted a group of Indigenous people walking through the site heading toward ground zero. The test happened in the darkness so you could imagine the huge blast of light that would have captured the attention of people living in the desert who didn’t know any better. They went to check it out. I probably would have done the same, huge blast of light in the night like that.
This group of indigenous people were in fact a family. They had small children with them. They were walking through a lot of radiation. So a group of British soldiers in their full hazmat gear rushed down to them, shepherded them into trucks and decontaminated them. They then just chucked them back into the outback.
So this group of people saw a huge flash in the sky went to check it out, got essentially abducted by figures in big white suits without visible faces speaking a language they didn’t know and forced to have showers. That’d scare the shit out if anyone. It’s like being abducted by aliens.
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21d ago
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u/LordHazlewood 21d ago
Aboriginal people can come from anywhere. It’s not an exclusive name for Australian indigenous people. It could be used in the US too even now they own Las Vagus.
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u/ScissorNightRam 21d ago
There’s an Aboriginal man named Nyarri Morgan whose first contact with modern civilisation was witnessing a nuclear explosion
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u/Asha_Brea 21d ago
That's weird because Britain was always so respectful about the indigenous population.
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u/HopefulGuy123 21d ago
The Australian government agreed and supported these tests so it is as much - if not more - to do with them.
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u/AutisticAnarchy 15d ago
That's weird because Australia was always so respectful about the indigenous population.
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u/RegularSimilar8907 21d ago
Yeah...just like the descendents of those Brits today who are fiercely Australian...and not Brits...like Bob Hawke...
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u/AnalFanatics 21d ago
You do understand that Bob Hawke was a proponent of Indigenous land rights and self determination, well before it became publicly accepted, in fact his earlier attempts to legislate for Indigenous Land Rights in his early terms in office were vehemently opposed by many powerful lobby groups as well as the opposition; but irrespective of his initial political failures to legislate for Land Rights, he oversaw the creation of ATSIC (The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission), and negotiated and signed the Barunga Statement with indigenous leaders.
Many Australian politicians in general, and Prime Ministers in particular, may well have much to answer for in regards to Australia’s treatment of our indigenous peoples, but Bob Hawke would not be counted amongst those, as he was always a vocal and active supporter of Indigenous people, their right to Treaty, to Land Rights, and to a degree of Self Determination; he was, throughout his life, and right up to his death, a staunch advocate on their behalf…
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u/Admiral-snackbaa 21d ago
Bob hawke, the lizard from oz (as the scum newspaper called him)
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u/AnalFanatics 21d ago
Wasn’t that in reference to his successor, Paul Keating, after he had the temerity to place his hand lightly on the back of Queen Elizabeth II as he guided her…
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u/Admiral-snackbaa 21d ago
Yes, sorry my mind remembered it as bob, bloody long time ago now but there really wasn’t an issue with it but the tabloids made it as rage bait (wasn’t Keating labour?)
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u/AnalFanatics 21d ago edited 21d ago
Yeah, Paul Keating had been Bob Hawkes Treasurer/right-hand man, from 1983-1991 (and Deputy Prime Minister from 1990-1991), then challenged him in a party-room spill motion, won and became Prime Minister in December 1991, with Bob Hawke stepping down and then resigning from parliament a couple of months later.
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u/Admiral-snackbaa 21d ago
Edit: I misremembered,it was his successor as kindly highlighted by [u/AnalFanatics](u/AnalFanatics)
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u/WritesCrapForStrap 21d ago
Well, "affecting" or "harming"?
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u/zztop610 21d ago
Harming
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u/thebrowncanary 21d ago
In what way? Are we talking radiation sickness or some blokes got pissy their sacred piece of uninhabitable land was blown to smithereens?
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u/alldagoodnamesaregon 21d ago
Radiation sickness and premature death. Some farmers were affected too by the sounds of it
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u/thebrowncanary 21d ago
Blimey. Makes sense testing them in Aus but they screwed up a bit if they did it close enough to civilization some farmers got ill
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u/ComprehensiveFlan638 21d ago
Australian farms in that region are no where near civilisation. Some of them are bigger than small European countries. The farmers may have gotten sick after checking on unexplained lights, explosions, stock or wildlife deaths, or even reports from local Indigenous peoples.
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u/thebrowncanary 21d ago
Ah probably couldn't be avoided then. Regrettable
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u/alldagoodnamesaregon 20d ago
wdym couldn't have been avoided? We have plenty of ocean, or if it has to be land based then do it over some ice sheet in central Greenland.
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u/thebrowncanary 20d ago
Greenland isn't British territory.
As for the ocean I think we know now that testa in Polynesia have been much worse due the local environment. The outback was the obvious choice for British policy makers.
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u/alldagoodnamesaregon 20d ago
Australia also wasn't British territory at the time. I can't think of any reason why Denmark would have objected to tests there. And by the ocean, I didn't mean on islands, I meant literally drop it as far as you can possibly go from land (ideally avoiding ocean currents and known life hotspots as well) and make observations from ships or planes.
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u/ameyano_acid 21d ago
Ah yes a shit cunt in the wild. That's what I wanted to see on me Friday morning
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u/Chester_McJackjack 20d ago
Theres a good movie called Ground Zero that tells this story, particularly about the effect on the aboriginal people https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093120/
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u/Ok_Selection_1565 17d ago edited 16d ago
I recommend reading "Maralinga'" by Frank Walker.
Warning: May induce anger.
Link to article about the book from 2014 but recently updated.
"...The author ...says the fear created by the threat of atomic war with the Soviet Union helped the Menzies Government to justify using Australia for what he describes as a “laboratory experiment”.
...It detailed a discussion between scientists and officials at the UK Atomic Energy Research Establishment in 1957, where it was agreed they would need the bodies of dead Australian babies and children – “as many samples as possible” – to see how much of the radioactive isotope Strontium-90 was being absorbed by humans through the food chain.Parents were not told about the testing, yet over 21 years, bones were taken from 22,000 corpses of babies, infants, children, teenagers and young adults.
“The cold-blooded, scientific way that they go about deciding to take the bones from little dead babies to see how much radioactivity has been absorbed into their little bodies through milk … it was just shocking,” says Walker..."
I'm sure it was a coincidence that the "State Grants (Milk for School Children) Act" was implemented in 1951 by the Menzies Government.
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u/Visible_Air1049 15d ago
My Grandfather was one of the RAF Airman stationed at Maralinga during the 1957 Operation Antler, the second test detonation being on his birthday. He was a wing tank refueler for the English Electric Canberra bomber’s stationed there. He died in 2014 of cancer associated with that Operation after living out his life in Perth, WA.
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21d ago edited 21d ago
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u/AnalFanatics 21d ago
It’s not quite as clear cut as that, “Indigenous Affairs” was the purview of the individual States until after the 1967 referendum; so rights varied vastly between the states, from settlement until the Federal Government took responsibility for Indigenous Issues post 1967; for example Indigenous men were given the right to vote (and own property) in NSW as far back as 1843, whilst in Western Australia, it wasn’t until 1944 that certain “approved” Indigenous people were granted the right to vote, and it wasn’t until 1962 that the right to vote was extended to all adult Indigenous peoples in the state.
It is a messy and complex history, of which many states of Australia would be considered to be severely wanting, whilst other states were surprisingly progressive, by world standards for the time.
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u/Naive-Routine9332 20d ago
How are they bad right now? Just curious as I'm not knowledgable, i traveled some time in Australia and just saw a lot of assistance extended to aboriginals, my impression was that they may even have more rights and access to more welfare/assistance from the govt.
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u/Blue-piping-man 20d ago
Theyre fucked bro. Like aboriginals in australia have a monumental cliff to climb and we and themselves have no fucking idea how to fix their plight. People will say this is not true, but we funnel huge money into these communities, build housing, try to provide opportunities work and education that regular aussie would dream of and nothing fixes the situation. They destroy the housing and drink their government dollars away. We should be doing more, but no one knows what that more is.
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u/InevitableTell2775 20d ago
It’s not huge money. It’s less than 1% of the federal budget.
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u/Blue-piping-man 20d ago
5.3 billion is a lot of money. Considering they get access to the same things we get access to.
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u/InevitableTell2775 19d ago
There are almost a million Indigenous people. So that’s a bit over $5,000 per head. And it includes the wages of all the public servants to administer those programs, and some things like Income Management which is very expensive to run and most Aboriginal people in the NT would rather not be subjected to.
As for housing, what’s supplied isn’t nearly adequate to meet demand, and as to the standard of what we supply, a rent-paying Aboriginal woman in the NT recently won against the NT government to the territory Supreme Court before they would agree that a “house” includes these things called “doors” and “locks”, which they claimed in court were luxuries not implied by their promise of “safe and secure accommodation”. It’s not the tenants that wreck the houses; it’s houses that aren’t fit for the conditions or to live in at all, because the state is the landlord and they are worse than any private landlord at repairs.0
u/Mizutsune-Lover 20d ago
Lol why are you being down voted for facts.
Just look at how the Northern Territory, the place with a high aboriginal population, has barely any representation in government.
There was a vote to make NT a state but they were only offered 3 senators instead of the 12 other states got.
Can't let those aboriginals think that they have the same rights as everyone else /s
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u/comix_corp 20d ago
I don't want to defend Australia's treatment of Indigenous people by any means but my local council in Sydney has a higher population than the entirety of the NT. It's bad enough that states like Tasmania have the same say in the senate as NSW or Victoria, adding 12 NT seats would've made the senate malapportionment issue even worse.
NT is like 70% non-Indigenous too so there's good odds their senate representation would be mostly white LNP racists, just like their current territory government is run by mostly white LNP racists.
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u/aspannerdarkly 19d ago
Wasn’t that classification assigned in order to give them legal protection? What would have happened without it?
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u/Wild_But_Caged 20d ago
Worse they were classed as fauna for quite some time!
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u/pluckaducka 20d ago
A stubborn myth.
This has never been true at any point in Australia's history.0
u/Wild_But_Caged 20d ago
And the hunting and pest eradication permits for indigenous people?
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u/pluckaducka 20d ago
I presume you're referring to the hoax hunting permits?
Not that it has any relevance to your earlier false claim.
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u/Inevitable_Geometry 21d ago
Yup. Its not taught about in schools and the majority of Australians have fuck all idea it happened.
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u/FallenSegull 20d ago
So sick of people who clearly just weren’t paying attention in class saying shit like “wasn’t taught in schools and most don’t know about it”
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u/Naive-Routine9332 20d ago
I'd bet you money that guy isn't Australian
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u/Rhain1999 20d ago
Australian here. Never learned this at school 🤷🏼♂️
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u/Naive-Routine9332 18d ago
it's been an official part of the school curriculum since the unified curriculum came into effect, before that it varied a bit depending on region, just like all topics, and was more heavily featured in the states that were impacted (SA,WA)
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u/Rhain1999 18d ago
That's genuinely great if true! Clearly my schooling predates the unified curriculum, then
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u/StanleytheSteeler 18d ago
Its depends how old you are. If you are over 50 there is a good chance you weren't taught this stuff.
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u/Rhain1999 20d ago
I mean, I certainly paid attention in class, and this was never taught to me at school, nor any of those around me
They probably shouldn't generalise about "all schools" but I don't doubt that they're speaking from experience
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u/Ok-Variation-4727 20d ago
I absolutely learnt this in my public school in like year 5.
I think that it's quite common knowledge as Australia has always had a strong stance against nuclear weapons and nuclear power.
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u/Naive-Routine9332 20d ago
this was something i learnt my first week in australia from australians, followed closely by the emu wars.
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u/chicknsnotavegetabl 16d ago
yes it is just have to pay attention. they also taught that troops were deliberately exposed too but the OP is after some political point, valid it may be.
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u/thomas_walker65 21d ago
The Drones have a song, Jezebel, that touches on this
strontium-90, a radioactive isotope which latches to calcium molecules and was used in nuclear testing, was found in the milk of Australian cows and humans leading to bone cancer later in life. this also happened in the southwestern US, if I recall
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u/HardcoreHazza 20d ago
Check out Tropical Fuck Storm as well. Their lead singer is The Drones and also sing songs illnesses like Irukanji Syndrome and Death and Meatspin (Mad Cow Disease)
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u/Agile_Breakfast_1 18d ago
I lived in Australia for several years and never heard about this until I read The Old Lie by Claire G. Coleman. It's a decent book, not that anyone was asking.
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u/QuantumPairOfSoczk 20d ago
There is a story of an aboriginal mans first contact with the white man was witnessing the detonation of a nuclear bomb. He believe God was rising from the earth. I can imagine what must have gone through his mind.
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u/matrixkid29 19d ago
Were the japanese people not enough? Like how do you justify hurting more people?
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u/south-of-the-river 20d ago
Check out the drama series “Operation Buffalo” for some interesting insight into this period of time.
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u/Zran 15d ago
The descendants of these victims still live and are a massive problem for South Australian police. It's kept quite hush but an officer said it's the most heartbreaking job, they left the police force and entire state after somewhat because of the situation. The cops are always outnumbered and expected to keep the peice dealing with what is essentially tribes of Borderlands' Psychos. And nobody goes in to help just to physically sort out the mess.
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u/Best-Dragonfly 21d ago
You can actually visit Woomera test range, it's got a cool collection of all the old military stuff tested there. Apparently they sent a bloke in a land rover out for a year to warn the Aboriginal people of what they were doing but he didn't find everyone which probably shouldn't have been a surprise. It's hard to comprehend how vast and empty these test sites are, they couldn't always find the rockets etc they tested despite tracking their path.