Everything about Maralinga South Australia totally explained
Maralinga, South Australia in the remote western areas of
South Australia was the home of the
Maralinga Tjarutja, a southern
Pitjantjatjara Indigenous Australian people. Maralinga was the site of the secret
British nuclear tests in the
1950s. In January
1985, the Maralinga Tjarutja
native title land was handed back to the Maralinga people under the Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act, 1984 passed by both houses of the
South Australian Parliament in December
1984 and proclaimed in January
1985.
Under an agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia efforts were made to clean up the site before it the Maralinga people resettled on the land in
1995 and named the new community
Oak Valley Community. The effectiveness of this cleanup has been disputed on a number of occasions.
The population ranges from 80-100; during special cultural activities with visitors from neighbouring communities it rises to 1,500 people.
Nuclear tests and cleanup
UK nuclear testing and were contaminated with radioactive waste in the
1950s.
Maralinga was surveyed by
Len Beadell in the early 1950s, and followed the survey of the site called
Emu Field, which was further north and which conducted the first two tests.
On
September 27,
1956,
Operation Buffalo commenced at Maralinga, Emu Field having been found to be too remote a site. The operation consisted of the testing of four
fission bombs, codenamed
One Tree,
Marcoo,
Kite and
Breakaway.
One Tree and
Breakaway were exploded from towers,
Marcoo was exploded at ground level and
Kite was released by a
Royal Air Force Vickers Valiant bomber from a height of 30,000 ft (9,144 m). This was the first launching of a British atomic weapon from an aircraft.
Operation Antler followed in
1957. Antler was designed to test the triggering mechanisms of the weapons. Three tests began in September, codenamed
Tadje,
Biak and
Taranaki. The first two tests were conducted from towers, the last was suspended from balloons. Yields from the weapons were 1
kiloton, 6 kilotons and 25 kilotons respectively.
The local Aboriginal people have claimed they were
poisoned by the tests, however the
McClelland Royal Commission of 1984-1985 could find no evidence of this, however it did identify significant contamination at some sites. British and Australian servicemen were purposely exposed to fallout from the blasts, to see what happened. These facts came out in the
Royal Commission between 1984 and 1985. Previously many of the facts were kept from the public.
Despite the governments of
Australia and the
UK paying for two decontamination programs, concerns have been expressed that some areas of the Maralinga test sites are still contaminated.
Neighbouring Aboriginal Communities and distances to main centres
Neighbouring Aboriginal Communities are:
Distances to main centres are:
Ceduna to Oak Valley - 516 km (approx 7 hours)
Yalata to Oak Valley - 315 km (about 5 hours (via Ooldea))
Pt Lincoln to Oak Valley - 919 km
Adelaide to Oak Valley - 1288 km
Climate
Temperature from 6.5ºC in Winter to 44.7ºC in Summer, overnight minimum -3º in winter.
Rainfall average .75mm - 1.25mmFurther Information
Get more info on 'Maralinga South Australia'.
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