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. The site measures about 3,300 km² in area. In January 1985, the Maralinga Tjarutja native title land was handed back to the Maralinga people under the Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act, 1984[1] passed by both houses of the South Australian Parliament in December 1984 and proclaimed in January 1987.
Under an agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia, efforts were made to clean up the site before the Maralinga people resettled on the land in 1995. They named their new community Oak Valley Community. The effectiveness of the cleanup has been disputed on a number of occasions.
The population is generally around 23–50. During special cultural activities with visitors from neighbouring communities, it rises to 1,500 people.
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The Maralinga and Emu Fields were the scene of 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 where the first two tests were conducted.
On 27 September 1956, Operation Buffalo commenced at Maralinga, as Emu Field was 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.[2]
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.[3]
The local Aboriginal people have claimed they were poisoned by the tests. 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 10 years after being declared 'clean'.[4][5][6][7][8]
Distances to main centres are: