Maralinga Pieces

"Between 1952 and 1963 the British Government performed nuclear weapons tests at Maralinga and Emu Field in South Australia and Monte Bello Islands off the coast of Western Australia. A total of twelve major nuclear tests were performed, and up to 700 minor ‘dirty’ trials were also conducted. Many Aboriginal people and nuclear veterans have either died or are still suffering the physical and psychological effects of these tests. The Maralinga village, located over 1000km north-west of Adelaide in remote South Australia, hosted 8,000 Australian service personnel and 22,000 British personnel over the entire eleven years the project was underway. The village contained an airport, photography lab, bar, swimming pool, tennis court, football field, cricket pitch and cinema; not many of these structures are left today, but what does remain is overgrown and crumbling or converted to pits for radioactive debris. "