In September 1950, the then UK Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, requested via a secure telegraph, to Australia's Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies, to conduct a series of atomic tests at the Monte Bello Islands off the coast of Western Australia. Over the next thirteen years, twelve major British nuclear tests would occur on Australian territory, along with thirty "minor" atomic trials testing sub-systems. The last Vixen B trial occurred in 1963 whereupon the United Kingdom moved its testing operations to the United States.
This image of British nuclear testing conducted at Maralinga in 1957 was submitted to the Royal Commission.[4]
The Royal Commission into nuclear tests arose out of a public outcry, led by media reports, over the increasing evidence (and statistical significance) of premature deaths of former Australian staff associated with the atomic tests and subsequent birth defects of their off-springs. Likewise, remote indigenous communities downwind of the tests had statistically significant higher rates of radiation related diseases not generally found among indigenous communities to the same level. In light of the increasing evidence and public lobbying by concerned groups, the Hawke Labor Government established a Royal Commission to investigate the British atomic tests in Australia.
Hearings
The Royal Commission was told that 30 badly leaking drums of radioactive waste were dumped off the West Australian coast. The Commission was also told that acting Prime Minister Arthur Fadden had sent a message to the British PM asking "What the bloody hell is going on, the cloud is drifting over the mainland?".[5] A CSIROscientist is[when?] making use of the thin blanket of radioactive caesium-137 laid over Australia from atmospheric nuclear tests to measure soil erosion.[6]
The McClelland Royal Commission was told that one hundred Aboriginal people walked barefoot over nuclear-contaminated ground because boots they had been given didn't fit.[7] The 1953 British nuclear test that allegedly caused 'black mist' phenomenon in South Australia should not have been fired and the fallout was about three times more than forecast, according to a scientist who was involved in the tests.[8][9]
A house built less than 200 metres from an area mined for mineral sands 25 years ago[when?] is still contaminated from mineral-sands tailings which are dangerously radioactive.[10] According to a special report on an investigation of residual radio-active contamination, about 100,000 dangerous metal fragments contaminated with plutonium still litter the Maralinga atomic test range – 25 years after[when?] the atomic tests which caused them.[11]
A miner has told the McClelland Royal Commission on British nuclear weapons tests in Australia, that geiger counter readings of the fallout levels near Marble Bar were "off-the-scale".[12][13]
then Australian Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies approved the British nuclear tests without first receiving independent Australian scientific advice on the hazards to humans or the environment.
the Australia Federal Cabinet was kept in the dark by Menzies about key aspects of the nuclear tests.
the atomic test agreement by the British and Australian governments was done in retrospect after the first test had occurred.
Australia was forced to accept UK assurances on the safety and likely fallout lifespan hazards of the atomic tests, without an independent scientific assessment.
Australia's key representative to oversee the atomic tests on behalf of Australia, Sir Ernest Titterton, was in fact an expatriate British person who withheld key information from the Australian Government.
the safeguards against radiation exposure for the nuclear veterans were totally inadequate, even by the best practice standards of the 1950s.
it is probable that the rate of cancers that occurred subsequent to the atomic tests in Australia would not have otherwise occurred were it not for the fallout from the tests.
the Vixen tests on plutonium should have not occurred knowing the half-life and radiation hazard of plutonium even with 1950s knowledge of the hazards.
failure to provide Australian air crews with protective equipment on over-flights or direct fly-throughs of the atomic mushroom clouds was clearly negligent.
Controversy over findings and alleged bias
The report's approach and conclusions apparently differed from the British Government's official history, based on official British records, by Lorna Arnold.[15] This report emphasized the partnership between the two nations, and noted that the approach taken towards safety was to international standards of the time and had contrasted with the historic disregard of Australian authorities toward the welfare of indigenous people.
Some observers have noted that both reports were framed in the politics of the time: Britain wished to minimize its responsibility, while the Australian government of Bob Hawke wished to implicate their political opponents alongside the British, and have suggested that the timeline of the inquiry was chosen so as not to implicate earlier Labor governments.[16] However, the Australian Labor Party had not been in power federally from 1950 until 1972, clearly undermining that argument. Likewise the Arnold report was criticised for being authored by a former employee of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), and for the author having never visited the test sites nor interviewed Australian participants who worked on the atomic tests. The Royal Commission witness statements of recounting discussions between Australian RAAF and USAF B-29 flight crews clearly demonstrate that the tests were not at then international standards in terms of testing instruments nor health and safety precautions for radiation.[17] The Royal Commission heard ample evidence of British scientists being fully dressed in protective radiation suits that were not issued to Australian staff working in the same high-risk radiation zones. Overall the Arnold argument that the British nuclear tests were a partnership was not compatible with the documented facts that the British controlled and managed the tests and the Australians worked under direction from British atomic test leaders.
^Hyland, Anne (23 December 2022). "From brickie's labourer to Supreme Court judge: Peter McClellan's extraordinary career". The Sydney Morning Herald. The child sexual abuse royal commission was McClellan's second royal commission. The first was the Maralinga Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia, on which he served as counsel assisting, at the age of 37. Its findings were damning of the British government and former prime minister Robert Menzies. "I thought it might have accelerated our progress towards a republic, but I was wrong," recalls McClellan.
^Walker, Frank (2016). Maralinga: The chilling expose of our secret nuclear shame and betrayal of our troops and country. Sydney: Hachette. ISBN978-0-7336-3593-9.pp.303-306
^Walker, Frank (2016). Maralinga: The chilling expose of our secret nuclear shame and betrayal of our troops and country. Sydney: Hachette. ISBN978-0-7336-3593-9. pp.53
Bibliography
Tynan, Elizabeth (2016). Atomic Thunder: The Maralinga Story. Sydney: NewSouth. ISBN978-1-742-23428-1.
Walker, Frank (2016). Maralinga: The chilling expose of our secret nuclear shame and betrayal of our troops and country. Sydney: Hachette. ISBN978-0-7336-3593-9.
to inquire into and report upon the arrangements made for the transport of troops returning from service in South Africa in the S.S. "Drayton Grange" (1902)
on sites for the seat of government of the Commonwealth (1903)
on the Bonuses for Manufactures Bill (1903–1904)
on the butter industry (1904–1905)
on the Navigation Bill (1904–1906)
on the affray at Goaribari Island, British New Guinea, on the 6th of March, 1904 (1904)
on customs and excise tariffs (1904–1907)
on old-age pensions (1905–1906)
on the tobacco monopoly (1905–1906)
1906–1910
on ocean shipping service (1906)
British New Guinea—Royal Commission of inquiry into the present conditions, including the method of government, of the Territory of Papua, and the best means of their improvement (1906–1907)
on secret drugs, cures, and foods (1906–1907)
on postal services (1908–1910)
on insurance (1908–1910)
on stripper harvesters and drills (1908–1909)
on Tasmanian customs leakage (1910–1911)
1911–1920
1911–1912
on the sugar industry (1911–1912)
on the pearl-shelling industry (1912–1916)
on the fruit industry (1912–1914)
1913–1914
to inquire into certain charges against Mr. Henry Chinn (1913)
on Northern Territory railways and ports (1913–1914)
on powellised timber (1913–1914)
upon the Commonwealth electoral law and administration (1914–1915)
on meat export trade (1914)
on food supplies and trade and industry during the war (1914)
1915–1916
on mail services and trade development between Australia and the New Hebrides (1915)
on Liverpool Military Camp, New South Wales (1915)
on the charges made by D. L. Gilchrist concerning the construction of the western section of the Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta Railway (1916)
to inquire into and report upon certain charges against the Administrator and other officers of the Northern Territory Administration (1916)
on Federal Capital Administration (1916–1917)
1917–1918
on Java and the East Indies, Singapore and the Straits Settlements (1917–1918)
on Navy and Defence Administration (1917–1919)
on the war—Australian Imperial Force. Report as to number of members fit for active service and number of reinforcements and enlistments required (1918)
on Public Service administration, Commonwealth of Australia (1918–1920)
upon the public expenditure of the Commonwealth of Australia with a view to effecting economies (1918–1921)
on taxation of leasehold estates in Crown lands (1918–1919)
on the basic wage (1919–1920)
1919–1920
on the sugar industry (1919–1920)
on industrial troubles on Melbourne wharfs (1919–1920)
on late German New Guinea (1919–1920)
to inquire into complaints by the munition worker passengers to Australia by the transport "Bahia Castillo" (1919)
on Northern Territory Administration (1919–1920)
on taxation (1920–1923)
on the increase of the selling price of coal (1920)
upon the loyalty to the British Crown of German Nationals resident in Australia whose property is liable to a charge created by the Treaty of Peace Regulations made under the Treaty of Peace (Germany) Act 1919–1920 (1921)
1923–1924
on the circumstances attending the supposed loss at sea of the steamship "Sumatra" (1923)
in connection with sugar purchases by the Commonwealth through Mr. W. E. Davies in September and October, 1920 (1923–1924)
in connection with joinery supplied to the War Service Homes Commissioner in March, 1920 (1923–1924)
on the method for determining the unimproved value of land held under Crown leases (1924–1925)
on the assessment of war service disabilities (1924–1925)
to inquire into extracts from the reports in Parliamentary Debates of speeches made by Mr. Scullin in the House of Representatives on 7 and 19 August 1924, in relation to land tax matters (1924–1925)
on the finances of Western Australia, as affected by Federation (1924–1925)
1925–1926
on health (1925–1926)
on Norfolk Island affairs (1926)
on certain matters in connexion with the British Phosphate Commission (1926)
to inquire into allegations affecting members of the Parliamentary Joint Committee of Public Accounts in connexion with claims made by broadcasting companies against the Commonwealth Government (1930)
1931–1940
1931–1935
on Jacob Johnson (1931)
on performing rights (1932–1933)
on taxation (1932–1934)
on mineral oils and petrol and other products of mineral oils (1933–1935)
on the wheat, flour and bread industries (1934–1936)
to inquire into and report upon the circumstances associated with the retirement of Lieutenant-Commander Alan Dermot Casey from the Royal Australian Navy (1934)
to inquire into the monetary and banking systems at present in operation in Australia (1935–1937)
1936–1940
on doctors' remuneration for national insurance service and other contract practice (1938)
to inquire into and report upon the contract or contracts with Abbco Bread Co. Pty. Limited for the supply of bread to the Department of the Army, and other matters (1941)
to inquire into circumstances under which certain public monies were used and to whom, and for what purposes such moneys were paid (1941)
an inquiry into a statement that there was a document missing from the official files in relation to "The Brisbane Line" (1943)
to inquire into and report upon certain transactions of the Sydney Land Sales Control Office, and the Canberra Land Sales Control Office of the Treasury (1947)
to inquire into certain transactions in relation to timber rights in the Territory of Papua-New Guinea (1949)
1951–1960
on the Port Augusta to Alice Springs Railway (1951–1952)
on alleged improper practices and improper refusal to co-operate with the Victoria Police Force on the part of persons employed in the Postmaster-General's Department in Victoria in relation to illegal gambling (1962–1963)
