The
Weekend Star
Weekender
Saturday
November 5th 2005
Page:
93 -95
Author:
Zoe Satherley
Atomic Oz
Twelve
atomic bombs were detonated in Australia
as part of the British nuclear testing program in the 50’s and 60’s. Keith
Worboys was on duty on the HMAS Murchinson off the Monte Bello
Islands when a bomb was
exploded.
ZOE
SATHERLEY reports.
KEITH
WORBOYS thought it was a blast when an atomic bomb exploded behind him.
The
21-year-old radar operator remembers being excited by the event.
“We
all were. It was an amazing thing to witness and be part of,” he said from his
home in Lismore.
Keith,
74, is one of the few survivors of the 12 atomic bombs exploded by the British
in Australia
in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
“Not
many people are left alive who know we are the guinea pigs,” he said.
“Under
the Official Secrets Act we were threatened with death by firing squad if we
talked about what had happened. We were told to forget we ever saw anything and
we did just that.
“The
only health warning we were given was not to have children for a few years.
“There
were never any medical check-ups or follow-ups.”
At
the time of the blast Keith was on duty, patrolling in HMAS Murchison, just off
the Monte Bello
Islands in Western Australia, north of Broome, where
the British exploded the first bomb in 1952.
The
detonation of the 25-kiloton bomb – seven years after the atomic blasts that
devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki – was code-named Operation
Hurricane.
“We
turned our backs and covered our eyes. The heat was so intense it scolded us.
We thought we’d frizzle away,” Keith said.
“Some
men said they could see the bones of their fingers in front of their eyes.
“There
was an almighty roar then we all turned back to have a look and saw this
massive multicoloured cloud of smoke boiling and rolling so high into the
heavens you couldn’t see the top of it.
“There
was a huge column of water tunnelling up into the sky and even though we were
10 miles away, the waves that started hitting us were so massive I’m amazed we
didn’t roll over. It was just an incredible sight.”
Keith
believes he is the last of the 190 HMAS Murchison crew members still alive.
“All
the others have died – most from various cancers,” he said.
Keith
himself is in remission from lymphoma (cancer of the lymph glands).
A
recent documentary that screened in Lismore and Byron – Australian Atomic
Confessions – details the full horror of that period in Australia’s
history.
Northern
Rivers film producer Kathy Aigner (Australian
Atomic Confessions-ed) said she was shocked at how few Australians knew
what the British had done to Australian civilians and to our indigenous people.
“Radioactive
fallout from those blasts travelled right across Australia
and there were radioactive hotspots in Lismore, Byron Bay
and Kyogle,” she said.
“In
fact the whole region was engulfed by radioactive fallout.
“These
radioactive isotopes have a half-life of 240 000 years.
“There
are 50 different types of cancer that have been related to radiation, but
especially leukaemia.”
Kathy
Aigner’s documentary (Australian Atomic
Confessions-ed) shows the Defence Department map of where the highest
radiation levels were recorded.
“Strontium
90, which has a similar chemical structure to calcium, fell on the grasslands
and got into the milk supply,” she said.
“The
1985 Royal Commission into the blasts also found that fallout was recorded as
far east as New Zealand.”
Kathy
is trying to raise awareness so survivors can receive compensation for their
radiation-induced diseases.
She
also wants to alert people to the fears of the traditional Aboriginal
custodians of the affected lands.
They
are concerned about the ongoing poisoning of Australia
through new proposed nuclear waste dumps and also because radioactive waste
from the from the Beverly Uranium mine, in South Australia,
is being dumped underground into the waters of the Great Artesian
Basin.
Kathy
said that thousands of servicemen and women, and indigenous people were fully
exposed to life-threatening levels of radiation both from the blasts and from
the half-hearted clean-up that followed at some atomic bomb sites, such as
Maralinga and Emu Field in South
Australia.
“The
Monte Bello Islands
have never been cleaned up and there are still warning signs there telling
people not to stay for more than 15 minutes,” Kathy Aigner said.
Australian
Atomic Confessions exposes that 15 000 medical files of ex-servicemen and
women, affected by the atomic bombs, have gone missing.
“The
Federal Government has done everything possible to get out of its obligation to
compensate victims,” she said.
“They
are just sitting back and waiting for them to die out. Many are not even
entitled to veterans benefits.”
Kathy
hopes her documentary (Australian Atomic
Confessions-ed) will help put pressure on the Federal Government to conduct
a full health and mortality report on those affected – one of the key
recommendations of the 1985 Royal Commission.
Northern
Rivers filmmakers Kathy Aigner and Greg Young have won international acclaim in
the UK, China, USA
and Norway
for their film Australian Atomic Confessions.
Kathy
Aigner and Greg are well known activists and received a grant from the Film and
television Office to make the documentary.
They
are asking all political parties to provide the latest figures on fallout in
the Northern Rivers and assure the public there are no long-term radiation
affects.
Their
documentary (Australian Atomic
Confessions-ed) reveals information that has long been suppressed by
authorities and voices the concerns of returned Army, Navy and Air Force
personnel and indigenous men and women , now tribal elders, who survived.
Indigenous
sources claim there have been 1000 Aboriginal deaths from fallout since the
start of British atomic testing in the early 1950’s.
Many
of the bombs were four times bigger than those exploded in Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
and were ‘dirty bombs’ with deadly experimental mixtures.
There
were 12 full-scale nuclear weapons tests and up to 600 smaller atomic blasts,
which continued in secret until 1967.
Official
Federal Government medical reports on the potential health problems of 15 000
veterans were secretly removed before the Royal Commission in 1985 and the
veterans are asking for a health survey to be done, Kathy said.
They
are calling on the Minister for Veterans Affairs, De-Anne Kelly, to compare a
health survey and to release the missing health reports.
Kathy
said Aboriginal elder Uncle Kevin Buzzacott has told her the subterranean
waterways of Australia
connect and has expressed concern for their health.
As
Arrabunna elder and custodian of Lake Eyre and the Great Artesian
Basin, his concern is
that uranium waste currently going underground from the Beverly Uranium Mine
may poison the continent.
“The
current Federal Government position on underground storage of nuclear waste is
not viable,” Kathy Aigner said.
“Science
is challenged by the vast Aboriginal knowledge on this issue which does not
sustain the safety at a time of earth shifts and unstable weather patterns.”
Email:
earthfilm@yahoo.com.au
SEARCH
FOR ANSWERS: Kathy Aigner’s documentary Australian Atomic Confessions details Australia’s
atomic history.
