I worked with an old civil engineer a few years back and he told me that during WW2 he had a job at the atomic testing ground in south australia. He said that the first bomb was set up to detonate in the middle of forest, which was filled with aboriginal tribes people. He said that he and the other workers discussed what to do about those native people, and came to the conclusion that 'as they couldn't speak their language then it was useless to try and warn them of what was about to happen. So they just detonated the atomic bomb and vaporized all the tribes people.

huh?
didnt know the US did tests in Australia too, i thought most of them were done in Nevada.

They were british tests

Somehow the story has no street cred with me.

Not a criticism of you, Aztec.

That's right. Just kill a whole bunch of native people and then idly discuss the who was responsible for what in the nuke program.

oh. i thought they only got into that business in the fifties.

Aztec, Colonel

There is an overwhelming probability that these events never occured as described.

Interesting...however, this was during WWII? I wasn't aware of any A-Bomb tests other than in the US at this time.... Sounds rather out there... Maybe see if you could check into the locale in question.....

seems like a pretty wild story to me...

Do you have any links to articles that supports this?

Between 1953 and 1957

Yep, but not in WWII....

The old man was quite genuine. He said that as he was a farmer he was told to stay at home and grow food for the soldiers during the war, but after that he was given a job at the test site. I am ignorant of the dates of the war and tests etc, so it's likely that he got the job at the test site just after the war was over.

I just remember that he told me about the war and the job at the test site during the same conversation that we had one day while we were alone. Normally the old guy was very quiet and just focussed on his work, but on that day none of the other workers showed up for work and so he loosened up a bit and talked a little about his life.

He was about 63 yrs old when he told me, and was just about to retire and settle down by the river somewhere.

He was afraid about what had happened during the tests, and mentioned that there had been many unexplained deaths amongst his co-workers from that time.

i personally know three people who lived in woomera (near maralinga) during the nuclear tests they used to get the fallout and the dust that came from the nuclear effected areas, well one of them has to have atleast one operation a year to remove tumor's (the latest one she had was about two weeks ago and they removed around 15 tumors the biggest one being the size of a small cabbage)
the other two will almost definatly suffer the same tumors as the first.

as for nuking the aboriginals living there, well there hasnt been any "official" (to my knowledge) recognition of this happening.

Ok, so he may have the story wrong about when it was, but it does sound like a lot of innocent aboriginies were seriously contaminated or killed.

it wasnt only aborigines.

the men in the army who were at the site were NOT told that the tests were nuclear , it was a need to know basis. My father was one of them and HE only found out when the rest of the world found out the tests were nuclear.

Most of the men, including him, now have health problems or are already dead. A class action suit for compensation for these problems was knocked back in the 80's........ I'm sorry I cant provide links I can only speak from watching my father's experience.

He was afraid about what had happened during the tests, and mentioned that there had been many unexplained deaths amongst his co-workers from that time.

Yep, look into the deaths of US soldiers during our own testing...(rent a movie, Radio Bikini, as a real eye-opener)....about the tests in Bikini island.

Originally posted by Aztec
He said that the first bomb was set up to detonate in the middle of forest, which was filled with aboriginal tribes people.

The main problem with this is that Australia doesn't really have forests as such. The outback, the area where the Aborigininal tribes live (and have lived for centuries) is a sparse 'wasteland' with very few trees and hardly any water, mostly just open shrubland.

In the 1950's there would have been NO problem finding an interpreter to speak to the Aborigines. Some of the test sites were on Aboriginal sacred ground, so they'd dealt with the government before many times. The vast majority of Aborigines speak English too.

Therefore, the A-Bombing of Aboriginies in the a forest? Utter nonsense.

Sabby

Yes I know the area is very depleted of vegetation. But this happened half a century ago when things were a bit different. The man said that the natives were living in the forest and so that's what i've said also.


The man also said that he went back there a year later and not even a blade of grass had grown.

The forests in the arid parts of OZ are not really tall and the trees are often quite gnarly and dry, However as this event happened so long ago it is beyond my knowledge to say what the ecology was like in the area at that time. Perhaps it was a lush pocket of forest which the aborigines chose to live in. They used to live at all the nicest places and not only out in the deserts etc. I don't know, but the man was sincere and had no reason to lie. He was even a little scared to talk about it.

I've seen some old books with black and white photographs of what OZ used to be like, and the vegetation used to be much different than it is today.

Even though various English speaking people have been able to communicate with aborigines since around the time white man came here, the old man said that no one in his team was able to speak their language, or warn them of what was about to happen.

P.S I've just been searching for details about the vegetation in the test area, but it seems there was more than one test area, and hundreds of tests. I don't know which test area the old man was referring to; and perhaps it was a top secret area, the details of which haven't been disclosed?

I don't really have any interest in nuclear issues. I just thought I should relay what I was told by the old man concerning the natives.



[Edited on 03-11-2003 by Aztec]

not in 1950 it wasnt that different

plus what aussie even uses the term 'forest' to refer to the bush?

either way, its actually a pretty true story, there were tribes that were in the area when the nuclear tests were on. I have never heard anything about them being being directly affected by the blasts (ie they weren't 'blown up') but its fairly accepted that they were in the area and exposed to excessive radiation levels.

There was a book written on this just year I think, I'll have a looksie and see if i can find anything.