Theme

British Atomic Tests in Australia (1952 - 1963)

From
1952
Australia
To
1963
Australia

Summary

Between 1952 and 1963 the United Kingdom conducted a range of atomic tests in Australia. The major trials were Operation Hurricane 1952, Monte Bello Islands, Western Australia; Operation Totem 1953, Emu Field, South Australia; Operation Mosaic 1956, Monte Bello Islands, Western Australia; Operation Buffalo 1956, Maralinga, South Australia; and Operation Antler 1957, Maralinga, South Australia. The minor trials were Kittens 1953-1961; Tims 1955-1963; Rats 1958-1960; Vixen A 1959-1961; and Vixen B 1960-1963. In the early 1980s a Royal Commission in British Nuclear Tests in Australia was established. It published its report in 1985.

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Related People

Published resources

Articles

Books

  • Arnold, Lorna, A Very Special Relationship: British Atomic Weapon Trials in Australia (London: HMSO, 1987), 340 pp. Details
  • Australian Ionising Radiation Advisory Council, British nuclear tests in Australia - a review of operational safety measures and of possible after-effects (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1983), 76 pp. Details
  • Cawte, Alice, Atomic Australia, 1944-1990 (Sydney: New South Wales University Press, 1992), 213 pp. Details
  • Cross, Roger T., Fallout: Hedley Marston and the British bomb tests in Australia (Kent Town, South Australia: Wakefield Press, 2001), 238 pp. Details
  • Grace, Paul, Operation Hurricane: the story of Britain's first atomic test in Australia and the legacy that remains (Sydney: Hachette Australia, 2023), 368 pp. Details
  • Hardy, Clarence, Atomic Rise and Fall: the Australian Atomic Energy Commission 1953-1987 (Peakhurst, New South Wales: Glen Haven Publishing, 1999), 274 pp. Details
  • Morton, Peter, Fire across the desert: Woomera and the Anglo-Australian Joint Project 1946 - 1980 (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1989), 575 pp. Details
  • Reynolds, Wayne, Australia's Bid for the Atomic Bomb (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2000). Details
  • Tynan, Elizabeth, Atomic thunder: the Maralinga story (Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2016), 373 pp. Details
  • Tynan, Elizabeth, The secret of Emu Field: Britain's forgotten atomic tests in Australia (Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2022), 362 pp. Details
  • Walker, Frank, Maralinga: The chilling expose of our secret nuclear shame and betrayal of our troops and country (Sydney (Gadigal Country): Hachette Australia, 2016). Details

Conference Papers

Journal Articles

  • Broderick, Mick, 'Filmic mutation: British nuclear tests In Australia 1952 - 1963', Studies in documentary film, 16 (3) (2022), 274-97. https://doi.org/10.1080/17503280.2022.2066332. Details
  • Harris, David, 'The secrecy of British nuclear testing in Australia', Agora, 57 (2) (2022), 16-9. Details
  • Sherratt, Tim, 'A Political Inconvenience: Australian Scientists at the British Atomic Weapons Tests, 1952-53', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (2) (1985), 137-152. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9850620137. Details

Reviews

  • Tynan, Elizabeth, Atomic thunder: the Maralinga story (2016)
    Cryle, Denis, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 63 (1), (2017), 146-7. Details
  • Reynolds, Wayne, Australia's Bid for the Atomic Bomb (2000)
    Sherratt, Tim, Historical Records of Australian Science, 13 (4), (2000), 536-538. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR0011340521. Details

See also

Gavan McCarthy [P004098]

Created: 17 August 2022, Last modified: 6 October 2023

EOAS ID: biogs/P007075b.htm

This Edition: 2026 February - 1926 Centenaries
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