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.
Related entries
Published resources
Articles
- Sherratt, Tim, 'Political Fallout: Australian Scientists and the Atomic Bomb', Australasian Science, Spring (1996), http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/journal/as_fallout.htm. Details
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
- Morton, Peter, 'Engaging with Leviathan: a Historian's Perspective on Using the Scientific Archives of the Department of Defence', in Recovering Science: Strategies and Models for the Past, Present and Future: Proceedings of a Conference Held at the University of Melbourne, October 1992 edited by Tim Sherratt, Lisa Jooste and Rosanne Clayton (Canberra: Australian Science Archives Project, 1995), pp. 51-56.. Details
- Sherratt, Tim, '"On the beach": Australia's nuclear history' (1996).. http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/pubs/articles/tps/tps_on_the_beach.htm. Details
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
Gavan McCarthy [P004098]
Created: 17 August 2022, Last modified: 6 October 2023