You Did What__ Mad Plans and Great Historical Disasters - Bill Fawcett [57]
The whole affair goes further. According to records, security at the test sites was lax — the range boundaries were not properly monitored, allowing people to walk in and out. In one incident, in May 1957, four Aboriginal people were found camping in one of the bomb craters, not surprising considering that any warning signs posted were only in English, unintelligible to the local Aboriginals. This was yet another great idea put together by the government. There may be a local indigenous population, they may not be able to read, they may not be able to speak English, but we’ll put up a few signs in English telling them to stay out. When authorities discovered them, the family was immediately taken to a decontamination center at the site and was required to shower. They were then driven away from the area. Any witness to the event was sworn to secrecy under the Official Secrets Act. This only came out later at a Royal Commission into the events, where a number of the documents had become declassified.
There is little doubt that the secrecy surrounding the program served British rather than Australian interests. Full disclosure of the hazards and potential cost was out of the question. The British even concealed the fact of the use of plutonium in the minor trials. Prime Minister Menzies had already been informed of several of the risks, yet he identified so strongly with Britain that he considered British national interests equivalent to Australia’s, or maybe it was that he thought the Old Country would give him the honors he deserved. It wasn’t quite enough to be leader of a hick nation that clearly didn’t have a clue. On the few occasions when Australian authorities chose to assert themselves, it was purely symbolic. For example, the Australians objected to the name Volcano, as that probably just sounded too violent or explosive, and one of the series was renamed Antler. In another instance, a detonation scheduled for Sunday was postponed in deference to the Australian sensibilities.
Australia’s compliance was further illustrated by the role of Sir Ernest Titterton. A British physicist, Titterton had worked on the Manhattan Project. In 1950, he was appointed chair of nuclear physics at the Australian National University. One of his first tasks in this role was advisor to the British scientific team at the first Monte Bello tests. In 1956, Australia established the Atomic Weapons Tests Safety Committee, responsible for monitoring the British tests. Titterton was a foundation member of the committee, and finally its chairman. While Menzies, on paper, had conceived of the committee as an independent, objective body, it is apparent that it was more sensitive to the needs of the British testing program that those of the Australian populace. Titterton is quoted as having said to the Royal Commission that if the Aboriginal people objected to the tests, they could have voted the government out, regardless of the fact that the Aboriginal people were denied full voting rights at the time of the tests, and were even excluded from the census until 1967.
The Australian government went out of its way to limit public knowledge and to shut down criticism, and there is little doubt that Menzies was at the head of these efforts. One patrol officer who objected that the development of testing sites was proceeding without proper attention to the local Aborigines was reminded of “his obligations as a Commonwealth Officer” and warned against speaking to the press. Another officer who reported sighting Aborigines in the prohibited