Empire Series: Terra nullius - One tree, Marcoo, Kite, Breakaway, Tadje, Biak, Taranaki

Vernon Bowden

September 19 – October 16 2022

“The race of beetles has no female, but all the males eject their sperm into a round pellet of material which they roll up by pushing it from the opposite side, just as the sun seems to turn the heavens in the direction opposite to its own course, which is from west to east.”

Plutarch

“England has the bomb and the knowhow; we have the open spaces, much technical skill and great willingness to help the Motherland. Between us, we shall build the defence of the free world, and make historic advances in harnessing the forces of nature.”

Minister of Supply, Mr Howard Beale.
The Report of the Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia

 “...was coming from the south, black-like smoke. I was thinking it might be a dust storm, but it was quiet, just moving, as it looks like, through the trees and above that again, you know. It was just rolling and moving quietly … When people first got sick my eyes got sore. I couldn't open my eyes. I got diarrhoea and a rash on my skin. I remember when this happened my mother asked me to stay in the shade. Because I couldn't see I was led around with a stick like a digging stick. You hold it at one end and the person walking ahead of you holds the other end and you follow along. I didn't have the stick for long, I don't reckon it was even a week. My left eye sort of came good again so I threw away the stick but my right eye was permanently blind after that. I could see with my left eye but it gave me a lot of trouble. I could not see 100% with my left eye.”

Transcript, Yankunytjatjara elder Yami Lester,
The Report of the Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia

List of atmospheric nuclear blasts

16 July 1945: Trinity, Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA
      United States, first ever nuclear test

6 August 1945: Little Boy, Hiroshima, Japan
      United States, aircraft drops an atomic weapon on Hiroshima.

9 August 1945: Fat Man, Nagasaki, Japan
      United States, aircraft drops an atomic weapon on Nagasaki

30 June 1946: Able, Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands
      United States, the first of 67 atmospheric tests in the Marshall Islands between 1946–1958.

29 August 1949: Operation Pervaya molniya, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan
      USSR, first soviet atomic test RDS-1

3 October 1952: Operation Hurricane, Monte Bello Islands, Western Australia
      United Kingdom, first UK nuclear test (25 kilotons)

1 November 1952: Mike, Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands
      United States, first hydrogen bomb test (10.4 megatons)

12 August 1953: RDS-6s, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan
      USSR, first soviet hydrogen bomb test (400 kilotons)

15–27 October 1953: Totem One and Totem Two, Emu Field, South Australia
      United Kingdom, two atomic tests (8 and 10 kilotons)

16 May and 19 June 1956: Mosaic One and Mosaic Two, Monte Bello Islands, Western Australia
      United Kingdom, two atomic tests (15 and 60 kilotons)

27 September 1956: One Tree, Maralinga, South Australia
      United Kingdom, atomic test in the south Australian desert (15 kilotons)

4 October 1956: Marcoo, Maralinga, South Australia
      United Kingdom, atomic test in the south Australian desert (1.5 kilotons)

11 October 1956: Kite, Maralinga, South Australia
      United Kingdom, atomic test in the south Australian desert (3 kilotons)

21 October 1956: Breakaway, Maralinga, South Australia
      United Kingdom, atomic test in the south Australian desert (10 kilotons)

15 May 1957: Short Granite, Malden Island, British Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony
      United Kingdom, unsuccessful hydrogen bomb test (0.3 megatons)

31 May 1957: Orange Herald, Malden Island, British Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony
      United Kingdom, unsuccessful hydrogen bomb test (0.72 megatons)

19 June 1957: Purple Granite, Malden Island, British Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony
      United Kingdom, unsuccessful hydrogen bomb test (0.2 megatons)

14 September 1957: Tadje, Maralinga, South Australia
      United Kingdom, atomic test in the south Australian desert (0.93 kilotons)

25 September 1957: Biak, Maralinga, South Australia
      United Kingdom, atomic test in the south Australian desert (6 kilotons)

25 September 1957: Taranaki, Maralinga, South Australia
      United Kingdom, atomic test in the south Australian desert (26.6 kilotons)

10 October 1957: Cumberland, United Kingdom
      Fire at the Windscale nuclear reactor releases radioactive contamination across the UK and Europe. Windscale is being
used to produce tritium for the UK H-bomb program.

8 November 1957: Round A, Christmas Island (Kiritimati), British Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony
      United Kingdom, hydrogen bomb test (1.8 megatons)

28 April 1958: Dickens, Christmas Island (Kiritimati), British Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony
      United Kingdom, hydrogen bomb test (2.8 megatons)

28 April– 18 August 1958: Operation Hardtack, Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands and Johnston Atoll
      United States, a series of 35 atomic and hydrogen bomb tests

22 August 1958: Pennant, Christmas Island (Kiritimati), British Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony
      United Kingdom, atomic test codenamed Pennant (24 kilotons)

2 September 1958: Flagpole, Christmas Island (Kiritimati), British Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony
      United Kingdom, hydrogen bomb test (1 megaton)

11 September 1958: Halliard, Christmas Island (Kiritimati), British Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony
      United Kingdom, hydrogen bomb test (0.8 megatons)

23 September 1958: Burgee, Christmas Island (Kiritimati), British Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony
      United Kingdom, atomic test (25 kilotons)

13 February 1960–25 April 1961- Gerboise, Reggane, (French) Algeria
      France, begins its nuclear weapons program with four atmospheric atomic tests

30 October 1961: Vanya/Tsar Bomba, Severny Island, Novaya Zemlya
      USSR, the most powerful thermonuclear weapon ever detonated (58 megatons)

7 November 1961: In Eker, (French) Algeria
      France, 13 underground atomic tests

22 April– 3 November 1962: Operation Dominic, Christmas Island, British Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony and Johnston Atoll
      United States, 31 atmospheric nuclear tests

5 August 1963: Moscow, USSR
      United States, Soviet Union and United Kingdom sign Partial Test Ban Treaty

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