My husband’s dad was one of those young British soldiers sent to shovel waste at Maralinga. He believes himself to be the last survivor of his unit, he heard many of them developed different types of cancer over the years
Yes, there would have been different types of cancer but the problem would be proving they were caused by working at Maralinga. I trust he survived and is healthy. Alan Parkinson
Hi Alan We live by the Truth and Die By the Truth you deliver facts not fiction I respect and commend your courage. I spent the best part of my work days with M.Apost on site every day capturing the day to day work on site. Alan stayed true to the goals and was never threatened by the dark side your conscience is clear. Others still have to one day account for their actions
I have hundreds of photos. You can see some of them in the other videos I have posted. Maralinga MARTAC Muddle, Maralinga Mystery, Dust at Maralinga, and The Other Face of Maralinga.
I trust your father was safe. I found the site fascinating. So that yo can see some more of what your father would have experienced, you might be interested in another of my RU-vid videos, entitled "The Other Face of Maralinga".
Yes indeed. He's still with us too! In all, he was at 13 of the actual bomb tests. Fortunately for us he was in cipher, so was always in the base, well away from the live ranges. Thanks for the other video tip.
Again another great video. How do the British government view you being so critical of their handling of this? (And please pardon the pun). Especially given that you are one of the most qualified to do so. I would like to add that I have a tremendous respect for you doing this & it's a pity there aren't more people like you. People with the relevant knowledge. My gratitude, respect & thank you again.
The British government are not bothered by what I say - they were let off the hook by the Australian government long ago. However, some in the Australian government were not happy when I first spoke out about the shambles at Maralinga and scrambled to defend their actions. A partial clean-up had been planned and approved by the Australian government and agreed with the Aborigines - the traditional owners of the land. And then the government unilaterally broke that agreement and took a course that had not been approved.
It was bloody scandalous what we did to Australia especially in the minor trials its also a pity I don't live in the country or I'd have defiantly got my alpha and gamma monitors and gone out there to look for myself as I can imagine theres still a lot of Plutonium oxide lying around the desert down wind of the minor trial sites.
You are right about there being plenty of plutonium still on the ground, but you would have problems getting to the site to measure it. The traditional owners now have control of the site, and I doubt you would be allowed to simply try to locate and measure the radioactivity.
Hi Alan thanks for the reply, I seem to remember hearing it had been handed back a while back I also heard another go at decontaminating the area was being voiced, As for going there with a few probes and surveying for contamination its really just the HP surveyor inside of me driving my curiosity I'm way over in the UK and I'm too physically addled to make the trip to Australia let alone to Maralinga thanks to a ver large GIST which they removed 7 years ago.
We lived for a couple of years at Commonwealth Hill and Kingoonya with regular trips west and south into the scrublands close to Maralinga. 1964-1966. I assume we ingested trace amounts from the dust and meat from the cattle ranges. I will try to get a bone scan for any isotopes, Irridium or Beryllium particles. We used to watch the bobbing lights out Ooldea/Forest way from our house at night.
This is way outside my field but I doubt you experienced any harmful radiation from the Maralinga tests. Obviously if you have concerns, then by all means have a health check.
Makes you think what would happen if we simply collected all of the waste. Then simply concentrated all the plutonium as a metal it could be used as a spark plug.
Thanks Alan. I find this stuff fascinating, your videos are great. I loved visiting Woomera and I'm keen to visit Maralinga. You seem like the best person to ask....in your opinion, is it safe enough to do the tour there. I've read the website and a few other sources, but I'd value your opinion. Thanks, and thanks for the videos
Hello Andrew, Sorry for the delay in replying to you. It is safe to visit the site. I thoroughly recommend it. Although a huge area is still contaminated, you would probably not be allowed into that area. Even if you did, you would be quite safe. I have walked over that part of the site many times. Enjoy your visit.
One of the most confidential aspects would be agencies recovering the Plutonium for reprocessing for future (after 1963 Maralinga) nuclear use. Let us hope that our foes did not steal the 'missing' 1.3kgs, but I assume it was just pit buried or raked over. I would like to know if the Woomera test firings were of any DNA damage health danger to my children.
The plutonium at Maralinga is spread over hundreds of square kilometres. There would no point in attempting to recover it for whatever use. I know nothing of test firings at Woomera connected to the Maralinga tests.
Possibly unexploded ordinance? The offical excuse was a sealed container of organic material that caused the explosion! I personally doubt that explanation!
Hello Stef, This is also addressed in my new book "Maralinga Mystery". They could have achieved virtually the same outcome for far less cost. Alan Parkinson
I heard that cases of malform kids have spiked during mid 20th century and the government used Polio as a cover in the country (Australia) from a fellow Australian who is from the 1960s.
