One of the highlights of our recent trip into the Western Deserts, which took us across the
Anne Beadell Highway and the Sandy Blight
Junction track amongst other
places, was a visit to
Maralinga Village.
Many will remember
Maralinga as being at the centre of the British Atomic testing program in the 1950’s although perhaps it is only in more recent history that much of what transpired at
Maralinga has been fully understood by the general public.
You might even recall the band, Midnight Oil, wrote a song about it, but perhaps that depends on either your age or maybe your taste in music…
At the kind suggestion of EO member, Stephen L (
Clare SA), I made contact with the
Maralinga Village caretaker, Robin Matthews, to make arrangements for a visit. We had not travelled the
Anne Beadell Highway previously but were reliably informed that the section from
Coober Pedy to Emu had some of the worst corrugations one could ever find, and the crossing experience from a scenery perspective would not be diminished by avoiding this section.
With this in mind and a strong desire to visit
Maralinga to take a look at “Ground Zero” we headed to
Maralinga via the Telstra Optic Fibre cable road from Glendambo to
Ooldea and passing by the small community and pub at
Kingoonya.
Much has been said about the right to use this road that seemingly has been claimed by a railway company and is marked as restricted access on a number of maps. We had been assured from a number of directions that it was okay to travel this route and in fact we did not encounter any official vehicles whilst driving it. But on its use, I think one of the telling signs is that we did not see one sign that expressly prohibited its use. A telling sign perhaps, pardon the pun that the particular railway company does not actually have the right to prohibit its use.
Perhaps the confusion or conflict is due to the fact there is actually two roads, a railway service road running right alongside the rail line and the Telstra road, both of which entwine into one for short distances, at times.
However, I will leave others to toss that one around in a
camp fire debate.
Robin gave us a great welcome, meeting us at the village
gate before settling us into a camping spot nearby to a “donga” we could shower in.
It is worth a walk around the village and even a climb to the top of the water tower for a commanding view of the immediate facility and beyond. Mind you, it might be worth noting that if you want the commanding view gained by climbing a steel ladder to the top, do it sooner rather than later, as the OH&S team masquerading as the “fun
police” might put a stop to that eventually.
Being a family of climbers and mountaineers, we relished the chance!
Robin has a strong connection to the area and the
Maralinga Tjarutja people and was able to relate in a sensitive way the impact the testing has had on the traditional landowners, many of whom live in the nearby community of
Oak Valley. Our tour of the forward area included visits to many of the actual testing sites or ground zero and Robin was able to tell us much about how the tests were completed, where people stood. For all intended purposes many of these people were in effect human guinea pigs.
A visit to the air strip showed just how big this facility was and the focal point where service personnel were flown in and out of the area under a cloak of secrecy. The air strip, measuring approximately 2.5 kilometres in length, was the distance some of the “human guinea pigs” stood from ground zero in one of the tests. Some of these people, many of whom were from England survived to live a long life, others died within a couple of years. But it is reported that health impacts have secreted its way into the younger generations of these service people…
Similarly, it has had health impacts for the Tjarutja people who now mostly avoid the area.
We spent a great day with Robin and towards its end we headed north along the
Emu Road to a
bush camp before continuing our journey to
Emu Junction and across the
Anne Beadell Highway to
Laverton.
A visit to an Atomic Bomb
test site might not be everyone’s cup of tea or ideal holiday destination, but it enabled us to better understand a part of Australia’s more recent history and involvement in the nuclear arms race. And this was enhanced by a character you’d be happy to call a mate, Robin Matthews.
The cost of the tour was $100 per person, and overnight camping cost around $20 for the three of us, and diesel fuel can be obtained at a fair price currently set at $2.00 per litre. You will need a permit to transit the
Maralinga Tjarutja land and to enter
Maralinga Village, both of which can be obtained with little fuss.
If you are travelling that way and have a curiosity of Australia’s involvement in the “nuclear arms race” or perhaps just to draw some dots to the work that one of Australia’s more experienced contemporary bushmen, Len Beadell, undertook in this region, be sure to give Robin a call, I am confident you’ll enjoy the experience.