The Atomic Mustangs of Emu

摘要

A little-remembered part of Australian history is the period of British atomic weanonrntesting in the country in the 1950s. Following Canada's rejection of the British government's proposal for testing in that country's remote Arctic territories, the Australian government, under Robert Menzies, agreed to a series of atomic tests on Australian soil. The first test was conducted in October 1952 in the Monte Bello Islands on the Western Australia (WA) coastline near the town of Onslow. A single-kiloton-range device was detonated aboard a retired Royal Navy warship, HMS Plym, anchored off the main beach of Trimouille Island. An inland site was needed for a subsequent series of tests, and a remote claypan in the South Australian outback was chosen.