The British tests in Australia failed to recognise the impact of radioactive fallout on indigenous Australians (aborigines). As a result ad hoc management at best was taken to protect aborigines, and there are many reports in the McClelland Royal Commission that demonstrate the callous disregard for the safety and welfare of these people during the tests. In many situations authorities had a callous, and incompetent approach to Aborigines, with little regard for their safety, rights or future well being.

Aborigines living outside of town centers remained predominantly outdoors, with little clothing or footwear, seeking shelter only in times of rain. Groups often traveled between locations, and could cover large distances. They were extremely vulnerable to the effects of fallout onto their bodies, through respiration of particles and dust, fallout onto the land, in water and deposition onto food sources.

HURRICANE

The Hurricane tests were conducted with no regards to the unique lifestyle of aboriginal people on the mainland, near the Montebello Islands. No fallout measuring took place and so it impossible to determine the full impact of these tests. Scant attention was paid to their locations during the tests, despite the reported population of over 4500 in neighbouring coastal areas.

TOTEM

During the totem test series little attention was paid to the location of either individual aborigines, or of their communities. The Totem 1fallout cloud passed directly over aboriginal settlements at Wallatina and Welbourne Hill at short range, in the form of a black mist. Fallout particles were deposited readily onto people, their homes, water sources, and food. People became ill with symptoms of radiation poisoning, with vomiting, diahorrea, eye soreness, and skin rashes and blisters. There were reports of deaths that could not be substantiated due to Pitjanjarra traditions associated with mentioning the dead.

One man, Yami Lester, went blind with trachoma (as seen in Nagasaki and Hiroshima) after the exposure, but the Royal Commission cited a lack of information allowed the cause of the blindness to be determined.

MOSAIC

The presence of aborigines on the mainland near the Monte Bello Islands was again disregarded. No consideration was made of their extra vulnerability to the effects of fallout, which is cited as a major omission by the AWRE and the Safety Committee. This was exacerbated by the fact that at the time it was recognised that aborigines had special needs, but this was ignored.

BUFFALO

The McClelland Royal Commission concluded about the Buffalo series:

"(a) Overall, the attempts to ensure Aboriginal safety during the Buffalo series demonstrate ignorance, incompetence and cynicism on the part of those responsible for that safety. The inescapable conclusion is that if Aborigines were not injured or killed as a result of the explosions, this was a matter of luck rather than to adequate organisation, management and resources allocated to ensuring safety.

(b) For the Buffalo series, a site was chosen on the false assumption that the area was not used by its traditional Aboriginal owners. Aborigines continued to move around and through the Prohibited Zone and inadequate resources were allocated to locating them and to ensuring their safety. The reporting of sightings of Aboriginal people was discouraged and ignored.

(c) Aboriginal people were kept away from Ooldea and other important places to the south and west of the Range. At the same time, the construction of the Giles meteorological station and roads brought intruders and detrimental effects to the people north-west of Maralinga.

(d) Native Patrol Officer MacDougall was placed in an impossible situation. In his task of ensuring Aboriginal safety he had to carry two totally inexperienced colleagues. The appointment of one of these can only be described as blatantly cynical. MacDougall's considerations of Aboriginal welfare brought him increasingly into conflict with authorities in government and WRE. The affairs of a handful of natives counted little compared to the interests of the British Commonwealth of nations.

(e) The Pom Pom incident [An Aboriginal family called the Milipuddies were found in the crater of one of the bomb blasts gathering water. They had followed a route on foot for twelve months that authorities claimed was no longer used. This led them through the most contaminated areas. They had tow dogs, which were shot on site, and they were showed and forcibly transported through taboo sacred places on transporting them from Maralinga. Edie Milipuddie was pregnant at the time of the exposure, and the baby was born dead.] demonstrated that flaws existed in the security system at Maralinga. Those responsible for security seemed at least as concerned about the exposure of such flaws as the welfare of the Milipuddie family.

(f) For the Milipuddies the experience caused great concern and it distresses Edie Milipuddie today. The Royal Commission cannot exclude the possibility that the Milipuddies' entry into the contaminated area resulted in injury to them."

ANTLER

The McClelland Royal Commission concluded about the Antler series:

"(a) Inadequate attention was paid to Aboriginal safety during the Antler series. People continued to inhabit the Prohibited Zone as close to the test sites as 130km.

(b) Air and ground patrols for Antler were neither well planned not executed.

(c) Aboriginal people continued to inhabit the Prohibited Zone for six years after the tests. When they were told to leave the Prohibited Zone, some of them perished [due to directions for them to walk 100 miles to the next mission by rangers. The latter refused to transport Aborigines in the vehicle, or to allow them to use their traditional routes. Hence they were instructed to follow the road system where there was little water. Consequently at least three perished from thirst and starvation].

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