With the rapid progress of the weapons development program, British authorities began negotiations for the use of a field site. Informal discussions led to the investigation of a site in the Great Victoria Desert of South Australia called Emu Field, about 480 km north west from Woomera.

Britain accepted all responsibility for the safety of the tests and weapons development. Australia provided the ground infra-structure, performance of day to day operations (such as the issue of protective clothing, monitoring and decontamination of re-entry teams), planes, ground support and air crews, and trial coordination. Two USAF bombers were also involved in aerial monitoring.

RAAF air and ground crews were not included in the operational orders that required that radiological safety regulations be followed because it was considered that there was negligible risk of their aircraft becoming contaminated. No personal monitoring devices were issued to personnel.

Both Totem Bombs were mounted on towers for detonation. Totem 1 (10kt) was exploded at 07.00 on 15 October and Totem 2 (8kt) was exploded 07.00 on 27 October 1953. A series of kittens tests designed to evaluate initiator devices also took place during the Emu trials. [Note a kitten is an explosion where a charge (e.g. TNT) is used to detonate the warhead. As such this is not defined as a nuclear weapon despite the atmospheric release of radioactive particles.]

Unexpected contamination of air sampling aircraft occurred after the Totem 1 explosion. Also atmospheric stillness meant that the cloud did not disperse, and it retained its shape for over 24 hours after the blast. The cloud traveled over Australia and crossed the coast near Townsville 50 hours after the blast. Sampling flights did not detect radiation in Fiji, although fallout was experienced across the mainland.

A radioactive black mist from Totem 1 significantly contaminated the areas of Wallatinna and Welbourn Hill. This resulted in the exposure of at least 45 Aboriginal people, who experienced commonly recognised symptoms of radiation sickness, and estimated excessive exposures to radiation. Deaths were reported, but due to the Pitjanjarra tribal rules surrounding speaking about the dead, no estimate could be ascertained.

The Royal Commission concluded that it did not have sufficient evidence that the radiation caused the illnesses described by the residents of Wallatinna and Welbourn Hill. This was in spite of the reports of 50 eye-witnesses, the known meteorological conditions associated with the test, the known cloud dispersal pattern, and independent scientific cloud modeling that demonstrated that it was certain that the test conditions produced the black mist. Similar back mist and rain events were noted at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Totem 2 was carried out on a day of high wind, and the radiation cloud dispersed over the Australian continent so that it could not be tracked beyond about 500 km east of Emu.

Email: nucvet@bigpond.net.au

P.O. Box 6201 West Gosford 2250 N.S.W. Australia

Phone: (02) 4322-1777 Fax: (02) 4322-0776