State Library of South Australia

Atomic bomb test, South Australia, 1953 [B 72429] • Photograph

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Summary

Press photograph, with grey gouache highlights, of the first nuclear test on the Australian mainland, Totem 1, which was carried out at Emu Field in the Great Victoria Desert, north-western South Australia on 15 October 1953. Verso with wet stamps dated OCT 19 1953, and pastedown newspaper clipping (from an American newspaper): 'ATOMIC CLOUD: In South Australia - A cloud formed over the Woomera rocket range after a recent atomic test conducted by British scientists. - A.P. wirephoto.' See History note in 'More info'.

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Physical description

Photograph (B&W with grey gouache tint) 21.3 cm x 20.2 cm

Dates / Publication details

1953

Collection

Part of General Collection

Subject

Nuclear weapons -- Australia -- History
Atomic bomb -- South Australia -- Emu Field -- Testing

Catalogue record

Return to catalogue

Historical information

The British Government tested its first nuclear weapon in Australia at the Montebello Islands off Western Australia in 1952. This photograph shows the first nuclear test on the Australian mainland, actually carried out at Emu Field in the Great Victoria Desert and not the Woomera weapons-testing range as the press caption asserts. This explosion pre-dates the notorious series of nuclear tests that were conducted at Maralinga. It is highly unlikely that the indigenous traditional owners of the land were given any warning about a pending nuclear blast, considering that the British Government was feeding false co-ordinates and propaganda to the press even after the explosion had taken place.

Digitisation information

Date

25/01/2012

Format

image/tiff

Resolution

4,620 x 5,889 pixels (27.2 MP)

Size

81.65 MB

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