The British Government, the Federal Government of Australia, and the Governments of South Australia and Western Australia must all join to ensure the future development of the people of the Central Reserve whose territory they have invaded. But they must act quickly or it will be too late to redeem a situation fraught with tragedy for the natives and shame to ourselves.
MacDougall was an opinionated individual and a vocal critic of many decisions made on behalf of the Indigenous inhabitants of the Maralinga lands. He opposed the policy of keeping tribal Aborigines segregated from white people, ‘since it is obviously impossible to keep tribal Aborigines segregated for ever’. However, when the policy changed in 1956, he expressed his anger forcefully:
I understand that the policy has now been changed though oddly enough I, as Dept. of Supply Native Patrol Officer, was not informed nor has it been promulgated in any way. The new policy appears to be a third and disastrous alternative whereby contacts are made by completely unqualified persons and no provision is made to train the Aboriginals to fit into the twentieth century. The result is certain to be a degeneration from self-respecting tribal communities to pathetic and useless parasites – it has happened so often before that surely we Australians must have learnt our lesson.
For all his paternalism, MacDougall knew what was at stake: ‘The country under discussion belongs to the tribe and is recognised as such by other tribes. However, we propose to take it away from them and give nothing in return – we might as well declare war on them and make a job of it’.
After the 1956 Buffalo tests, the West Australian newspaper ran several stories about the effects on Indigenous people. The deputy leader of the Opposition Arthur Calwell wrote to Beale asking if press reports about Aboriginal children being separated from their parents were true. HJ Brown, the Weapons Research Establishment controller at Woomera, sent a cable briefing the department so that they could reply to Calwelclass="underline"
There was no separation of Aboriginal parents and children anywhere in Australia as a result of the atomic trials. The only arrangements made respecting Aborigines was to keep track of their movements and to maintain information on their whereabouts. If necessary their movements were controlled to ensure that they did not enter danger areas but this was hardly necessary as they appear to be aware of the necessity for keeping away from the areas involved.
The message said that the issue of the atomic trials was probably being conflated with the practice of the Warburton Mission ‘to take children from the Aborigines and endeavour to keep them at the Mission station for training. This is a policy of the Mission which is creating some criticism but has nothing to do with atomic tests and has been in operation for some time’.
The native patrol officers did not necessarily interact happily with that other great bushman of the region, Len Beadell. On a patrol in March 1957, Macaulay encountered Beadell driving his Land Rover, with an Aboriginal man as his passenger, looking for a landmark of Giles the explorer. Macaulay was furious. ‘Beadell thought his own need justified the breach of regulations. I did not.’ Macaulay notified TR Nossiter at Woomera. ‘I consider that not only was Beadell’s action a definite breach of the Controller’s instructions, but that it was detrimental to the native way of life, and more important, detrimental to the contact situation which I am attempting to control.’
The AWTSC meeting of 19 July 1957 in Melbourne, chaired by Ernest Titterton, reviewed plans for the final major trials series at Maralinga and responded to a letter from the secretary of the Aborigines Board in Adelaide. ‘Similar facilities for moving aborigines are required for the Antler tests as were available during the Buffalo tests’, the minutes laconically related, as though making arrangements for the movement of cattle.
MacDougall’s report of October 1957 told of his efforts to clear the area of Indigenous people before the Antler trials the previous month. During these trials, MacDougall based himself ‘at a strategic point upon the Emu–Giles Road’. Macaulay went to the Everard Ranges – Officer Creek area to check on the whereabouts of the ‘Jankantjara’ (probably Yankunytjatjara) people who were known to be hunting dingoes in the area at the time, while at Betty’s Well in the northwest corner of the Everard Range, 150 Jankantjara people were concluding an initiation ceremony. Both MacDougall and Macaulay hired local Indigenous people to assist them. William was engaged by MacDougall on ‘a food and transport with time to hunt dingoes basis’, while Tom Dodd, ‘an old halfcaste’, was offered £2 per week to travel with Macaulay.
MacDougall found 27 Aborigines hunting dingoes in the Mt Lindsay area. These were Ernabella Mission people from up north. They had been briefed on the forthcoming Maralinga tests and knew who to contact if they experienced any problems, according to MacDougall. On his travels from Coffin Hill to Rawlinson Range, Mt Davies and Ernabella, he encountered a small number of Indigenous people. He then joined forces with Macaulay at Shirley Well and travelled around further, again discovering few Aborigines. MacDougall wrote in his report, ‘It is comparatively easy to ensure that a definite area is free of natives and definite information can be checked and forwarded. It is unfortunate that the dingo pup season coincides with Maralinga tests but the natives are quite content to keep out of the areas when told to do so’.
The incident that, decades later, became the most famous concerning Aboriginal people during the British nuclear tests personalised for many the folly of conducting nuclear tests on land where people lived. On 15 May 1957, the Milpuddie family – Charlie (Tjanyindi), Edie, Henry (Kantjari) and Rosie (Milpadi), noted in the report as ‘Father, Mother and two Picaninnies’, along with their four hunting dogs – were found in a very inconvenient place. They had camped overnight alongside Maralinga’s only atomic bomb crater. A party of Royal Australian Engineers led by Captain Rudi Marqueur spotted Charlie at 9.15 am, as he walked from the crater to the health physics caravan at Pom Pom. Captain Marqueur noticed that the man gave hand signals to indicate he wanted water. After having a drink, Charlie led Marqueur back to the camp where his wife, children and dogs were waiting. The family had 12 dingo pelts gathered during their journey, almost certainly collected for the bounty payable. The huge crater had been created seven months earlier at the Marcoo test site as part of Operation Buffalo, by the only atomic bomb detonated at ground level. The area had been classified on site as dirty, meaning contaminated.
The acting security officer for Maralinga, B White, met the family at the caravan. The report from Sergeant Frank Smith noted that ‘both mother and daughter were very shy as regards any approach in the early stages’. The health physics officer on site, Harry Turner, was initially quoted as saying at the time that they were all free of contamination, although this was not true. The boy, Henry, thought to be about 11, had contamination on his hair and body, and the other family members were not thoroughly checked. Turner’s own report provided more detailed information. He said that they were ‘monitored head to foot’ and the only trace of radioactivity was found on the boy.
The boy was then persuaded to shower in the caravan. He was thoroughly washed by Mr. D SMALL who paid particular attention to the boy’s hair. At the conclusion of the operation, the boy was a new person and was so obviously pleased at the result that it was not difficult to persuade the father to shower. The father then washed his daughter. The mother was content with just washing her hair. Altogether the process of monitoring and washing was accomplished surprisingly well, considering the circumstances.