Maralinga
1980 - 1990
The last illustration of landcover change from Unused is of Maralinga
in South Australia. It is an unusual example. It illustrates one excerpt
of Australia's modern history of which we should all be deeply ashamed.
At the end of the second World War, any unused, empty land represented an
important resource to some nations. They were a resource to these nations
because they were empty, uninhabited and 'of no use'. Such places were ideal
to test nuclear weapons. The Australian government offered the use of these
lands to the British government that used them for some 25 years to launch
rocket propelled missiles and pilotless aircraft (Woomera) or to detonate
nuclear weapons (Emu and Maralinga).
The contamination of a substantial area of Maralinga by radionuclides still
renders some of this land unavailable for any human use. This extensive
long term pollution of a part of Australia is particularly distressing to
local Aboriginal people who wish to return to these lands. These lands were
not empty or unused. They were then subject to Traditional use but the users
were evicted.
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I have included the satellite images of the Maralinga area for two reasons.
The first is that this area, though remote and arid, has great beauty when
viewed from space. As an example, if you look at the edge of the Nullarbor
Plain (lower LHS), there are elegant and long finger-like sand dunes streaming
away to the north west, shaped by winds that began to blow 10, 000 years
before present. This landscape reveals intricate and enthralling pattern
when observed from space. The meandering of the east-west railway line appears
clumsy by comparison. Even the sweep of clouds and cloud shadows appear
delicate.
The second reason for including this scene is to show what was once the
highest - security area in Australia looks like from space, and to remind
you of the limitations of space imagery. These images show straight roads
with curious terminations, and little change over 10 years. What we cannot
ever comprehend from our space images is that the area of Australia in this
scene is now so radioactive that it is unusable by you, or by your children,
grandchildren and great-grandchildren. That is a very high price for future
Australians to have to pay for a brief period of landuse by another nation.
