One of the saddest tv exposures I ever saw was called the "Downwinders".
It was on a Sunday morning some years ago on the Channel 9 Sunday show and it was about this young girl, all growed up now, who's child had just died of leukaemia, the girl herself having been dusted with fallout from the Nevada atomic bomb test range in the 1950's.
Here she was, off to visit another girlfriend from that era who's young girl was about to die from a "fallout leukaemia"...a second generation poisoning...and the rest of the "Downwinders" story was about the people of the townships downwind from the range fighting the US Defense Department for recognition and for compensation, but getting nothing but rejection. There were no "Sorrys" and no admission of any real ownership for the lies that the townsfolk were told about the fallout being "non-harmful".
I could have cried at the end of the show when the reporter said that just before they had finished filming the story, the now growed up girls girlfriends' daughter... had just passed on.
Australia too has her "Downwinders" and I feel its time we recognised them and helped them with their "Sorry"; and with their compensation claims sufficient to cover medical bills and for their childrens'.
When the British exploded their bombs at Maralinga in South Australia the radiation went high up into the atmosphere and dumped all the way over into the New England region of New South Wales leaving behind it a trail of suffering people (I believe the Federal Government knows. Its all quietly recorded by the Defence folk).
In one small community near Glen Innes, NSW it is reported that 6 out of the 11 inhabitants who grew up in that community, in the bomb testing period, have died from cancers.
All over eastern Australia it will be the same thing.
Dustings and death.
If you have a radiation story, perhaps it could be told.
It would also be good to see Channel 9 run that tv show again.
It might help the radiated sick folks... get their justice.

"It might help the radiated sick folks... get their justice."

Not a hope Gibo.

The surviving Australian soldiers, who were in close proximity to Maralinga at the time of the blast, have only received free medical treatment for their cancers - no compensation.

Governments are well aware that the origins of cancers are hard to prove therefore all the others who have succumbed to cancers from the radiation fall-out will be regarded as mere cannon fodder.

Despite the millions spent on Maralinga for site remediation, the area remains contaminated.

What a legacy. Thanks very much, Pig Iron Bob!

Hi dickie.
Ive heard anecdotal evidence that medical people have been over much of New England, New South Wales and probably further east (unusual high altitude wind patterns possibly carrying the dust all the way to the coast).
Some appear to be government medical people (nice and quiet) and, in at least one other case, a private MacQuarie Street, Sydney specialist was seen in the region interviewing people re: cancers numbers.
So they know... and have data.
Getting them to do the next step might be hard. Admitting liability.
I would love to see a major newspaper really get in and open doors with an thorough investigation.
It wouldnt be hard, just a little complex with so many people coming forward. Ads in local newspapers would do it.
A christian friend said to me a few years back that "secrets are just sin covered up". He was right.
They sinned and dont want to confess.

Dear Gibo,

Unlike Australia's sheep, the Aborigines were not counted until the late sixties.

"We occupied the land, but we were fauna," said Aboriginal lawyer Noel Pearson.

When British nuclear scientists were given permission by Prime Minister Robert Menzies to test nuclear weapons on Aboriginal land at Maralinga in the 1950s, they used site maps marked "Uninhabited."

Patrick Connolly, who served with the Royal Air Force at Maralinga, was threatened with prosecution by the security forces after he revealed that 'during the two-and-a-half years I was there, I would have seen 400 to 500 Aborigines in contaminated areas. Occasionally,
we would bring them in for decontamination. Other times we just shooed them off like rabbits.'

Yes Gibo, there's a lot to be answered for - but as we've seen from our past history - justice doesn't always prevail. And, who's got
access to lawyers to pursue the matter? A lot of people, especially politicians, are still in denial about this country's history and setting the record straight despite the fact that the data is in the
Government files and archives.

You right Foxy. Im hoping the newspapers will one day really pick it up on the issue and ask fallout communities for their stories. There would be heaps out there and innumerable people itching to speak about family members from the bomb era. This may not happen because of all the free speech restrictions the Federal government is bringing in under the guise of the terrorism thing. I heard there was an retired defence guy up in New England New South Wales who stole a medical file from the army before he left that was connected to fallout casualties and they sent to bouncers after him and gave him a beating to shut him up, now he doesnt want to talk about what he knew. Things like this seem to have been happening. They keep the lid pretty well welded down on radiation dustings wherever they can. Its a real evil.

I believe that's a pretty accurate account Foxy.

Seismic events of atomic explosions at Maralinga were recorded a thousand miles from the site, at Southern Cross in Western Australia.

One must wonder just how many states and their inhabitants were exposed to radiation and its insidious consequences, given there were hundreds of atomic tests performed on Australian soil.

You and Gibo may be interested in reading the following article by Professor John Keane of the University of Westminster in London:

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/11/1052280486255.html

"And those who forget the past will be forced to relive it in the future."