About 20km from village / air field to the test sites.

The corrugations rougher than anything so far. The track duplicated in parts.

A cleanup of Emu and Maralinga happened in 2003. Residual radioactivity at Emu was considered minimal. The Emu cleanup was mainly to remove anything that could be later considered a souvenir.

Difficult to know but I read of 6 Corsair fighter aircraft and a Centurion tank.

So nothing left at the camera site. 

Just a roll of wire,

and our imaginations.

The 45 gallon drum looks a bit squashed. The ribs somewhat squashed.

My imagination suggests squashed by an explosion.

It seems there were various bits of equipment around the sites to observe the effect of explosions on them.

I have no idea if the drum was part of the test.

We are still at least a km from the ground zero.

Maybe to weigh something down.

The tests, organised by UK, were moved here when the Royal Navy couldn't provide support at the Montebello Islands where a previous test had been set off.

They were mainly interested in optimum ratios of plutonium.

Translation is "Good Meat" and "No Camping".

A little more care for local inhabitants than was taken with the tests.

15th October 1953, 07:00.

The blast was estimated at equivalent to 10kton of TNT, much higher than the expected 2-3kton.

The Hiroshima bomb was 15kton.

The cloud rose to 4,600m. Five Lincoln aircraft were used to sample the cloud 15 times by flying through it. The Centurion tank 320m away survived, engine still running, and was later used in the Vietnam War. Crewless, a crew would not have survived.

The unexpected black mist, the result of quirky weather that mixed dust with mist to create a sticky goo, that rolled across the landscape caused sickness among Aboriginals at Wallatina, in the Granite Downs, 175km away.

More than a bit scary having a bit of mist arrive unannounced and stick to you. Particularly if lightly clothed with lots of exposed skin. Never having seen such previously, not knowing what it is.

"Just someone tested an atom bomb" doesn't seem adequate.

The cloud was detected at Townsville, a couple of thousand km away.

Its coincidence that we are here at the time of an Hiroshima anniversary.

I expected a few specs, hard to find. Instead there was lots.

27th October 1953, 07:00.

Measurements said 8kton.

The cloud rose higher and moved westish rather than north east.

More glass.

Today I have a sense of the planning, execution, and support needed. Just 5 aircraft would require crews and ground staff. Army for the tank. Scientists for measurements and tracking fallout. Catering. Logistics. Management. Etc.

Before, and in between, the two tests "kitten tests" were undertaken. Non-exposive. Kitten was a label for a bunch of tests. There were other similar programmes, with equally strange names, later at Maralinga. Maralinga is also the site of more atomic bomb tests.

This may be the site of a sticky paper post. Sticky paper to collect dust from the air.

The post is near the camera base. Though one map has it a little way away. Intrigued by the thought of the paper being incinerated or blown away.

With the benefit of hindsight there is little wisdom in conducting above ground nuclear bomb tests in the middle of an inhabited continent, no matter how remote the test site seems.

We stop around 1pm. The landcruiser passes our campsite two hours later. We heard the trailer long before it passed.

Forever.