Three generations of survivors of historic nations’ first nuclear tests have told the United Nations that Australia needs to do more to address the devastating impact the tests have had on their families.
Key points:
- Three First Nations nuclear test survivors share their stories at a UN meeting
- They are calling on the Australian government to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
- They say they are facing the intergenerational trauma of nuclear testing in the 1950s in the interior of South Australia.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) invited survivors to speak at a conference in Vienna, more than 60 years after nuclear bombs were detonated in the interior of South Australia.
Yankunytjatjara’s wife Karina Lester, Kokatha’s eldest daughter Sue Coleman-Haseldine and her granddaughter Mia Haseldine shared their experiences via a video link from Port Augusta.
The women told the conference how tests conducted by the British government in Maralinga and Emu Fields in the 1950s had affected the health of successive generations of Aboriginal families in the region.
They called on the Australian government to sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which came into force in January last year.
The International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons organized a forum in Vienna as part of a “nuclear ban week”. (ABC North and West SA: Bethanie Alderson)
Intergenerational toll
Survivor June Lennon, who was in the audience, said she was only a week old when her father covered her with a tarp to protect her from a nuclear explosion at Emu Fields.
He told the ABC that his family would continue to suffer physical and mental trauma from the tests for generations to come.
“Most of our grandchildren have pretty bad vision and we were basically born with epilepsy,” Ms. Lennon said.
“I am very likely to die because I have kidney bleeding.
“We want to live. We want our children to live after us. We are now losing them at a very young age and some of that is mental health issues.”
The community gathered in Port Augusta to share their experiences before seeing the presentation at the UN. (ABC North and West SA: Bethanie Alderson)
In her presentation, third-generation survivor Mia Haseldine said she suffered from post-traumatic stress after the death of her unborn daughter.
“A genetic complication meant that my daughter developed growths and tumors in the form of tumors in the kidneys, heart and brain while in the womb,” Haseldine said.
“There are no external factors that contributed to it, which means it was genetic, which means our DNA has been mutated.”
She feared that her children would one day experience the loss she had felt.
“I wonder if my sisters or my children … have children, will there be more of our babies born with tumors and will have to suffer the pain … what am I carrying?”
“We still eat the bush tucker” in the test area
Haseldine described the gaps he believed the government should address to support the next generation of survivors, including a commitment to further research and education with Aboriginal communities on the impact of the evidence.
“If we can somehow link scientists or researchers studying DNA with people living in a community, eat food from that community,” Ms. Haseldine said.
“We’re still eating the bush tucker that’s where the rainfall probably fell.”
Last year, Australian researchers found that radioactive particles released during nuclear testing remained highly reactive.
Second-generation survivor Karina Lester noted in her presentation the importance of language for Aboriginal communities who never gave their consent for the test.
“Our crowd was not informed of those tests that were about to take place on their traditional lands,” Ms Lester said.
“It’s important that the information is in traditional language so that they know the impacts it has on our body and our environment.”
Need for more reconciliation
Ms. Lennon said that while she hoped the change of federal government would lead to a greater focus on reconciliation, she had lost faith.
“I have not seen the government do anything to reconcile with the aborigines of this country,” he said.
Communications to the UN from Port Augusta were part of the first meeting of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. (ABC North and West SA: Bethanie Alderson)
“If they had, we would have more people in government, we would have more people in places that mattered that would improve our health, that would improve our education for our children, that would improve things for our children who could not cope with this. more and they took their lives. “
Mrs. Lester ended his presentation at ICAN with a proud and defiant note.
“This is a huge story that needs to be shared,” he said.
“Our stories and hopes are stronger than your weapons and fears.”
Posted 6 hours, 6 hours ago, Monday, June 20, 2022 at 8:48 AM, updated 6 hours, 6 hours ago, Monday, June 20, 2022 at 9:33 AM