Uranium the Silent Killer
At the ANFA (Australia Nuclear Free Alliance) meeting in Oct 2014 Indigenous Elders called for documentation of the health effects from the Maralinga and other atomic bomb tests in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
See https://ausnukefreealliance.wordpress.com for the meeting statement.
First Nations people along with the rest of the population from the southern regions of Australia were subject to horrific fallout from atomic testing carried out in these remote areas.
Permission was never sort from the Aboriginal nations.
“Just remember that the fallout at Maralinga affected the whole lot of us. Black, white, brindle; we all breathe the same air, and we’re all being affected in various ways, even though that happened a long time ago. It’s still around.” Sue Coleman-Haseldine (Kokatha Mula – Ceduna)
From 1952 to 1963 atomic testing covered vast areas of South Australia including Maralinga and Emu Fields test sites.
In November 2014 there will be a 3 week road trip to archive the stories of the people from Arabuna, Walitina, Ceduna, and Yalata country to produce film, audio and digital documentaries. We will begin a data base of the families affected, the geographical distributions of fall out and detrimental health repercussions of these unconsented tests.

The project will meet with people and family members who remained in the vicinity of the testing who were exposed to the immediate effects of radiological poison; people who were transmigrated from their homelands under duress to missions including Yalata in the south west of the state and people who suffer intergenerational impacts first hand at the expense of the atomic tests.
Nuclear weapons are the most destructive, inhumane and indiscriminate weapons ever created. Both in the scale of the devastation they cause, and in their uniquely persistent, spreading, genetically damaging radioactive fallout, they are unlike any other weapons.
For more information on nuclear weapons, including an article on Yami Lester, one of the survivors of the nuclear tests in South Australia, see http://www.icanw.org/au/
Many Aboriginal people in South Australia still rely on bush foods – plants and animals sourced from land that still is contaminated. The possibility of bioaccumulation is very real. Certainly the stories of early death from cancer, thyroid disease and congenital deformities are continuing.
“I’ve lost a lot of my family members through early death – and a lot of it was through cancer, and I do blame the Maralinga fallout.”
Aunty Martha - Arabana (Lake Eyre)
Contact us at: [email protected]
And visit the website at http://uraniumthesilentkiller.com
How The Funds Will Be Used
3 week archival road trip costs
Vehicle maintenance
Food
Communications
Printing and Postage
Genogram and Eco Mapping computer program - $750
Above and beyond $3000 – funds for expanding the pilot project to continue recording stories in an ongoing capacity across Australia.
Creating support for people affected.
Increasing education and awareness
dvd when the dust settles
When the Dust Settles combines comedy and serious content to explain the dangers of uranium mining, the nuclear fuel cycle and the use of depleted nuclear materials – much of which originates in Australian uranium mines – in weapons production. It is presented on location at the Olympic Dam and Ranger uranium mines and Roxby Downs. Academy Award nominee and internationally-respected Australian filmmaker, David Bradbury, of Frontline Films, was director.
dvd, and a patch
dvd "when the dust settles" and a patch with anti-nuclear screen print
Muckaty set of cards
dvd, patch, and a set of cards of artworks about the Muckaty campaign which was successful in preventing a nuclear waste dump being imposed on this community.
credited in documentary
dvd, patch, set of cards and credited in the documentary, with a free copy of the finished documentary
Rad tour or screening
All of the above PLUS Either: -a free spot on the 2015 Rad Tour OR -a free screening in your backyard (location dependant)