'We followed the road bitumen to the place where the bomb went off and we were all standing there looking — a big hole with a big fence around it and no trees for miles, no green leaves, just dead trees, lots of dead animals. We were walking in bare feet looking around. We weren't told it was dangerous and that we should wear shoes.'
— Yvonne Edwards
The Maralinga lands have seen many changes. Ooldea Soak, Malu kapi, in the far south east of Pitjantjatjara country was for thousands of years a place for people to gather — traditional Anangu life revolved around water sources. In a few short years after white settlement this previously permanent waterhole was forever dried up.
Daisy Bates, mission life and welfare dependency followed, until the following statement and others like it justified the Maralinga bomb tests in the 1950s: 'Maralinga and Emu are well isolated from any population centre and are of no known significance either for agricultural or mineral development. It is unlikely that the area will become populated in the foreseeable future.'
This is the story of the country and history of Maralinga, told in words and pictures by Yalata and Oak Valley community members, with renowned author Christobel Mattingley.