Maralinga atomic bombs - 'Eye' witness account
"We heard the big bomb went off that morning, a loud noise and the ground shook.
"I don't know how long after we seen this quiet black smoke - oily and shiny - coming across from the south. "Next time we had sore eyes, skin rash, diarrhea and vomiting everybody, old people too. "Some of the old people, I don't know how many died." Mr Lester was unable to open his eyes for several weeks, and when he did, he couldn't see. By 1957 he was completely blind. "When I was in Alice Springs in 1984 I heard Sir Ernest Titterton, who was saying blackfellas were all looked after. "That it was all clear where [the] Maralinga testing occurred. "I thought to myself 'he talking the wrong way.' "He doesn't know what happened on our end. "So I picked up the telephone and that's where it all started."Mr Lester began telling his story, and his actions eventually led to the McClelland Royal Commission in 1985.
Source: Caddie Brain ABC Rural http://www.abc.net.au/site-archive/rural/content/2011/s3326601.htm
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