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Australian Aboriginals’ gift from one atomic survivor community to another

Indigenous Australia’s Shared Legacy With Nagasaki’s Atomic History
“An Australian gift from one atomic survivor community to another.”http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/08/08/indigenous-australias-shared-legacy-with-nagasakis-atomic-hist/ On August 9, 1945, Nagasaki became the second city in the world to be targeted by atomic bombs in warfare, killing 80,000 people. Over the next 70 years, thousands more would die from the effects of the bombing alone.

In the 1950s British nuclear testing saw nine atomic bombs tested on Australian soil in the Maralinga and Emu fields of South Australia. This forced the migration of the Pitjantjatjara Anangu community away from their traditional land into Yatala.  For the Indigenous people of Maralinga, they were unable to return to their land and hunt because of contamination.

To mark not only the 71st anniversary of the Nagasaki bomb, but also International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, this short documentary Peace Gift to Nagasaki unites both communities in their efforts to promote peace and expose the legacy of the atomic age through creative arts.

Until now, Australia has not been one of those countries. In Peace Gift to Nagasaki, the Yatala Aboriginal community present a sculpture called ‘The Tree of Life’ to the Japanese community, a sculpture made of wood and cast in bronze so it can survive many hundreds of years.

“The Yatala sculpture will be an Australian gift from one atomic survivor community to another,” the narrator of the documentary explains.

To find out more about this project you can head to the Nuclear Futures page over here.

August 10, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general