Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

provided by

This clip shows an aerial view of Woomera missile testing station, South Australia, where scaled down models of the Ikara missile are being tested in a variety of situations. The clip, which is in black and white and accompanied by a voice-over narration, ends with scenes showing further testing of Ikara at the Proof and Experimental Establishment at Port Wakefield in SA.

Educational value points

• Ikara, the ship-launched antisubmarine missile system seen in this clip, was developed by the Australian Government Aircraft Factory in the 1960s. Ikara operated by radio command until it reached the vicinity of a submarine, where it would parachute a lightweight torpedo towards its target. Ikara was an all-weather, urgent-attack weapon that travelled to its target quickly. Ikara had an advantage over other antisubmarine weapons at the time because it was immediately ready for firing.

• The Ikara missile was fitted to Royal Australian Navy frigates and was also operated by the Brazilian, Chilean, British and New Zealand navies. Its use was phased out in the 1990s as the service life of the ships to which it was fitted came to an end.

• The Woomera rocket range, shown in the clip, is now known as the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) and is overseen by the Department of Defence. It was founded in 1947 as the Long Range Weapons Establishment, a joint project between Australia and Britain to develop and test weapons systems. The name Woomera refers to an Aboriginal hunting implement used for launching spears.

• The WPA is located about 500 km north of Adelaide, SA, and is about the same size as England. Woomera was considered to be an excellent testing ground because of its isolated location and dry climate.

• In 1956 and 1957, as part of the WPA, Maralinga was used by the British to conduct major testing of nuclear devices. The test site was inhabited by the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara communities, many of whom were removed from their lands, although not all successfully.

• As a result of the nuclear tests carried out at Maralinga, illness and birth defects attributable to radiation exposure have been claimed by many British and Australian servicemen who participated in the testing programs and by those in the Aboriginal communities on whose lands the tests took place. Debate continues over the safety of the site, the long-term health effects on test participants and their claims for government compensation.

• Woomera was also used for satellite launches and for tracking lunar and planetary spacecraft. Employees lived at Woomera village, the population of which doubled from 3,000 people in 1950 to more than 6,000 by the 1960s. After a decline in operations in the early 1970s, the British ceased operations there in 1976 and by 2001 the population at Woomera had dropped to below 400 people. From 1999 to 2003 the Woomera Immigration and Processing Centre was used by the federal government to house refugees and asylum seekers.

• The use of Woomera as a defence facility continued and in the 1970s it became the support centre for Nurrungar, 20 km from Woomera, which was used to assist the US Defence Support Program (DSP). Nurrungar was essentially used as an intelligence site, recording information on nuclear explosions and missile launches, although much of what happened there remains confidential. The tracking station at Nurrungar remained in operation until October 1999.

• In the clip, tests are shown being performed on the Ikara ship’s magazine at the Proof and Experimental Establishment at Port Wakefield, 100 km north of Adelaide. The Proof and Experimental Establishment is used to test munitions and equipment for the Army and Navy.

• The clip is taken from a film produced for the Commonwealth Department of Supply by the Weapons Research Establishment Documentary Film Section using material that was confidential at the time. As a government-sponsored film it may include only the positive aspects of the Ikara testing program.