In 1953, Britain detonated an atomic bomb in Australia, sending a mysterious black mist across the desert before a secret programme began testing children’s bones for radiation

A strange black mist moved across the Australian desert in 1953 after Britain detonated an atomic bomb at Emu Field. The dark cloud was radioactive fallout, but the most disturbing chapter of the nuclear-testing programme would unfold years after the mist had disappeared, when Australian authorities began secretly collecting human bones to measure how much radioactive strontium had entered the population.

The episode grew out of Britain's postwar race to become a nuclear power. With the Cold War intensifying and Britain seeking to develop and refine its own atomic arsenal, Australia agreed to host British nuclear tests on its vast territory. In 1950, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee approached Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies about conducting nuclear tests on Australian soil. Menzies agreed. The arrangement was largely kept from the Australian public until 1952.