“The Old Colonial Power Can Stand Proxy”: The Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia and the Politics of the 1980s

Abstract

When Justice James “Diamond Jim” McClelland took to London to “tip […] buckets” on the British establishment for their role in the nuclear tests in Australia, the judge secured his place in history as the defender of independent Australian nationalism. The Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia (1984–85) thus reinforced a narrative of Australian victimhood at the hands of an overzealous British establishment, largely obfuscating Australian colonial complicity. Through its specific terms of reference, the Commission ignored contemporary debates surrounding uranium and land rights policies in an effort to alleviate some of Australia's “colonial cringe”, the weight of which was becoming unbearable in the lead‐up to the Bicentenary. This article undertakes a deeper examination of the Royal Commission to tease out some of the historical motives behind the politics of the inquiry, demonstrating that the Commission served a greater political purpose than merely seeking justice for nuclear damages.