Re: woomera- what is it

[alec@wessex.demon.co.uk (alec baker)]

daisyhed@adelaide.DIALix.oz.au (Andrzej Markiewicz) wrote:

>[Woomera] is also a place name, but the name was given by white people 
>back in the fifties. What happened was the British and Australian 
>governments undertook a massive relocation programme from the central 
>desert area of South Australia- in other words they kicked the Aborigines 
>off their land forcibly- because they wanted to establish a nuclear test 
>site (Maralinga) and a rocket research and test facility. This was 
>Woomera,

Veering even further off-topic, a British sci-fi novel of the 1950's
was called "Blast Off At Woomera" - but when an American edition was
published it was re-titled "Blast Off at 03:00" - presumably the
publishers felt there was a lack of awareness in the USA as to the
location of the town.

For more info, point your wotsits at my homepage (URL below) where
you'll also find my Kate page (back on topic in the nick of time!).


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