Week Three
29 December 2020
Few realise that the Kermadec Islands have a Cold War history. If it weren't for the decisions of one man, the islands could have become a nuclear testing site!
By 1955 it had been a decade since the world had entered the nuclear age, and it had also been six years since the Soviet Union had detonated their first atomic bomb. Despite laying the foundations for and playing intimate role in the American Manhattan Project, Britain found itself somewhat isolated at this stage in the Cold War arms race.
The United States had denied Britain the ability to utilise their nuclear test sites and furthermore had barred all other nations from piggybacking on its nuclear research programmes. Keen to assert itself amidst the great nuclear powers of the day, Britain scoured the edges of its Empire for test sites, settling on inland Australia as a viable candidate.
Starting from 1952 The United Kingdom performed twenty-three atomic tests in Australia. However, by 1955 a brick wall was hit - Australians would not permit testing of the far more deadly and dangerous Hydrogen Bombs.
In May 1955, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill contacted then Prime Minister of New Zealand Sidney Holland with a request to put the Subantaractic Islands between the crosshairs of a Hydrogen Bomb. This request was denied.
One year later the newly minted British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan wrote a personal letter to Holland. He requested that the Kermadec Islands be used as a testing site, stating "I am sure that we can count on you for co-operation in a project that is so important to the Commonwealth and the defence of the free world."
However, amid growing anti-nuclear sentiment and an upcoming general election, Holland stayed steadfast.