Wayne Reynolds, ‘We have this deterrent’ Australia’s Nuclear Ambition

While Australia’s hosting of British nuclear tests in the 1950s is a well-known and controversial policy of the Menzies Government, the fact that Australia sought its own ‘bomb’ remains relatively obscure. That our nation’s leaders, on both sides of politics, desired nuclear weapons should not surprise us. Australia had stared down the existential threat of invasion during World War Two, and on the same premise that informed ‘populate or perish’ and our push for an ongoing alliance with the United States, governments were willing to do whatever it took to safeguard national security. As new security fears and the challenges of climate change are breathing new life into the debate over a potential nuclear future, it is the perfect time to shine a light on Australia's nuclear past.

In this week’s episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to Wayne Reynolds, author of Australia's Bid for the Atomic Bomb, about Australia’s nuclear story.

Associate Professor Wayne Reynolds currently resides in the School of Humanities and Languages, at the Australian Defence Force Academy, University of New South Wales. His research focus to date has been on Australian and international archives in the United States, Britain, Canada, and South Africa. Overseas research collaborations have included the Mountbatten Centre, University of Southampton; the Menzies Centre, University College London, British Columbia University Press; Stockholm Defence University; the Documentation Directorate, Department of Defence, Pretoria; and Standford University Press. He has published on several nuclear themes including nuclear power, submarines, defence science, higher education, tactical weapons, non-proliferation, and strategic policy.