"Contaminated Country: Nuclear Colonialism and Aboriginal Resistance"

Join the SSN, Dr Renee Fiolet, and Distinguished Professor David Lowe (Centre for Contemporary Histories) for a launch and panel discussion on the themes in this important new book.

During the twentieth century Australia was embroiled in the military and civilian nuclear programs of numerous global powers. From uranium extraction to weapons testing, Australia's lands became sites of imperial exploitation under the guise of national development and was subject to rampant nuclear colonialism. Aboriginal communities, bearing the brunt of these processes, persistently resisted, reclaiming their rights to Country and demanding reparations.
As Jessica Urwin shows, extraction, testing and waste disposal have caused incalculable physical, spiritual, and cultural harm to Aboriginal communities and lands. Tracking the colonial mechanisms Australia used to pursue nuclear industry, Urwin simultaneously highlights how Aboriginal peoples rejected and reshaped those same mechanisms. Contaminated Country reveals how Australia's nuclear past has been entangled with colonialism locally, nationally, and internationally.

Discussant bio:

David Lowe is Director of the Centre for Contemporary Histories at Deakin. His research focuses primarily on modern international history, conflict and memory, and Australia in world affairs. He is currently working on two projects, a conceptual history of national security in Australia and a global analysis of how the Korean War is remembered, both projects in collaboration with Deakin colleagues. His most recent book, published in 2025, was

Photo by Megan Clark.