Atomic Weapons Tests—Buffalo 1, 2, 3 and 4

Buffalo 2, with a yield of 1.5 kilotons, was exploded at ground level on 4 October. Fallout from this test was difficult to measure because rain (correctly forecast) had washed sticky papers.

The fireball of Buffalo 3, yield 3 kilotons, dropped from an aircraft on 11 October, did not reach the ground, although the top of the atomic cloud reached 15 000 feet. Fallout was small although small amounts were measured in the Maralinga village and parts of NSW and Victoria.

Fallout from Buffalo 4, yield 10 kilotons, exploded from a tower on 22 October 1956, was detected over the whole of Australia north of a line joining Carnarvon, Adelaide and Canberra.

Ground zeros for these tests were spread over an area of 6 km at a distance of about 27 km north of Maralinga township.

Meteorological support for the Buffalo tests was provided by a team of Bureau meteorologists, led by Henry Phillpot, which included Allan Brunt, Errol Mizon, Bob Southern and about six observers making routine surface, radiosonde and radar wind observations. It is obvious that Len Dwyer had decided that the meteorological team needed more people. In earlier consultation with Sir William Penney he had also resolved to establish an upper air station (Giles) in the desert to the north of Maralinga within the line of a proposed rocket range from Woomera to the north-west coast of Australia.

Bureau of Meteorology