Peter Broughton Tells the Story of Maralinga (continued)

After the new power station was commissioned we no longer had to clean our clothes in bore water. Our OIC, Henry Phillpot, noticed how shabby we looked as the bore water had ruined all our clothes so he issued us with requisitions to collect a khaki uniform from the store similar to those already issued to the British scientists and officers. I remember that the storeman became downright hostile, refusing to issue them as we were not part of the English team and not officers. But Henry finally won the day. He insisted that we should be properly clothed and I must say that it had an immediate affect on our appearance and morale from that day on.

The electric generator in the new power plant was water-cooled and acted as a distillation plant to provide all our drinking and washing water needs, our hot water coming straight from the turbines. Unfortunately the elements used to distil the bore water rapidly blocked with salt and needed constant attention. This is where Ray Vickers, nicknamed 'The Vicar', came into the picture. He was the only man in the village small enough to get at the elements to clean them. 'The Vicar' was closely associated with the Seppelt family in Adelaide and was an alcoholic whose irrationality at times caused the camp commandant some concern. But only once was he banned from drinking; for a period of two months prior to Christmas.

One escapade in earlier days before the accommodation huts were built was common knowledge. Everyone slept in tents and the mess-tent was a marquee. During a wild party, and there were many, Ray climbed the marquee and sprayed beer down through the ventilator. Those inside immediately retaliated by moving Ray's tent to another site. Unfortunately, he had buried all his money under his bed and so for weeks after he could be seen digging up the ground around the camp in a vain attempt to find where his money was buried.

Bureau of Meteorology