French Nuclear Testing in the Pacific, 1995-1996, and its Fallout for French Australians

Author: MARGARET BARRETT
The French Australian Review No 44 (Jun 2008): 25-52
https://doi.org/10.62586/REBB6631

This study focuses on the period of the last set of French nuclear tests in the Pacific in 1995-1996, after the election of Jacques Chirac as President of the Republic. It examines the Australian response to the tests in the 1970s and then, using personal testimony, it examines the effects of public acrimony and hostility on French Australians in 1995-1996.

Keywords: Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, President Chirac, Whitlam Government, South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone, protests, racism