Airdate: On Australian Shores: Survivor Stories
In the 1970s & '80s, Kimberley Aboriginal workers were involved in weed spraying campaigns -not knowing it was Agent Orange.
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On NITV next Monday, Karla Grant presents On Australian Shores: Survivor Stories.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Kimberley Aboriginal workers were involved in weed spraying campaigns organised by the Agriculture Protection Board of Western Australia. They received no training or protection equipment. They were told the chemicals they were mixing and spraying by hand were safe to use. Unbeknownst to them, they were spraying Agent Orange – a mixture of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D herbicides.
Many healthy young Aboriginal men died in their thirties and forties, leaving behind heartbroken parents, partners, siblings, children, and communities. But the impact was not limited to them. The toxins they were spraying affected their wives, who suffered miscarriages and could not have children, and their own children, who were in contact with their clothes. This important documentary gives voice to 42 people, survivors, family and community members, so that their stories are not forgotten.
Monday, 20 February at 8.30pm on NITV.
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One Response
This topic is close to my heart because my second eldest brother died from side effects of Agent Orange when it was used as a defoliant in the jungle during the Vietnam war. It was supposedly used also whilst troops were doing jungle training in Australia before being deployed to Vietnam. The devastation it created was horrendous and the Australian government at the time took quite a while to wake up to that fact. My brother campaigned against using the stuff right up till he died. I can understand the impact this has had. I will definitely be watching this.