Holding the Memories: Communities Leading the Fight for Nuclear Archival Justice

Building on the Nuclear Truth Project’s Challenging Nuclear Secrecy report (2025), this webinar brings together affected community members, nuclear justice advocates and organisations from the UK and Australia to explore barriers to accessing nuclear archives — and the power of community-held memory.

How do communities impacted by nuclear weapons testing overcome systemic barriers to accessing official records of harm to Peoples and Country? 

What privileges, policies, and processes restrict access for affected communities? 

How do organisations and individuals seek out, reclaim, or rebuild archives — and what successes or roadblocks have they encountered?

In a first-time collaboration between the Nuclear Truth Project (Dimity Hawkins), nuclear veteran association LabRats International (Alan Owen), Yankunytjatjara-Anangu (Aboriginal) activist Karina Lester, and UK academics Dr Chris Hill and Dr Jon Hogg, this event shares stories of archival (in)justice and the community-led work to reclaim truth, memory, and justice.

Focusing on British nuclear weapons testing in Australia and the Pacific (1952–1963), the discussion centres on archival justice as a core part of nuclear justice, victim assistance, and environmental restoration.

Join us to learn how memory is held — and fought for — by those most affected.

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PANEL PRESENTATION

Dimity Hawkins, Nuclear Truth Project, Naarm (Melbourne), Australia
Introducing the Challenging Nuclear Secrecy report and the growth of community archives and  community memory in place.

Alan Owen, LabRats International, UK
Community archives and barriers to accessing official archives.

Karina Lester, Yankunytjatjara-Anangu affected community leader, Australia
Community stories and collecting oral histories with impacted communities throughout Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands, barriers to access and more.

Dr Chris Hill and Dr Jon Hogg, University of South Wales and University of Liverpool, UK
Pedagogies of Nuclear Justice: Community Archives, Oral Histories & State Secrecy in the UK