The Aboriginal occupation of the Montebello Islands, northwest Australia

The Montebello Islands, lying some 120 km off the northwest coast of Australia, are probably best known for the series of nuclear tests conducted there by the British between 1952 and 1956. They are also the site of the first European shipwreck in Australian waters: the English East Indiaman Trial, dating to 1622. Post-atomic detritus may be seen today on a number of the larger islands in such varied forms as monolithic bunkers, twisted wings of Spitfires, rocket launchers and sections of the naval destroyer HMS Plym, on which the first device was detonated in 1952.