5 days ago
Nuclear test participants' stories spotlighted
A photography exhibition documenting the stories of sailors who took part in British nuclear tests in the 1950s held its opening night at Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery in Alexandra on Friday.
"Operation Grapple — We Were There", by photographer Denise Baynham, tells the stories of the men aboard the ships HMNZS Pukaki and HMNZS Rotoiti who took part in the tests and their lives afterwards.
Both ships were deployed to support the nine nuclear detonations around Kiribati during 1957 and 1958.
The crews of the ships would witness the blast and collect weather data from as close as 37km from the blast site.
One of the speakers at the opening was Alexandra woman Sue Douglas, who told the story of her brother, Peter Wright, an officer in the Royal New Zealand Navy who participated in Operation Grapple.
"He was dressed in a special suit and was told to turn his back to the bomb that hangs over his eyes. He could see his bones light up through the skin in the blast."
After 10 years of miscarriages, Mr Wright and his wife were gifted with two girls, she said.
Mr Wright would go on to have a successful career in the navy where he rose to the rank of commander and commanded the HMNZS Taranaki.
In the late 1960s, Mr Wright was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and his health began to deteriorate.
"[Peter] shrank from a handsome 6-foot man with his bones like hokey pokey in terrible pain."
Mr Wright would die in 1982, four years after his father.
His wife Jan would die by suicide in 1984.
"Life was just too much without him, the girls were perilous and still in high school."
One of the daughters would go on to become a lawyer and worked with another Grapple veteran to fight for recognition from the government.
"The government were hoping they would all die before they made that decision. Read the truth of their stories of the few who are still alive.
"I'm honoured to open this exhibition," Mrs Douglas said.
Central Stories manager Paula Stephenson said Mr Wright's portrait and his story would be put up on display alongside the portraits of the exhibit.
The first-of-its-kind exhibit was powerful and about a subject unknown to most New Zealanders, Ms Stephenson said.
"It's important to ensure that people do know about it."
The photographer decided to create the exhibit in an effort to raise awareness of the effects the Grapple tests had on the men and their families, who had been fighting for an apology and compensation from the government for decades, Ms Stephenson said.
The exhibition will run until August 31.
