How To Survive After A Nuclear War.

[disco man]

Very interesting read.

British simulation considered psychopaths key to post-nuclear war survival | Townsville Bulletin (http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/world/in-1982-britain-simulated-surviving-an-allout-nuclear-war-one-solution-recruit-psychopaths/story-fnjbobeg-1227110553712)

[p38arover]

DM, are you Bob10's son? :wasntme:

[disco man]

:Rolling::Rolling::Rolling::Rolling: ha ha you cheeky bugger:D Why do you ask:whistling:

[Saitch]

DM, are you Bob10's son? :wasntme:
That's my "Comment of 2014" winner so far:clap2::clap2::clap2:

[bob10]

A paper exercise only. I spent two years instructing at the RAN NBCD [ nuclear, biological & chemical defence] school, and the general consensus was, after an attack of that magnitude, the only action you could take was bend down, put your head between your legs, & kiss your arse goodbye. Mutual destruction was the only thing stopping them pressing the button. That movie, " On the Beach " got it pretty well right. Bob

[Carzee]

A paper exercise only. I spent two years instructing at the RAN NBCD [ nuclear, biological & chemical defence] school, and the general consensus was, after an attack of that magnitude, the only action you could take was bend down, put your head between your legs, & kiss your arse goodbye. Mutual destruction was the only thing stopping them pressing the button. That movie, " On the Beach " got it pretty well right. Bob

I recall a scene from Mad Max (saw it at the Drive In) when he's opening an old can... and eating Dinki Di.

Assuming the nukes or the fallout don't get you the main threat over the longer term is food, water, infection and fertility issues.

How many urban people who have the skills to grow a tend a crop.. or a flock or a herd and then store/defend the produce?
Will any of them think "I will make money if I can find a truck and get some of this into town and sell it to a Supermarket.."

Not going to happen.

And don't mention fishing. The giant mutant seagulls will get you. :D

[Roverlord off road spares]

A paper exercise only. I spent two years instructing at the RAN NBCD [ nuclear, biological & chemical defence] school, and the general consensus was, after an attack of that magnitude, the only action you could take was bend down, put your head between your legs, & kiss your arse goodbye. Mutual destruction was the only thing stopping them pressing the button. That movie, " On the Beach " got it pretty well right. Bob
That Movie On the Beach, still gives me a chill feeling, especially when the family with kids commits suicide by driving off the cliff on the Great Ocean Road.

[p38arover]

The radio station in On The Beach was either at Rockbank (Vic) or Fiskville - both were owned by my first employer, the Overseas Telecommunications Commission.

I'll ask on Friday at the Overseas Telecommunications Veterans luncheon.

Fiskville (named after Sir Ernest Fisk) is now the CFA training college.


The name of the property comes from Sir Ernest Fisk, the Chairman of Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited (AWA) when the property was owned and managed by AWA and used as a long distance radio communication station as part of the Imperial Wireless Chain. The original California Bungalow style buildings at the front of the property are still used as accommodation for student firefighters and were originally built to house the station's technical staff and their families. The original generator building now houses the Teaching Centre while the concrete blocks used to anchor the aerials' guy wires are still visible in multiple locations around the property.

http://www.melton.vic.gov.au/files/616efc38-9741-457e-a992-a28b00f87325/HO_108_Rockbank_Beam_Wireless.pdf

[BMKal]

Long before seeing the movie "on The Beach", I remember reading the book by Neville Shute. Was one of the best books I have ever read, and one that stuck in my memory for many years .................. unlike most of the other rubbish I was forced to read in my high school years.

[bob10]

That Movie On the Beach, still gives me a chill feeling, especially when the family with kids commits suicide by driving off the cliff on the Great Ocean Road.


I read the book, the part that sent a shiver up my spine was at the end, when survivors had made it to Antarctica, which was the only place on Earth regarded as radiation free. They were holding a meeting, to work out a plan for the future, when in walked a man holding a radiation monitor, the monitor was screaming like a banshee, the reading off the dial. That was the end. During the Cold War, I actually thought that was going to be the future for humanity. Still might be, if Iran & Korea get the bomb. Bob

[jonesfam]

Korea HAS the bomb!

[sashadidi]

I remember a little black humour from Russia told to me by my Moscow based relatives relatives about
Soviet times maybe the Cuban missile crisis time .
A man sees his neighbour walking along the road carrying a large (grab) bag , where are you going? to the nuclear shelter!!!! What? is there a attack coming, yes, the USA has launched its total nuclear arsenal at us why aren't you running?
I do not want to cause a panic.....

[Orkney 90]

David Graham's "Down to a Sunless Sea", from 1979 is a book that I have re-read so many times it has started falling apart.

A plane load of passengers is mid-way through a flight when the bombs are dropped, but a plane cannot stay above the radiation for long...

Yeah it sounds cheesy, and in some ways it probably is. But at the time it put a different spin on the post-nuclear war theme. Still a good read after all these years.

[AndyG]

And after all that EMP, the only vehicles moving around will be the LR Series :o

[bob10]

Korea HAS the bomb!


Technically, perhaps. There is some doubt , though. Some think it is a massive bluff, on Nth Koreas part. Who knows? Bob


Nuclear weapons: Who has what? (http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2013/03/world/nuclear-weapon-states/)

[67hardtop]

I think the cockroaches will be the only survivors:D:D

Cheers Rod:wasntme:

[disco man]

Technically, perhaps. There is some doubt , though. Some think it is a massive bluff, on Nth Koreas part. Who knows? Bob


Nuclear weapons: Who has what? (http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2013/03/world/nuclear-weapon-states/)

Bloody hell Bob that should be enough to destroy the planet:( Why do you question if North Korea has them?

[bob10]

Bloody hell Bob that should be enough to destroy the planet:( Why do you question if North Korea has them?


I don't know of course, but this report raises some questions. Bob


Experts Disagree on Recent North Korean Nuke Advances | The Diplomat (http://thediplomat.com/2013/10/experts-disagree-on-recent-north-korean-nuke-advances/)

[bob10]

I think the cockroaches will be the only survivors:D:D

Cheers Rod:wasntme:


They would do anything to win that State of origin, the fiends, Bob :p

[p38arover]

I've received some replies about the filming of On The Beach from blokes who worked for OTC.


From my recollection the actual station was Rockbank , we wondered at the time why Rockbank and not Fiskville, maybe because Rockbank was much closer to Melbourne than Fiskville and transport was a bit dearer for the film makers in those days


From what I can recall the area for the Morse code scene was a room with a Morse key on a bench and transceiver (?) etc. mounted above (and maybe other racks around the room?) and they were near a window. If my memory is correct I cannot recall a similar location at Fiskville, although there was an annexe where where the Coastal Radio transmitter was housed which I think had a window and could possibly have been used.
Although I worked at Fiskville for 7 years I may be wrong- it was a long time ago! Also, Rockbank was close to the city and easier to get to than Fiskville which was 7 miles from Ballan (and that was about an hour and a half from the city) although there is a freeway there now.


Ron Beckett is correct - Rockbank was used for the morse-key-tangled-up-in-the-Coke-bottle-and-blind-cord scene
in 'On the Beach'.

It was filmed before my time at Rockbank but not by much.

If you look at the background as the actor in the radiation suit moves from the main receiving hall into the annex, where the morse key was located, you can see one of the old crystal-locked AWA receivers, and a moment later a photo of Sir Ernest Fisk - both strange things to have in Seattle (or was it San Diego?).

The breeze coming through the window and causing the key to be operated was furnished by a fan outside the annex.

The author of 'On the Beach', Neville Shute, retired from England to live in Frankston ('Frankstown' in the film), and was a neighbour of Barry McMillan, a telegraphist in Melbourne Operating Room at the time.


When I was a very new recruit to OTC I did some work at both Fiskville and Rockbank and had also really enjoyed "On The Beach" and knew that some of it was filmed at Rockbank (I am fairly sure) because there were racks of equipment that were much more photogenic than the bloody great transmitters that were at Fiskville.

When I arrived at Rockbank I was enthralled to see a scene straight out of the movie. (Or at least thats how I remember it now !)


I have had a look at the film, and from the internal evidence it does not look like an American station, as a volume near the morse key is entitled "valve data manual", and the Americans did not call them valves. So it would most likely be either Rockbank or Fiskville, as they were shooting in Melbourne. I did not visit either station, so cannot comment on the location except to say the equipment looks more receiving than transmitting. You would need to find a veteran in his eighties to find someone who knew the stations well.

I have attached a still from the film of the "transmitting equipment".

I see the Valve Data Manual is for the AVO valve tester. I remember using those when I worked at Bringelly HF Receiving Station as a trainee tech in the Sixties and later at Paddington (Sydney) International Test and Maintenance Centre when checking the Compac Submarine Cable equipment, also in the Sixties before I moved to Moree Satellite Earth Station in 1968. Compac was valve technology.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=86655&stc=1&d=1415237099

[DiscoMick]

The bit of that report I found most disturbing was the comment that one per cent of the population are psychopaths with no feelings for others. Looking around me, I can see it might be true...


I didn't follow how they thought psychopaths were the answer to post-nuclear holocaust. What did they want the psychopaths to do - restore order by killing everyone who was a threat? How would that help? I would have thought the psychopaths themselves would have been the threat and should have been contained.


Personally, in that situation, I think I'd just load the Defender up with fuel and lots of non-perishable food and head for the Outback. Innamincka sounds promising, at Ski Beach on the Cooper Creek, under a tree on the river, with a water purifier, lots of canned and packet food, a fishing rod and a rifle for shooting an occasional roo or dingo for meat. I could last quite a long time that way. And, if I ever really need a hot shower, I can sneak into Innamincka at night and pay $2 at the public showers!