Banjawarn station

Banjawarn Station

Location in Western Australia

Banjawarn Station is a remote sheep station in Western Australia. It is situated 220 miles (350 km) north of Kalgoorlie and 500 miles (800 km) north east of Perth, on the edge of the Great Victoria Desert. It covers an area of 404,680 hectares (999,986 acres).^[1] In the 1990s Banjawarn was owned by the Aum Shinrikyo and following the Tokyo subway attack was the subject of an Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigation.

History

The Warren family owned the station in 1935.

Wool produced at the station was bought for a record price of 91d per pound in 1948. The station sold a total of 19 bales of AAA combings for the record price.^[2] The station, owned by A.A. Warren sold another nine bales of AAA for 84d. per pound.^[3]

Following two years of drought, the Warrens drove to Perth to celebrate the breaking rains in 1954.^[4]

The Cult

Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese doomsday cult responsible for a range of criminal and terrorist acts.

In April 1993 they purchased Banjawarn and built a facility there. "The Chairwoman for the aboriginal community living near the sheep station, Phyllis Thomas, said that she and other Aborigines saw about five people wearing full-length suits and helmets on the remote site in late August 1993. The suited sect members were standing by a twin engine airplane and others were in the plane."^[5]

In September 1993 a team of Aum scientists arrived in Australia with mislabeled hydrochloric acid among other chemicals.

The Aum group traveled with chemicals and mining equipment on which they paid over $20,000 in excess baggage fees. According to the Australian Federal Police report, among the baggage was a mechanical ditch digger, picks, petrol generators, gas masks, respirators, and shovels. A Customs duty of over $15,000 was paid to import these items. Because of the large amount of excess baggage being brought in by the group, Australian Customs searched the entire group. This search revealed four liters of concentrated hydrochloric acid, including some in containers marked as hand soap. Among the other chemicals that Australian customs officials found were ammonium chloride, sodium sulphate, perchloric acid, and ammonium water. All of the chemicals and some of the laboratory equipment were seized by Australian authorities.^[5]

New chemicals were purchased in Australia, and a research facility of unknown purpose was established at the site. When raided by the Australian government in 1995, it contained computers and laboratory equipment.

The Australian government, finding that the wells in the region were not operating properly, demanded that a manager be hired to take care of the sheep. The Aum group complied. In early 1994 the research equipment was removed and replaced with sheep farms. The Aum group demanded that they would be the only ones to shear the sheep. 2000 sheep were shorn and sold to a slaughterhouse. "The manager did not witness any experiments or mineral exploration."^[5]

The site was sold in October 1994. On 20 March 1995, the Aum group released toxic sarin gas into part of the Tokyo subway system, killing 12 people and injuring over 1000. In the subsequent investigation, it was revealed that they had purchased the Banjawarn Station, and so the AFP examined the site.

The site also contained the corpses of a number of sheep that showed signs of exposure to sarin. The soil in the area contained traces of methylphosphonic acid, a residue of sarin use. The conclusion was that Banjawarn had been used as a test site for chemical weapons use.

The seismic event

On the night of 28 May 1993 a mysterious seismic disturbance was detected in Western Australia and found to have emanated from south of Banjawarn.

The explosive event sent shock waves through hundreds of miles of desert but was witnessed only by a few long-distance truck drivers and gold prospectors. They reported seeing a bright flash in the sky and hearing the rumble of an explosion. The cause of the event remained a mystery, however.

A meteor strike would have left a large crater, perhaps 300 yards (270 m) across, none of which was found. A mine explosion was also unlikely, as it was 170 times more powerful than the largest explosion known in Australia up to that time. The Urban Geoscience Division of the Australian Geological Survey Organisation determined that the seismic traces of the event "showed similar characteristics consistent with typical seismic activity for Western Australia," and that the event was most likely an earthquake.^[6]

Following the revelation that Banjawarn was owned by the Aum there was speculation that this event was the result of a test explosion of a nuclear device they had built. It was known that Aum were interested in developing nuclear as well as chemical weapons, as they had recruited two nuclear engineers from the former Soviet Union and had been mining uranium. This was reported in 1997 in the New York Times. However, the AFP investigation found no evidence of this or of any equipment that might indicate such research.

The metaphor

The speculation on the seismic event was used by Bill Bryson in his book In A Sunburned Country (named Down Under in the UK) as a metaphor and an example of the world's lack of interest in Australia and her affairs. He points out that in 1997 there were just 20 articles in the New York Times on Australia (compared to, for example, 50 on Albania), and that this was a good year. He describes this as a shame, as Australia is "A country where interesting things happen,… all the time".

Bryson goes on to describe the seismic event at Banjawarn in detail, drawing on the NYT article, concluding that Australia is a country "so vast and empty that a band of amateur enthusiasts could conceivably set off the world's first non-governmental atomic bomb on its mainland and almost four years [sic] would pass before anyone noticed".

See also

• List of ranches and stations

References

Sources

• Bryson, Bill: Down Under(In the UK) In a Sunburned Country (In the US) (2000) ISBN 0-385-40817-X

External links

• Google Map: Banjawarn station
• New York Times article Seismic Mystery in Australia: Quake, Meteor or Nuclear Blast?

Coordinates: 27°42′12″S 121°36′48″E / 27.70333°S 121.61333°E / -27.70333; 121.61333