science

Australia and weapons of mass destruction

Australia and weapons of mass destruction is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Australia and weapons of mass destruction rather than just read about it. In short: Australia does not possess weapons of mass destruction, although it has participated in extensive research into nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in the past. Australia chairs the Australia Group, an informal grouping of countries that seek to minimise the risk of assisting chemical and biological weapon proliferation.

Key takeaways

Australia and weapons of mass destruction belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Australia and weapons of mass destruction to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Australia and weapons of mass destruction from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Australia does not possess weapons of mass destruction, although it has participated in extensive research into nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in the past. Australia chairs the Australia Group, an informal grouping of countries that seek to minimise the risk of assisting chemical and biological weapon proliferation. All states participating in the Australia Group are parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention, and strongly support efforts under those Conventions to rid the world of chemical and biological weapons. As with chemical and biological weapons, Australia does not possess nuclear weapons and is not seeking to develop them.

Biological weapons Australia has advanced research programs in immunology, microbiology and genetic engineering that support an industry providing vaccines for domestic use and export. It also has an extensive wine industry and produces microorganisms on an industrial scale to support other industries including agriculture, food technology and brewing. The dual-use nature of these facilities mean that Australia, like any country with advanced biotechnological industries, could easily produce biological warfare agents. The Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness in Geelong, Victoria is researching the Ebola virus. The Australian Microbial Resources Research Network lists 37 culture collections, many of which hold samples of pathogenic organisms for legitimate research purposes.

History In the wake of the Japanese advance through South East Asia during World War II, the secretary of the Australian Department of Defence, Frederick Shedden, wrote to virologist Macfarlane Burnet on 24 December 1946 and invited him to attend a meeting of top military officers to discuss biological warfare. In September 1947, Burnet was invited to join the chemical and biological warfare subcommittee of the New Weapons and Equipment Development Committee and subsequently prepared a secret report titled "Note on War from a Biological Angle". In 1951 the subcommittee recommended that "a panel reporting to the chemical and biological warfare subcommittee should be authorised to report on the offensive potentiality of biological agents likely to be effective against the local food supplies of South-East Asia and Indonesia". The activities of the chemical and biological warfare subcommittee were scaled back soon after, as Prime Minister Robert Menzies was more interested in trying to acquire nuclear weapons. Australia signed the Biological Weapons Convention on 10 April 1972 and deposited a certificate of ratification on 5 October 1977.

Chemical weapons

Australia conducted extensive research into chemical weapons during World War II. Although Australia has never produced chemical weapons, it did stockpile chemical weapons sourced from the United States and Britain. Chemical weapons known to have been stockpiled included mustard gas, phosgene, lewisite, adamsite and CN gas. Some of the stockpiled weapons in the form of mortar and artillery shells, aerial bombs and bulk agents were sent to New Guinea for potential use against Japanese tunnel complexes. No actual use of the weapons was made although there were many trials using 'live' chemical weapons (such as shown in the adjacent picture). After World War II, the chemical weapons were disposed of by burning, venting (for phosgene) or by dumping at sea. Some 21,030 tons of chemical weapons were dumped in the seas off Australia near Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. This has been covered in a Defence report by Geoff Plunkett.[1] A complete history of Australia's involvement with chemical weapons – titled Chemical Warfare in Australia – has been published in book form by the Army History Unit (Defence Department) in 2013 (2nd Edn) [2] [3] Again it is authored by Geoff Plunkett [4]. A stockpile of 1,000 pound phosgene bombs was discovered at Embi Airfield, Papua in 1970 and disposed of by Australian Army personnel, and, up to 1990, drums of mustard gas were still being discovered in the bush where they had been tested. Another stockpile of chemical weapons was discovered at Maxwelton, Queensland in 1989. Australia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention in January 1993 and ratified it with the Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act in 1994.

Nuclear weapons

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Australia and weapons of mass destruction

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Australia and weapons of mass destruction claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Australia and weapons of mass destruction before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Australia and weapons of mass destruction ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Australia and weapons of mass destruction

In research: Australia and weapons of mass destruction appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Australia and weapons of mass destruction in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Australia and weapons of mass destruction is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Foreign relations of Australia, Weapons of Australia, Weapons of mass destruction by country, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Australia and weapons of mass destruction outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Australia and weapons of mass destruction in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Australia and weapons of mass destruction means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Australia and weapons of mass destruction out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Australia and weapons of mass destruction in simple terms?

Why does Australia and weapons of mass destruction matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Australia and weapons of mass destruction?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Australia and weapons of mass destruction.