Opening | Operation Grapple: We Were There

About the event

Join us for the opening of our new exhibition, Operation Grapple: We Were There.

In 1957/58 the British Government conducted a series of nuclear weapons tests at Christmas Island and Malden Island in the mid-Pacific Ocean. This series of detonations was given the codename “Operation Grapple”.

Operation Grapple consisted of 9 nuclear detonations between May 1957 and September 1958. The biggest of the detonations, Grapple Y, was equal to 140 Hiroshima bombs.

In Operation Grapple: We Were There, Denise Baynham presents portraits of 19 New Zealand nuclear test veterans. Photographed in their own homes so you can see where and who they are now, the accompanying stories about Operation Grapple are told in the veterans’ own words.

Nau mai koutou katoa - all are welcome at this free event!

Image: Portrait of Roy Sefton, photographed by Denise Baynham.