AustLit

Lallie Lennon was born near Granite Downs in South Australia and had a difficult life. Her Euopean father died and as a child she was sent to work as a domestic on a station where she was cruelly treated. Lennon was living in the Maralinga area with her children at the time of the atomic tests in the 1950s and she and her family fell ill after being exposed to the fallout from the nuclear bomb tests. Her experiences of this time are recorded in her autobiographical story, 'Maralinga'.

In 1975 Lennon attended the Davenport Aboriginal Adult Training Centre where she learnt to read and write and then worked with the South Australian Health Commission. Although Lallie and her family continued to suffer from the effects of nuclear fallout, they have never received compensation.