CLAIMS a radioactive Land Rover is buried somewhere on Leeuwin Barracks were taken seriously enough by the Defence department to warrant a site investigation in September.

Last week three navy veterans went public with the claim, saying the vehicle was bought back from the British government’s atomic tests at the Montebello Islands and buried when it couldn’t be decontaminated (“Radioactive riverside?”, Herald, November 21, 2015).

This week Defence told the Herald a fourth person had been in contact about the claim and had helped identify areas where a ground-penetrating radar was used. The department is keeping the name of the witness secret.

“[The radar] did not identify any metal objects that were the size of a Land Rover,” Defence said in a statement to the Herald.

“Defence also intends to undertake appropriate soil sampling prior to the sale of the site. As part of the due diligence pack, a copy of the sampling report will be made available to potential purchasers.”

The department says there’s nothing in its records about buried vehicles.

Former recruit John Hogan thinks the story’s bunkum; he was stationed at Leeuwin Barracks in 1954 and says while there was radioactive material around, top brass was very strict about how it was handled.

“Anyone who went into that area in Leeuwin had to wear asbestos suits; they had these blue asbestos suits and that was the instruction,” Mr Hogan told the Herald.

“I was not allowed to go anywhere near it, nor was anyone else.”

He reckons given these strict orders, and the fact none of his colleagues ever spoke about buried Land Rovers at the time, it was unlikely anyone was driving around on “hot” cars or burying them. “It sounds like some bloke having a drink down at the RSL,” Mr Hogan said.

by STEVE GRANT