RETURN TO

Vanished

During the past week both the ALP and the Liberals have announced new policies on uranium mining and/or nuclear power stations for Australia.

Political commentators, journalists, and concerned conservationists have all expressed opinions about the pros and cons of nuclear power but your roving reporter believes they are far off the mark. It is known only to a powerful few that rich uranium deposits have been discovered in the Penrith Valley.

A group of U3A members who innocently boarded a bus for what they thought to be a tour of the Penrith Lakes scheme earlier this month were mistakenly taken into an area that both parties want kept secret until after the November election.

Those people have not been seen since and it is believed that ASIO are holding them incommunicado until the year's end. All we know of their circumstances comes from a screw-top Vegemite jar found floating down the Nepean River. There was no message—it contained only the memory card from a digital camera. It was obviously smuggled out at great personal risk by one of those brave souls.

We bring you those photographs now.

Open cut uranium mine, Penrith. Note the typical reddish hue of the uranium ore.		These unknown, unnamed U3a hostages are led into the cell block that will remain their home for the remainder of this year.
After informing the group that they were to be kept prisoner, everybody was lined up beside a concrete wall. They were told that escapees would be shot.		Top secret dual-purpose vehicles. They can be used to transport uranium or to keep out intruders.
Uranium processing plant.  The raw material is processed to look like gravel so that it can be transported secretly through nuclear free zones.		The Hole!  Recalcitrant detainees are imprisoned in this tiny cell block for breaches of regulations.

Now, I hope you didn't take all that too seriously.  I was sent these photographs of a U3A excursion to Penrith Lakes but there was no story, no captions, and nobody identified—so I was left to write the story myself.  A mistake!  Like Oscar Wilde, I can resist anything except temptation.  Doubtless you can identify a few of the people.  It's always good to receive contributions for the web page but, please, send some information with them so that we know what they're all about.

              —David Evans