Due to its low population , Oceania was a popular location for atmospheric and underground nuclear tests . Tests were conducted in various locations by the United Kingdom ( Operation Grapple and Operation Antler ) , the United States ( Bikini atoll and the Marshall Islands ) and France ( Moruroa ) , often with devastating consequences for the inhabitants . In 1954 , for example , fallout from the American Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb test in the Marshall Islands was such that the inhabitants of the Rongelap Atoll were forced to abandon their island . Three years later the islanders were allowed to return , but suffered abnormally high levels of cancer . They were evacuated again in 1985 and in 1996 given $ 45 million in compensation . A series of British tests were also conducted in the 1950s at Maralinga in South Australia , forcing the removal of the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara peoples from their ancestral homelands . The atoll of Moruroa in French Polynesia became notorious as a site of French nuclear testing , primarily because tests were carried out there after most Pacific testing had ceased . These tests were opposed by most other nations in Oceania . The last atmospheric test was conducted in 1974 , and the last underground test in 1996
Castle Bravo
Castle Bravo
Military history of Oceania