Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior: The attack that changed us

Director Jennifer Ward-Lealand and cast. Photo / Tatiana Harper

The bombing of the Rainbow Warrior and its impact is revisited on stage, writes Dionne Christian

Writer Bronwyn Elsmore remembers the morning of Thursday, July 11, 1985. It was the day after the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, the Rainbow Warrior, was blown up at Marsden Wharf in downtown Auckland.

Elsmore was living with her family in Tauranga and was active in New Zealand's effective peace and anti-nuclear movement - "you know, writing letters to the French and telling them to stop letting off their bombs in our Pacific neighbourhood and that sort of thing" - when her then teenage daughter burst into her bedroom crying.

"She was very upset and when she told me why, I was shocked and stunned but I clearly remember her words that someone had 'sunk' the Rainbow Warrior, not that there had been an accident and it had sunk but that it was a deliberate action. Of course, it didn't take long to confirm it was a bomb that destroyed the ship."

Elsmore says it changed our nation and now, as the 30th anniversary approaches, needs to be commemorated. Her latest play Fallout: The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior brings the event back into public consciousness.

She wanted to use the anniversary to keep the memory alive and pay tribute to the heady days of the New Zealand peace movement. She hopes the play will attract the attention of younger generations who may not recall the bombing or how hard their parents and grandparents worked to make New Zealand nuclear-free and the world a more peaceful place. It was the sentiment of "lest we forget" writ large and made tangible.

"We were - are - a small country but our actions showed it was still possible to do a lot and make a change. Just because we were small didn't mean we couldn't be effective and that's still worth remembering. I think we grew up as a country because of it and it changed the way we thought and felt about our place in the world."

The bombing, just before midnight on July 10, killed Rainbow Warrior crewman Fernando Pereira, who drowned as the boat sunk. The Rainbow Warrior had been in New Zealand en route to Moruroa Atoll to protest at a planned French nuclear test and had evacuated the people of the Rongelap Atoll, who were refugees from nuclear test fallout which polluted their home. The sinking was soon revealed to be the work of French secret service agents who were sent to stop the Rainbow Warrior sailing to Moruroa.

Two agents were eventually charged but there were up to 13 thought to have been involved. French Defence Minister Charles Hernu resigned but the captured agents made a plea bargain, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 years in prison. Instead, they served time on Hao in French Polynesia and were released after just two years.

The force of outrage and indignation, at the act itself and the French Government response, mobilised New Zealanders.

"If the intent was to deter the peace movement, it had exactly the opposite effect ... ," says Elsmore. "Everyone was so shocked and it galvanised so many people, even those who had been quite apathetic, into taking a stance and joining the protests."

She has worked closely with director Jennifer Ward-Lealand to personalise and order the story, which covers the triumph of the Rongelap evacuation, the bombing and the reactions. Ward-Lealand says the presentation has to be vibrant and powerful so it needs to be kept moving and various elements, such as music and audio-visuals, are integrated.

"I want to capture the energy of that time and the amazing work that was being done and then the bombing, where people were and what they experienced. It is a story with all the elements: betrayal, a sense of shock, outrage and then the New Zealand public coming together and the collective action which led to the apprehension."

Actors Luanne Gordon and Fasitua Amosa were 14 and 4 respectively when the Rainbow Warrior was sunk. Gordon admits to being a "self-involved" teenager who didn't have time to think much about the implications of the attack. Amosa recalls growing up always knowing about the Rainbow Warrior but never realising why.

Both have been surprised to learn of the number of people involved in the bombing and heartened by the collective actions of New Zealanders which led to the world learning the truth about what happened.

"I love that New Zealanders notice things," says Gordon, "and that the perpetrators might have gotten away with it had we not been so observant. We're often accused of being apathetic but there was no apathy where this was concerned. People took it personally and while it was an attack on an international organisation, not our country itself, that's not the way this was viewed. The sense of betrayal was huge."

Along with fellow actors Toby Leach and Kerry Warkia, Gordon and Amosa play around 21 characters who Elsmore created to be representatives of those caught up in the bombing. She stresses it is not documentary but a theatrical presentation about real people caught up in an event which would change them, their country and the world.

"That's the story I wanted to tell - what happened to New Zealand and New Zealanders - because that's the side that was very real to me. What people remember now is so important and we've had 30 years to assess, look back and reflect."

What: Fallout: The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior
Where and when: Basement Theatre, May 20-30