Banjawarn Station is a remote sheep station in the Great Victoria Desert of Western Australia . On the night of May 28, 1993, it was the scene of a tremendous explosion. Given the extremely desolate location in the middle of the Australian Outback, it was only noticed by a few prospectors and long-distance truck drivers as a bright flash in the sky. Seismographs throughout the region recorded great tremors, but, mysteriously, none of the telltale signs of an earthquake or meteorite strike. Australian term for a large farm or Australian ranch, usually in the outback, whose main activity is the raising of sheep, for their wool and meat. ... The Great Victoria Desert is a barren, arid and sparsely populated desert ecoregion in southern Australia. ... Emblems: Floral - Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos manglesii); Mammal - Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus); Bird - Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) Motto: none Slogan or Nickname: Wildflower State Other Australian states and territories Capital Perth Government Const. ... May 28 is the 148th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (149th in leap years). ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... For the restaurant chain, see Outback Steakhouse; for the station wagon, see Subaru Outback. ... A prospector is normally a person who explores an area for natural resources such as minerals, oil, flora or fauna. ... Seismographs (in Greek seismos = earthquake and graphein = write) are used by seismologists to record seismic waves. ... An earthquake is a phenomenon that results from and is powered by the sudden release of stored energy in the crust that propagates seismic waves. ... A meteorite is an extraterrestrial body that survives its impact with the Earths surface without being destroyed. ...

Then, two years later, on March 28, 1995, the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo released toxic sarin gas into part of the Tokyo subway system, killing 12 people. In the following investigation, it was revealed that they owned large portions of land very near to the site of the Banjawarn event (which they had sold off in August 1994, just seven months before the attack). In a separate investigation, it was revealed that some of the cult members had been nuclear engineers from the former Soviet Union. Since Aum Shinrikyo's avowed aim was the destruction of the world, one is left to wonder if the explosion may have been a nuclear weapon, perhaps the first ever to come into the hands of private citizens or, chillingly, extremist religious cults. March 28 is the 87th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (88th in leap years). ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Sarin, also known by its NATO designation of GB (O-Isopropyl methylphosphonofluoridate) is an extremely toxic substance whose sole application is as a nerve agent. ... Tokyo , literally Eastern capital)   is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, the home of the Japanese Imperial Family, and the de facto[1] capital of Japan. ... A rapid transit, underground, subway, tube, elevated, or metro(politan) system is a railway system, usually in an urban area, with a high capacity and frequency of service, and grade separation from other traffic. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ...

Note: Bill Bryson's book In a Sunburned Country , which mentions the Banjawarn incident at the beginning, was published in 2000, a year before the September 11 attacks. As of then, not even Australian media had ever returned to the story. This article is about the year 2000. ...

Allegations of uranium explorations were examined by the Australian authorities and officially dismissed as false.