Poster headed 'Out now' advertising a rally on 31 July 1971 against the Vietnam War and the National Service Act.

From 1954 communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam were at war. In the 1960s hundreds of thousands of United States troops were involved in support of South Vietnam and the Australian government also decided to commit troops.

A new National Service Act of 1964 required 20 year old men, selected by a ballot of birthdays, to serve for two years in regular army units. In May 1965 the Defence Act was amended to provide that these conscripts could also be required to serve overseas. Between 1965 and 1972 (when the last Australian troops were withdrawn from Vietnam) over 800,000 men were registered for National Service, 63,000 were conscripted by the ballot, and some 19,000 served in Vietnam. There were 496 killed and 2,398 wounded. The first conscript to die in Vietnam, Errol Noack, was a South Australian.

Many Australians were opposed to involvement in the Vietnam War and even more objected to the use of conscripts there. Tens of thousands of Australians participated in rallies and related activities as part of the Vietnam Moratorium protests. Groups such as the Campaign for Peace in Vietnam campaigned vigorously against conscription, and thousands joined protest marches in Adelaide in May and September 1970.

Australian Vietnam Forces National Memorial Vietnam, Canberra : Dept. of Veterans' Affairs, 2002

Crowe, Ambrose. The battle after the war : the story of Australia's Vietnam veterans, St. Leonards, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin, 1999

Doyle, Jeff, Jeffrey Grey, and Peter Pierce. Australia's Vietnam War, College Station : Texas A&M University Press, c2002

McKay, Gary. Bullets, beans and bandages : Australians at war in Vietnam, St Leonards, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin , 1999

McKay, Gary. Viet Nam shots : a photographic account of Australians at war, St Leonards, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin, 2002

Murphy, John. Harvest of fear : a history of Australia's Vietnam War, St Leonards, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin, 1993

Woodruff, Mark W. Unheralded victory : who won the Vietnam War?, London : HarperCollins, 2000

Anzac Day Commemoration Committee (Queensland) See: History: Vietnam

The Australian Veteran and the Vietnam Experience
Compiled by R (Bob) Teusner, ex-9RAR

Australian War Memorial See: Australians at War: Australian Military History Overview: Vietnam War 1962-1975

Australian Army History Unit [Department of Defence]: See: History & Battles: History Index

Vietnam War 1962-72

Australians at War [Department of Veterans' Affairs]

"Don't forget your cotton underwear girls!": Australian Army Nurses in the Vietnam War (1967-1971)
Paper by Narelle Biedermann, School of Nursing Sciences, James Cook University, Queensland

Sea Power Centre - Australia: See: History: Feature Articles [several articles about the Vietnam War]

Under Fire: Images from Vietnam [Piece Unique Gallery]

Victorians at War - Oral History project [Department of Veterans' Affairs and State Library of Victoria]: See: Overview: Vietnam

Vietnam Veterans' Association of Australia See: Education: Chronology of Events