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Out now : Anti-War March
Title : Out now : Anti-War March Out now : Anti-War March
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Source : Campaign for Peace in Vietnam (S.A.), SRG 124/8
Date of creation : 1971
Format : Ephemera
Contributor : State Library catalogue
Catalogue record
The State Library of South Australia is keen to find out more about SA Memory items. We encourage you to contact the Library if you have additional information about any of these items.
Copyright : This item is reproduced courtesy of Hon. Lynn Arnold, on behalf of the former Campaign for Peace in Vietnam organisation. It may be printed or saved for research or study. Use for any other purpose requires written permission from Hon. Lynn Arnold, on behalf of the former Campaign for Peace in Vietnam organisation and the State Library of South Australia. To request approval, complete the Permission to publish form.
Description :

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 Between 1965 and 1972 (when the last Australian troops were withdrawn from Vietnam) over 800,000 men were registered for National Service, 63,000 were conscripted by the ballot, and some 19,000 served in Vietnam.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.

Subjects
Coverage year : 1971
Period : 1946-1979
Region : Adelaide city
Further reading :

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

Pederson, Geoff. Two years too long : a "Nasho" in Vietnam, Norwood, S. Aust. : Peacock Publications, 2004

Scates, Bob. Draftmen go free : a history of the anti-conscription movement in Australia, [Richmond, Vic. : B. Scates, 1988]

Internet links :

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

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

Australian War Memorial See: Research and Family History: Encyclopedia: Conscription

Vietnam War 1962-72

Australians at War [Department of Veterans' Affairs]


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