The Vietnam Moratorium in Melbourne was one of the most momentous events to occur in Australia in the post world war two era. It led to a seismic shift not only in Australia politics but also within society. The moratorium, held fifty years ago today, was a historic achievement in how it united diverse groups behind the goal of ending Australia’s role in the Vietnam war.
It embraced left-wing university activist groups, school students, trade unions, academics, pacifists, women’s groups, church groups and Labor politicians. They all sat down together in Bourke Street for fifteen minutes in the first mass protest of its kind in Australia on 8 May 1970. I was among the 100,000 protesters who brought the center of the city to a standstill. It was the largest demonstration ever in Australia up to that time.
Nationally 200,000 people participated in the first Vietnam Moratorium staged in cities around Australia. As deaths mounted in Vietnam, it was followed by two more Vietnam Moratoriums in September 1970, drawing a smaller crowd and in June, 1971 almost matching the 100,000 people who protested at the first Vietnam Moratorium. It could be argued that the moratorium influenced the coming election that led to the formation of the Whitlam government.
The Vietnam Moratorium was inspired by similar protests in America. It was not just a form of protest. It was a movement. Like any movement, it took time to build both momentum and unity. It took place against the backdrop of the Vietnam War in which Australia had joined America — some felt blindly — in sending troops to a country many Australians knew nothing about in 1962. Two years later Prime Minister Robert Menzies brought in national service.
It was a birthday ballot of males turning 21. When they turned twenty were required to register with a Department of Labour and National Service. Many called up felt they had no choice. Some deferred with university studies. Others became draft dodgers and yet others such as Michael Hamel-Green (now professor) declared themselves conscientious objectors. They were jailed. It was a lottery in life and death. Just about everyone had a brother, a nephew or a friend or knew of someone who faced getting called up and possibly sent to Vietnam.
Australia already had a significant pacifist movement, from the 1950s against what was seen as the threat of nuclear war. A group of women who included artist Jean McLean formed Saved Our Sons in 1965 to oppose conscription. Using pacifist tactics they handed out anti-conscription leaflets and attended anti-war campaigns.
'It convinced ordinary Australians that they could have a voice in government policy and foreign policy.'
At the new Monash University, a Labor Club had been formed that was left wing and radical. It actions to oppose the war included provocatively collecting funds for the Viet Cong, the guerilla group fighting for Vietnam’s independence against American and Australian troops. It looked upon passive resistance with disdain and as ineffectual. I was a member.
When then US President Lyndon B Johnson visited Australia in 1966, Prime Minister at that time, Harold Holt responded with the unfortunate phrase ‘All the Way with LBJ’. The obsequiousness of that phrase hardened the attitudes of those who felt Australia should have an independent foreign policy.
Within the Monash Labor Club our focus increasingly became America with an annual July 4th demonstration outside the US consulate that usually involved violent clashes with police. More moderate groups were critical of these protests, leading to divisions within the anti-war movement.
However, new alliances formed earlier between trade unions and student groups were strengthened when one of Australia’s leading unionist and Communists, Laurie Carmichael and his wife Val were arrested at a demonstration in 1969 after supporting their son who was a conscientious objector. Laurie Carmichael Jn, was ``'kidnapped’ and openly given sanctuary by church groups.
What the moratorium provided was a platform to bring these disparate groups together in a united front. In late 1969 a number of large meetings were held to form a coalition. A steering committee elected then Labor shadow trade and industry spokesman the late Labor Minister Jim Cairns as chairman with Carmichael, Jean McLean and Students for a Democratic Society leader Harry van Moorst as vice presidents.
Cairns charismatic leadership was a key in holding it together as was the leadership of the other three with their respective bases. Some wanted the protest couched in more strident terms of anti-imperialism but moderate voices prevailed and the slogan ‘stop work to stop the war’ with its wider appeal was adopted.
It can be argued that pressure from the moratoriums laid the groundwork for the first withdrawal of Australian troops from Vietnam by Prime Minister John Gordon in November 1970 and Labor ending conscription in 1972.
More lastingly, the legacy of the Vietnam Moratorium is reflected in the strong opposition to the South African Springbox tour in 1971; Indonesia’s invasion of Timor in 1975; The Iraq War in 2003 when Melbourne’s protest was cited as the biggest demonstrations since the Vietnam War; and more recently in climate change protests. It convinced ordinary Australians that they could have a voice in government policy and foreign policy.
Andra Jackson is a freelance writer and award winning refugee issue specialist.
Main image: Protest on Swanston Street about Australian involvement in Vietnam War. (Getty images/Wesley)