The Vietnam War
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 5:02 pm
I registered for national service in 1967, but I didn't get selected in the ballot so I have little knowledge of the experience of servicemen in Vietnam.
What I am intending to mention here is the Vietnam War experience as it affected those in Australia who were not servicemen.
I suggest that the Vietnam War was a major turning point in the culture and dynamics of Australian Society for a number of reasons.
First. Conscription.
Australia had been polarised in 1915 when Billy Hughes ( ALP PM ) introduced compulsory military training or National Service. THis was defeated at two referendums and finished by 1929. There was a short period of National Service in the fifties which to my knowledge caused no drama.
National Service was introduced in Australia by Menzies in 1964. In 1965 the government introduced legislation to allow conscripts to serve overseas in combat.
The first oppostion was a group called Save our Sons and from that the opposition to National Service and the Vietnam War grew to a very large social event. Because of my job, I was present at many of the anti-conscription /anti-Vietnam War rallies. These demonstrations and mass rallies grew enormously into a public phenomenon, I think, never before experienced in Australia. They introduced into our society, a strident questioning of the government, which I think before that had been almost unthinkable. Gough Whitlam was elected to a large extent on the promise to abolish conscription and retreat from the Vietnam War.
Second. A growing growing distaste in the mind of the Australian people to engage in military adventures. The Vietnam War was extensively covered by TV reporting. The images of destruction and the horror of the sight of the casualties from a mechanised, technological war machine started to convince Australians that war was no longer an honourable course for our young men. This view was fed by the left wing socialist government and their supporters in the media, of the early 70s.
Third. The drug culture was introduced to Australia. During the Vietnam conflict thousands of American servicemen came to Sydney for R&R. They brought with them an influence of the American way of using recreational narcotics. Drug use was not new to Australia but the 60s and 70s brought an expansion of narcotic use, starting in Kings Cross near the Naval Base and spreading from there. Once again,because of my job, I was witness to the change that took place in our society as the use of illegal narcotics took hold more and more.
Fourth. The influx of refugees. The Vietnam War as I recall was the start of large numbers of people who came to Australia as refugees from war torn countries. Many of the Vietnamese I suspect were ethnic Chinese who, as the commercial class, fled the Communist regime that suceeded in Vietnam. This brought about the movement of Australian society to what is now called multi-culturalism.
So I think, apart from the experience of combat by Australian soldiers in Vietnam, that era changed Australia as a whole forever.
Public disorderly protests and contempt for the authorities became an accepted part of our culture. Those who dedicated their lives and made sacrifices to serve Australia were rebuffed as violators. Military service became to be regarded as uncivilised.
The disgraceful selfishness and lawlessnes of the drug culture now permeates all parts of our society like a cancer.
I think that I would be unchallenged in pointing to multiculturalism as a major shift in Australian culture since the 70s.
What I am intending to mention here is the Vietnam War experience as it affected those in Australia who were not servicemen.
I suggest that the Vietnam War was a major turning point in the culture and dynamics of Australian Society for a number of reasons.
First. Conscription.
Australia had been polarised in 1915 when Billy Hughes ( ALP PM ) introduced compulsory military training or National Service. THis was defeated at two referendums and finished by 1929. There was a short period of National Service in the fifties which to my knowledge caused no drama.
National Service was introduced in Australia by Menzies in 1964. In 1965 the government introduced legislation to allow conscripts to serve overseas in combat.
The first oppostion was a group called Save our Sons and from that the opposition to National Service and the Vietnam War grew to a very large social event. Because of my job, I was present at many of the anti-conscription /anti-Vietnam War rallies. These demonstrations and mass rallies grew enormously into a public phenomenon, I think, never before experienced in Australia. They introduced into our society, a strident questioning of the government, which I think before that had been almost unthinkable. Gough Whitlam was elected to a large extent on the promise to abolish conscription and retreat from the Vietnam War.
Second. A growing growing distaste in the mind of the Australian people to engage in military adventures. The Vietnam War was extensively covered by TV reporting. The images of destruction and the horror of the sight of the casualties from a mechanised, technological war machine started to convince Australians that war was no longer an honourable course for our young men. This view was fed by the left wing socialist government and their supporters in the media, of the early 70s.
Third. The drug culture was introduced to Australia. During the Vietnam conflict thousands of American servicemen came to Sydney for R&R. They brought with them an influence of the American way of using recreational narcotics. Drug use was not new to Australia but the 60s and 70s brought an expansion of narcotic use, starting in Kings Cross near the Naval Base and spreading from there. Once again,because of my job, I was witness to the change that took place in our society as the use of illegal narcotics took hold more and more.
Fourth. The influx of refugees. The Vietnam War as I recall was the start of large numbers of people who came to Australia as refugees from war torn countries. Many of the Vietnamese I suspect were ethnic Chinese who, as the commercial class, fled the Communist regime that suceeded in Vietnam. This brought about the movement of Australian society to what is now called multi-culturalism.
So I think, apart from the experience of combat by Australian soldiers in Vietnam, that era changed Australia as a whole forever.
Public disorderly protests and contempt for the authorities became an accepted part of our culture. Those who dedicated their lives and made sacrifices to serve Australia were rebuffed as violators. Military service became to be regarded as uncivilised.
The disgraceful selfishness and lawlessnes of the drug culture now permeates all parts of our society like a cancer.
I think that I would be unchallenged in pointing to multiculturalism as a major shift in Australian culture since the 70s.