Go to War or Go to Jail -Vietnam Moratorium Protests - Melbourne

June 1971 Edition of "Moratorium News" Front Page

Moratorium News

The Moratorium News was described proudly under the title banner as the “Official Organ of the Vietnam Moratorium Campaign”. It was their answer to what they perceived to be a bias in the mainstream news media who did not publish the views of the moratorium’s anti-Vietnam war opinions. Published and paid for by the campaign they distributed it free to anyone who would accept a copy. Campaign members and leading figures in the protest movement wrote the content. The moratorium News ran articles which spoke out against the Australian government Foreign policy and the “domino theory” which underpinned the war in Vietnam[1]. Also, articles which exposed war crimes such as the "My Lai" massacre[2].

In 1971 the focus of the Moratorium news was the campaign against conscription[3].

[1] Paul Ham, Vietnam: The Australian War (Pymble, N.S.W.: Harper Collins Publishers, 2010), 41.

[2] Ham, 431.

[3] “Item #2015: ‘Moratorium News - Content’ · HIST 40030 Archival Projects · Omeka Admin,” accessed May 26, 2019, https://histarchivalprojects.omeka.net/admin/items/show/id/2015.

Student Activism - Resisting Conscription

The Moratorium News acted as a coordinating point and advertising arm for the resistance and anti-war movements. As the age of men subject to conscription was 19 years old, it is unsurprising students were a focal point of the resistance. Students at Universities across the country took an active part in coordinating and enacting the resistance to conscription. At Melbourne University the central point of protest was the student union and the National Conference of Draft Resisters at Melbourne University (NCDR)[1].

Using the Moratorium News to coordinate high profile resisters to speak at public meetings the NCDR with the support of the student union created a “Draft Sanctuary” at Union House on the Parkville Campus, inviting resisters who desired a safe venue to use the Union building. The government did not immediately rise to the challenge and avoided confrontation at the university. In an act of escalation, the students established and illegal radio station–‘Radio Resistance” transmitting their message directly to inner city neighbourhoods[2].

The Moratorium News and Radio Resistance began a campaign to push the government on the conscription resister issue. Resisters like Michael Matteson, Tony Dalton, Michael Hamel- Green and John Scott would publicly provoke authorities then slip back to the university for sanctuary[3]. The resisters were actively provoking the authorities; they wanted a confrontation.

On September 30^th, 1971 police acted, and at 6am 150 police arrived at Union House. Having used lookouts, the protestors and resisters were forewarned, and two resisters were spirited away while they hid two others in a pre-prepared hidden alcove. With 200 supporters conducting a sit in on the third floor raised a chorus of John Lennon’s “power to the people “, drowning out the megaphoned orders of the Commonwealth Deputy Commissioner, the police frantically search the build (resulting in considerable damage) they found no draft resisters. The police abandoned their search and left[4]. This event became known as the Melbourne University siege[5]. The Hobart Mercury described the events at the University and the actions of police as using “a cannon to bring down a sparrow”[6].

[1] “Melbourne University Resistance Commune and Later, 1971-72 · Harry van Moorst: Opposition to the Vietnam War · Australian Living Peace Museum,” accessed May 16, 2019, http://www.livingpeacemuseum.org.au/omeka/exhibits/show/hvm-vietnam/vietnam-mu-resistance-commune.

[2] “Melbourne University Resistance Commune and Later, 1971-72 · Harry van Moorst: Opposition to the Vietnam War · Australian Living Peace Museum.”

[3] Ham, Vietnam, 555.

[4] “Melbourne University Resistance Commune and Later, 1971-72 · Harry van Moorst: Opposition to the Vietnam War · Australian Living Peace Museum.”

[5] “The Underground Resistance Network & Widening Civil Disobedience · Opposition to the Vietnam War in Australia · Australian Living Peace Museum,” accessed May 20, 2019, http://www.livingpeacemuseum.org.au/omeka/exhibits/show/vietnam-war-aus/vietnam-underground-resistance.

[6] Ham, Vietnam, 555.

Moving into History

The histography of the Vietnam War has been the subject of many popular history treatments. Notably in movies such as Hollywood blockbusters like Oliver Stone’s Platoon or the Australian Tom Jeffrey’s Odd Angry Shot[1]. In writing these screen plays the authors created a view and understanding of the war as entertainment rather than historical accuracy. They do not intend their works to convey truth or analysis of the historical context of the war. Academic historians are often highly critical of this history, but the public often get their understanding of history from these types of sources.[2]. The opportunity to open the special grey boxes of the Melbourne University Archive and discover gems like original issues of the Moratorium News is unlikely to catch on as modern light entertainment. However rich and rewarding those lovely boxes may be, and the learning journey of discovery they can start. A non-academic curiosity is more likely to open the pandora's box of You Tube. What they find there is a less nuanced view of the Vietnam war.

One truth that is uncontested, one fact no matter what your source or intent in telling the story of Vietnam both the war or the resistance to the war, is the young men involved whether national service conscripts or anti-war resisters were only 19 years old[3].

[1] Platoon, accessed May 25, 2019, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091763/; The Odd Angry Shot, accessed May 25, 2019, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079652/.

[2] Sarah C. Maza, Thinking about History (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2017), 128–29.

[3] Paul Cohen, Redgum - I Was Only Nineteen, accessed May 26, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrXxACZRx30.