Carolyn Collins

Today, it seems incredible that there was a time not so long ago that an Australian government conscripted men too young to vote and sent them off to fight in a foreign war. They were selected through a lottery based on their birthdates, and all of them lost their freedom while forced to undergo national service for two years. They were sent to Vietnam, where some were killed, some were injured and some still suffer PTSD as a consequence.

And what is even more extraordinary is that after Prime Minister Robert Menzies and his Defence Minister Malcolm Fraser introduced conscription in 1964, they were re-elected in 1966 and in 1969. Everyone who voted Liberal in those years, in my steadfast opinion, has blood on their hands.

One of the earliest protest movements against this disgraceful episode in Australia's history was Save Our Sons, founded in 1965 by a group of housewives from the Upper North Shore in Sydney. It evolved until it was Australia wide, morphing from a very respectable and law-abiding movement to one which was involved in more radical and illegal activities, involving jail time for some of its members including the Fairlea Five.

Carolyn Collins' very readable and interesting history of Save Our Sons begins with the emergence of the movement throughout Australia. Now, it seems very old-fashioned that they emphasised their domesticity and maternal instincts as elements in the morality of their campaigns, but in the 1960s it was newsworthy and powerful when in their first press release, the women denounced conscription as 'morally wrong', issuing 'a distress call — SOS — to mothers everywhere.

Their early forays were tentative, relying on peaceful, lawful and well established means of protests, including their signature 'silent vigil'. But as war and conscription dragged on, and the death and injury toll in Vietnam rose, many abandoned their genteel tactics and became more radical...

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/08/08/save-our-sons-women-dissent-and-conscription...

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