Most 20-year-old Australian men had to register for national service between 1965 and 1972. Servicemen conscripted under the scheme became known as 'Nashos'. Names of potential conscripts were selected by a birthday ballot, where numbered wooden marbles were drawn by lottery from a barrel.
Military conscription for peacetime service was abolished in 1972. However, in times of war, the Defence Act 1903 allows the Governor-General of Australia to authorise conscription for service in the Defence Force, provided it is approved by the Parliament of Australia within 90 days.
The Second World War was the first time Australians were conscripted to fight overseas. In November 1939 Prime Minister Robert Menzies announced that the existing reserve force, the Citizen Military Forces (CMF) or militia, would be bolstered by conscription.
A referendum to determine public support for conscription was held in October 1916 where it failed by a slim margin; a second took place in December 1917 and again most Australians voted against it.
Australia, South Africa, and India were the only participating countries not to introduce conscription during the First World War.
'The present Australian national service program was enacted in late 1964, and provides for compulsory service for a two-year period, either in Australia or overseas. Young men aged twenty are selected on the basis of a ballot of birthday dates, currently to a total of 8,000 per year. They all serve in the army.
In Australia, 15,300 men were conscripted into the Australian Army during the Vietnam conflict. More than 200 died and at least 1,200 were wounded on active duty. Most 20-year-old Australian men had to register for national service between 1965 and 1972. Servicemen conscripted under the scheme became known as 'Nashos'.
Being anti-conscription was not the same as being anti-war: some of the men already at the front, themselves volunteers, were anti-conscription, because they did not want to fight alongside men who did not want to be there. They considered it could affect their morale and ability to fight cohesively.
The Universal Service Scheme was the first system of compulsory military service in Australia. The legislation for compulsory military training was introduced in 1909 by Prime Minister Alfred Deakin, and was passed into law in 1911. This scheme was abolished by the Labor Government after its election in October 1929.
Exemptions were given to Aborigines and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the medically unfit, and theology students. Young men were granted exemption on the grounds of conscientious objection if they could prove their objection to war was based on religious beliefs.
Selective conscription meant that a certain number of 20-year-old Australian men would be chosen to serve in the Australian army. The process for choosing them was similar to a lottery. Numbered marbles, each representing a day of the year, were placed in a barrel.
Birthdates drawn in National Service ballots 1965-72
Men included in the ballot who were born in the period 1 July 1945 to 31 December 1945. Men included in the ballot who were born prior to 1 July 1945 but were absent from Australia when their age group was required to register.
Australia did not introduce conscription for the Korean War even though this commitment required almost all of Australia's regular infantry troops. The Australian military served with distinction during the war.
The range of eligible ages for conscripting was expanded to meet national demand during the World Wars. In the United States, the Selective Service System drafted men for World War I initially in an age range from 21 to 30 but expanded its eligibility in 1918 to an age range of 18 to 45.
Each succeeding year, a draft eligible man drops into the next lower priority group until he has reached his 26th birthday, at which time he is over the age of liability for the draft.
Australia's Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, strongly supported conscription during World War I. He tried to introduce it twice.
Illegal draft evasion is said to have characterized every military conflict of the 20th and 21st centuries, in which at least one party of such conflict has enforced conscription. Such evasion is generally considered to be a criminal offense, and laws against it go back thousands of years.
Military and Civil Punishments
At first, COs were sent to military prisons because they were considered to be soldiers. It was a minor triumph for the anti-conscription movement when a mid-1916 Army order ruled that COs who had been court martialled were to be sent to civil prisons.
Full conscription of men
Those medically unfit were exempted, as were others in key industries and jobs such as baking, farming, medicine, and engineering. Conscientious objectors had to appear before a tribunal to argue their reasons for refusing to join-up.
The public felt that Australian men should not be conscripted and sent overseas, they should be used for home defence only. The Vietnam War was the first time Australian conscripts were sent abroad in peace time. Early protests against conscription were held by religious groups and the Communist Party of Australia.
A Momentous Debate
The 1917 conscription debate was one of the fiercest and most divisive in Canadian political history. French-Canadians, as well as many farmers, unionized workers, non-British immigrants, and other Canadians, generally opposed the measure.
'Aboriginal men were exempt from conscription, which was one form of recruitment of the day,' said Michael Bell, lead researcher and Indigenous Liaison Officer at the Memorial.
And the German learned to fear Australians, because they were reckless, ruthless - and revengeful. During the Third Battle of Ypres, autumn 1917, the ANZAC's (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) met the Germans on high ground, in front of Polygon Wood.
From the time of the arrival of the first members of the Team in 1962 over 60,000 Australians, including ground troops and air force and navy personnel, served in Vietnam; 523 died as a result of the war and almost 2,400 were wounded.
1. The Vice-President of the United States, the Judges of the various Courts of the Untied States, the heads of the various executive departments of the Government, and the Governors of the several States. 2. The only son liable to military duty of a widow dependent upon his labor for support.