416,809 Australians enlisted for service in the First World War, representing 38.7% of the male population aged 18 to 44.
Australia, South Africa, and India were the only participating countries not to introduce conscription during the First World War.
Australia's total population at the time was about 4 million, and the 416,809 who enlisted for service represent 38.7 per cent of the total male population aged between 18 and 44. Of these, an estimated 58,961 died, 166,811 were wounded, 4098 went missing or were made prisoners of war, and 87,865 suffered sickness.
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.
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.
In 1916, Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes called for a plebiscite on the issue of conscription for war service, hoping to make military service compulsory. By 1916, the war was in its third year. High casualty rates and a steady flow of wounded soldiers returning home had discouraged many men from enlisting.
The Commonwealth Defence Act 1909 established that, from 1 January 1911, all males aged from 12 to 26 years of age would have to undergo compulsory military training for the defence of Australia. It did not require them to participate in any war overseas.
Conscription during the First World War began when the British government passed the Military Service Act in January 1916. The act specified that single men aged 18 to 40 years old were liable to be called up for military service unless they were widowed with children, or were ministers of a religion.
The Act made 404,385 men liable for military service, from which 385,510 sought exemptions.
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.
Under the act, approximately 24 million men registered for the draft. Of the total U.S. troops sent to Europe, 2.8 million men had been drafted, and 2 million men had volunteered.
Troops were paid a minimum of six shillings a day (more than three times the wage of English forces) leading to the phrase 'six bob a day tourists'. Although slightly below the basic wage, it was still attractive to many because of the tough financial conditions and high unemployment in 1914.
During World War I, the Army in India was used against the Central Powers. The Indian Army became the largest volunteer army in the world, a feat that would be repeated during World War II. In 1914 the Army in India comprised 76,214 British and 154,437 Indians.
When Britain declared war against Germany in August 1914, Australia, as a dominion of the British Empire, was automatically also at war.
Conscription introduced
In January 1916 the Military Service Act was passed. This imposed conscription on all single men aged between 18 and 41, but exempted the medically unfit, clergymen, teachers and certain classes of industrial worker.
Australia's Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, strongly supported conscription during World War I. He tried to introduce it twice.
Russia. The biggest country in the world in terms of land mass has compulsory military service, with more than a quarter of a million young Russian men between the ages of 18 to 27 conscripted each year.
After the outbreak of war in August 1914, Britain recruited a huge volunteer citizens' army. In just eight weeks, over three-quarters of a million men in Britain had joined up. Every volunteer had to undergo a series of medical and fitness tests before being accepted as a soldier.
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.
In the First World War, those who refused to fight in the conflict – known as conscientious objectors (COs) – were often treated harshly and vilified.
Soldier. He enlisted in the East Surrey Regiment in August 1915 at the age of twelve, and fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, then aged thirteen.
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.
On 5 December we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the last National Service scheme in Australia. The then newly elected Australian Government formally disbanded the scheme on 5 December 1972.
Indigenous Australians were excluded from joining military service under the Commonwealth Defence Act of 1903 (and further amendments). This prevented people 'not substantially of European origin or descent' from enlisting in military service.