Textbook:history Vietnam War PDF
Textbook:history Vietnam War PDF
Textbook:history Vietnam War PDF
P R O G R A M
VCE
What are the main events that took place in and near 1965 and 1970? What are some of the important questions I need to ask to better understand attitudes to the Vietnam War? Who were the different groups that supported and opposed Australias involvement and the National Service Act? What primary documents are available to help me?
Outcome 2
On completion of this unit the student should be able to evaluate the extent to which changing attitudes are evident in Australias reactions to signicant social and political issues. This will be achieved through an examination of changing attitudes at TWO signicant points in time, in the context of ONE of the following: Attitudes to Indigenous rights Attitudes to the Vietnam War (Attitudes to Australias involvement in the Vietnam conict, 1965 and 1970) Attitudes to the environment Attitudes to immigration
To achieve this outcome the student will draw on knowledge and related skills outlined in area of study 2.
Key knowledge
This knowledge includes a range of attitudes at each point in time; the connections between the two signicant points in time; the degree of change in attitudes between the two signicant points and the reasons for any change.
Key skills
These skills include the ability to explain the historical issues covered in the key knowledge apply historical concepts related to the period (1960-2000) analyse and evaluate written and historical evidence synthesise material and evidence to draw conclusions analyse the way that the experience of the period (1960-2000) has been interpreted and understood over time by historians and other commentators express knowledge and ideas in writing, presenting material using historical conventions such as quotations, acknowledgment of sources, and a bibliography. On page 91 of the Study Design four assessment tasks are identied for use in Units 3 and 4: Research report Analysis of visual and/or written documents Historiographical exercise Essay.
Teachers may choose the order of the assessment tasks. Each type of assessment task may only be used once.
Texts
Cook, Peter & Manning, Corinne 2002, Australias Vietnam War in History and Memory, La Trobe University Studies in History, Melbourne Miller, Karl 1995, How the Vietnam antiwar campaign was built, Green Left (A personal recollection of the anti-war campaign between 1965 and 1972.) Saunders, Malcolm 1983, The anti-Vietnam war movement in Australia: 1962-73, Chatta (Includes its origins, the split between the moderates and the radicals in the peace movement, the success of the Vietnam moratorium campaigns and the movements achievements and outcomes) Saunders, Malcolm 1993, The ALPs response to the anti-Vietnam war movement: 1965-73, Labour History See also the website based resource lists below.
Websites
Australian War Memorial, www.awm.gov.au Look under the Collections database for photographs Look under Encyclopaedia for useful background information Look under Australians at war for general histories of the war. This website has an extensive collection which can be accessed using general and specic searches. Australian military statistics, www.awm.gov.au/atwar/statistics/vietnam.htm Australian perspectives on the Vietnam war: A dialog from H-Asia list, www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/24/097.html (This is an extensive bibliography including writings by people with a range of viewpoints and political loyalties) Australians in the Vietnam War: reading list, www.awm.gov.au/research/bibliographies/vietnam.htm Australians in Vietnam: The Odd Angry Shot: Chronology of the war in Vietnam, www.britains-smallwars.com/Vietnam/ Chronology.htm Conscription (a South Australian perspective), www.diggerhistory.info/pages-conicts-periods/other/conscription.htm History Teachers Association of Victoria, www.htav.asn.au (Includes an extensive list of publications and four new Webquests) Vietnam War, www.awm.gov.au/atwar/vietnam.htm; reading list at www.awm.gov.au/research/bibliographies/vietnam.htm Overview of Australian military involvement in the Vietnam War, 1962-73, www.awm.gov.au/events/travelling/ impressions/overview.htm P . L. Duffy Resource Centre: Vietnam: Australias Involvement, http://library.trinity.wa.edu.au/subjects/sose/austhist/ vietnam.htm
Film, Video
Visit the Australian Centre for the Moving Image website at www.acmi.net.au and search for suitable titles. These could include the following with the order number bracketed: Australias anti-war movement 1965-1972 (303639), 1993 (Uses archival footage) Casualties of war (305281), 1989, 113 minutes (For mature 15+ audiences, a moral dilemma of a soldier in Vietnam) Frontline 1979, 56 minutes (Television footage shot by Australian Neil Davis. Uses archival footage) Frontline: The search for truth in wartime (308025), 52 minutes (Video Classroom video) SOS: Save Our Sons Movement (309380), 1996 (Uses archival footage)
Kits
State Library of New South Wales, Australian attitudes to the Vietnam War. For further information and how to purchase the kit, visit http://infocus.sl.nsw.gov.au/res/resdesc.cfm?res_code+433
July 1954
31 July 1962
June-November 1963
1964
29 May 1964
17 June 1964
18 June 1964
August 1964
29 November 1964
18 December 1964
By the end of the year both North Vietnamese Politburo and US realised that the situation in South Vietnam was terminal. By December 1964 US intelligence indicated that one Main Force regiment of the North Vietnamese Army was positioned in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam with two more regiments following. This marked a signicant change in the war, from a guerrilla counterinsurgency war into a large unit, conventional war of divisions, corps, air forces and the navy. It also meant that neighbouring countries such as Laos and Cambodia would feel the impact of the war.
January 27 January
February-April
7 February
9 February
17 February
10
26 February
2 March
30 March 1 April
11
April 7 April
8 April 9 April
21April
28 April
12
May
May
4-6 May
4 May 5 May
11 May 14 May
13
23 July
26 July
29 July
29 July
31 July
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17 August 18 August
September
1965- 1970
March 1966 Australian commitment expanded to an independent task force of two battalions with combat and logistic support. The task force totalled 4500 including 500 national servicemen from the rst intake in November 1964. Battle of Long Tan. Tet Offensive launched by the Peoples Army of Viet Nam and Viet Cong. My Lai massacre. Peak of 8300 Australian service personnel in Vietnam including more than 7000 Army service personnel. Formal truce negotiations began in Paris. US President Nixon announced the beginning of American troop withdrawals. Morgan Gallup Poll: 55% of Australians favoured Australian troop withdrawal, 40% favoured continued involvement, 5% were undecided.
18 August 1966 30-31 1968 16 March 1968 January 1969 25 January 1969 8 June 1969 August 1969
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November 1969
25 November 1969
26 November 1969 9 December 1969 14 December 15 December (American time) 15 December (Australian time) 16 December
1970:
US policy had four main focuses: Vietnamisation, pacication, troop withdrawal, negotiation. Late January February State Vietnam Moratorium Committees were established. Membership was mainly drawn from established and moderate anti-war groups. Annual conference of the National Union of Australian University. Students resolved to form Moratorium Committees. The conference also called on unions, political parties, churches, the press, industry and political parties to support the Moratorium. B52 bombers struck Ho Chi Minh Trail in retaliation for the increasing number of Viet Cong raids through the South. Ofcial peace talks in Paris reached a stalemate. US Henry Kissinger began a series of secret talks with North Vietnams Le Duc Tho. These talks continued for 2 years.
2 February 21 February
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March
March 18 March
20 April
17
27 April
28 April
30 April 30 April
8 May
18
27 May
16 June
August
Early August
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Post 1970
30 March 1971 30 June 1971 18 August 1971 Prime Minister Sir William McMahon announced gradual withdrawal of 1000 Australian personnel during the coming three months. Third and nal anti-war rally in Australia. Estimates of numbers marching vary. Australian Government announced the further withdrawal of Australian troops from Vietnam. This began with the withdrawal of the 1ATF before Christmas 1971. The withdrawal of the logistic support force was to follow shortly afterwards. Last major withdrawal of Australian troops from Vietnam. Last US ground combat troops withdrawn. 43,000 airmen and support personnel remained. The nal Australian army units embarked at Vung Tai, Vietnam on the HMAS Sydney. Following election of the Whitlam Labor Government, conscription ended and imprisoned draft resisters/conscientious objectors were released. Almost all Australian troops withdrawn. Australian Embassy guard remained. Australian Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck proclaimed the end of hostilities in Vietnam by Australian forces. While retaining diplomatic recognition of the Republic of Vietnam (Saigon), Whitlam announced the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Hanoi). Last Australian troops left Vietnam (US had left on 29 March 1973).
8 December 1971 12 August 1972 6 November 1972 5 December 1972 18 December 1972 11 January 1973 26 January 1973 June 1973
The following sources, both Australian and American, were used in preparing this timeline: Australian War Memorial, www.awm.gov.au, This Month in History and Australians at War, passim Edwards, Peter (ed) 1997, The Official History of Australias Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts, Allen and Unwin, Sydney. See especially To Long Tan, Crises and Commitments, and A Nation at War, passim Australians in Vietnam: The Odd Angry Shot, www.britains-smallwars.com/Vietnam/Chronology.htm passim Vietnam War 1965-1973 Timeline, www.vietnamwar.com/Timeline65-68.htm and www.vietnamwar.com/Timeline6975.htm, passim (US perspective and events)
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WHAT ARE SOME OF THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS I NEED TO ASK MYSELF TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THIS EVENT AND THE WAY AUSTRALIANS REACTED TO IT?
By seeking answers to the following questions students will begin to develop a better understanding of the Vietnam War and the attitudes of Australians to it. Other questions will suggest themselves as students undertake their investigations. Why did Australia become involved in the Vietnam War? To what extent were the decisions made by the Australian Government inuenced by events in Vietnam and to what extent by foreign policy considerations, particularly the Australian-American Alliance, the Cold War, and continuing belief in the domino theory? Was the Australian Governments position consistent between 1965 and 1970 (the two years of VCE investigation)? In what ways did it change and in what ways did it stay the same? How can you account for any changes? Did the nature of opposition to the war change over time and if so, how and why? Were the supporters of Australias involvement and the opponents of that involvement each a cohesive group with a commonly agreed position? How and why did the views of Australians about the war change between 1965 and 1970? Who were the main supporters and the main opponents of Australias involvement in the Vietnam War in 1965 and 1970? In what ways were viewpoints about the validity of Australian involvement in the Vietnam War and about the validity of conscription for overseas service separate and overlapping issues? Did this assist or cloud the debates about these issues? Did the media inuence public opinion about the Vietnam War, and if so, how? In what ways did the presence of television change the way in which Australians received information and images about the Vietnam War? Was it radically different to the receipt of public information in previous wars? In what ways was Australian society changing in the period 1965-1970? Does this help you to understand the nature of support and opposition to the Vietnam War and to the National Service Act? Teachers could use Blooms Taxonomy of Cognitive Processes to develop further inquiry questions with students. A model is provided. It has been adapted from Department of School Education, Victoria, 192, Extending Childrens Special Abilities: Strategies for primary classrooms, pp 31-32
Verbs that are useful at this stage Describe, nd, list, locate, name, relate, state, tell, write
Start questions using these stems Can you name Can you tell why Describe what happened Find the meaning of ... How many ... What happened after What is Which is true (or false) ... Who was it that
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WHAT ARE SOME OF THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS I NEED TO ASK MYSELF TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THIS EVENT AND THE WAY AUSTRALIANS REACTED TO IT? (continued)
Comprehension Compare, describe, discuss, distinguish, explain, interpret, outline, predict, restate, translate Find an example to illustrate ... Find an example to support your viewpoint ... How would you dene ... In your own words write ... How can you distinguish between ... Write a brief outline ... What are the differences between ... What happened next ... What is the main idea ... Who do you think ... Who is the central character/historical gure ... Could this have happened in ... Do you know of another instance when ... How does the information provided by X, help you to understand ... What questions would you ask of ... If X had happened, what might the outcome have been? In what ways was this similar to ... What was the underlying idea behind Xs book/plan/battle of ... Why was there change in levels of public support for ... Can you explain what might have happened when ... What were some of the motives behind ... What was the turning point in ... What was the problem with ... Can you see a possible solution to ... If you had access to all the resources and information about X, how would you have dealt with ... What might have happened if ...
Application
Calculate, classify, complete, construct, examine, illustrate, show, solve, use Analyse, categorise, compare, contrast, distinguish, examine, explain, identify, investigate
Analysis
Synthesis
Compose, construct, create, design, devise, formulate, imagine, improve, invent, plan, predict, propose Argue, assess, choose, debate, decide, determine, discuss, judge, justify, prioritise, rank, rate, recommend, select, verify
Evaluation
Is there a better solution to ... Judge the role of ... Can you defend your position about ... Do you think that ... was the right or wrong decision to make about ... How would you have handled.. What changes to X would you recommend? Do you believe ... How effective were ... What do you think about ...
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WHO WERE THE DIFFERENT GROUPS THAT SUPPORTED AND OPPOSED AUSTRALIAS INVOLVEMENT IN THE VIETNAM WAR AND THE NATIONAL SERVICE ACT?
The two main issues that developed Australian attitudes to the Vietnam War, 1965-1970, were: the nature of the Vietnam War, and consequently whether or not Australia should be involved in that war conscription, particularly for overseas service. To help you sort out the various groups who supported or opposed involvement and/or conscription, use the charts provided below. Broadly based groups or categories such as the media and trade unions are rarely uniformly in agreement about their viewpoint unless formed for a specic purpose. While it is easy to identify the Draft Resisters Union as being opposed to conscription, it is more complex when you examine groups such as the media and the churches. For example, is there a common link between those newspapers opposing and those newspapers supporting a particular issue? Do matters related to media ownership have something to do with this? Peter Edwards, in A Nation at War, identies the following groups. Use this as a guide to help you in this activity. Other reference materials may also identify additional groups who supported and/or opposed the two issues identied earlier. These groups are: Association for International Co-operation and Disarmament Australian Council of Churches Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Australian Labor Party (ALP) Australian Student Labor Federation Campaign for Peace in Vietnam (SA) Citizens for Freedom Committee for Peace in Vietnam Committee for Canberra Vigil Committee in Deance of the National Service Act Communist Party of Australia Country Party Democratic Labor Party (DLP) Draft Resisters Union Federated Ironworkers Association Liberal Party Monash Labor Club National Civic Council National Union of Australian University Students Returned Services League (RSL) Save Our Sons (SOS) Seamens Union of Australia Students for a Democratic Society Teachers of Conscience Vietnam Action Committee Vietnam Moratorium Committee Womens International League for Peace and Freedom Waterside Workers Federation Young Australians for Freedom Youth Campaign Against Conscription
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WHO WERE THE DIFFERENT GROUPS THAT SUPPORTED AND OPPOSED AUSTRALIAS INVOLVEMENT IN THE VIETNAM WAR AND THE NATIONAL SERVICE ACT? (continued)
You will need to identify groups for both issues in both 1965 and 1970 to help you to describe and explain changes and continuities over time. After sorting out these groups, develop general statements to describe the nature of support and opposition. When looking at the types of arguments advanced in support and in opposition to each issue, focus on a select number of these groups. For example, can you identify groups who either supported or opposed the issue and who had moderate views and groups who had extreme left or right views?
Trade Union Movement: ACTU and individual unions Churches (Anglican, Catholic, Protestant, Other)
University students
Opinion polls Community and Special Interest groups (for example National Civic Council, Save Our Sons, Vietnam Action Committee) Other
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WHO WERE THE DIFFERENT GROUPS THAT SUPPORTED AND OPPOSED AUSTRALIAS INVOLVEMENT IN THE VIETNAM WAR AND THE NATIONAL SERVICE ACT? (continued)
Should Australians be conscripted? The National Service Act Year: 1970
Main groups/categories Political parties (ALP , Liberal Party, Country Party, Communist Party of Australia, Democratic Labor Party ) Media Supported Opposed
Trade Union Movement: ACTU and individual unions Churches (Anglican, Catholic, Protestant, Other)
University students
Opinion polls Community and Special Interest groups (for example National Civic Council, Save Our Sons, Vietnam Action Committee) Other
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> What was being said in Parliament? > What was being said in the press?
1970
> What was being said in Parliament? > What was being said in the press?
Public opinion polls can also be useful indicators of broad public attitudes to issues and events. Find out what Australians generally thought about the Vietnam War, conscription and other associated issues by viewing these summaries of the Morgan Gallop Polls for 1965 and 1970.
> Mar-June 1965 > Sept-Dec 1965 > Feb-Apr 1966 > Jan-Mar 1970 > May-Aug 1970 > Oct-Dec 1970
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29 April 1965: Prime Minister Robert Menzies announces Australias intention to send a battalion to Vietnam.
Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives Volume 46, pp.1060-1061; 1102-1116.
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Ten further pages [pp.1116-1126] of debate follow with other members of parliament contributing. You may be able to nd copies of Hansard in your local library, universities or at the State Library of Victoria.
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Ministerial Statement, Vietnam: Australian Government decides to reduce Australias commitment by one battalion
Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, Vol.4, 22 April 1970 [p.1456] MR GORTON (Higgins - Prime Minister) Since 1965, Australian ground formations have been engaged with our allies in resisting armed attacks on the Government of South Vietnam. Since that time, the question of whether Australian forces should have helped resist that attack has been debated in Australia. This Government, as previous governments, has approached this question in the spirit which was crystallised in one sentence by the right honourable member for Melbourne (Mr Calwell) when he was Leader of the Opposition. That sentence is The overriding issue which this Parliament has to deal with at all times must be judged by this one crucial test: What best promotes our national security, what best guarantees our national survival. The Government believes that judged on this standard, our engagement in Vietnam is right and that it does best promote our national security, and we believe that for these reasons: It is surely incontrovertible that in Vietnam aggression is taking place and is being resisted. It is surely incontrovertible that the war there is only being sustained because large numbers of troops from North Vietnam are constantly dispatched to invade and subjugate the South, and that if that troop ow stopped the war would stop. Resistance to such aggression does best promote our national security, because we must strive to ensure that history is not repeated and that invasion and aggression is not allowed to be successful. For if it is successful, then the short span of history through which many of us in this chamber have lived shows that once successful, it is repeated and repeated until it becomes insufferable and has to be stopped - but stopped at a cost in blood and treasure innitely greater than would have been the case had it been stopped at its initiation. Surely something of what happened in the last generation can be taken as experience by the present one. We saw Fascist and Nazi aggression raging unchecked and subjecting one small country after another to conquest until it had to be stopped - at the cost of a world war - which need not have happened had the aggression been stopped at its beginning. I thought that these lessons, which - let us never forget - are of [p.1457] more import to small nations than to large, had been learned. Because for some years after the close of the Second World War, resolute action was taken to resist and defeat subversion in Malaya as it then was. This took some 12 long years or more - years when civilians were murdered by terrorists - when bands of guerrillas with grenades and Sten guns sought to overthrow by force a government the people in Malaya wanted. Australians were there, with British and local forces, resisting that aggression. We were told then - and the words are strikingly familiar today: Australia should not be in Malaya. The war will go on forever. It cannot be won. But it was won. That aggression was not successful and Australias national security was best promoted because of that lack of success.
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PART A: THE MAY MORATORIUM The Age Ofces stoned as Cairns says: Viet march critics stir fear
The Age, 4 May 1970, p.3 (News item) The chairman of the Vietnam moratorium campaign, Dr Cairns, MHR, yesterday accused his critics of causing fear and hated of the campaign. He named the Prime Minister (Mr Gorton), the Premier (Sir Henry Bolte), the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne (Dr Knox) and the president of the National Civic Council ((Mr B.A.Santamaria). These men have played a special role in the possibilities of violence in Victoria, he said. Dr Cairns was addressing 2000 marchers at a May Day rally on the Yarra Bank yesterday afternoon. The people who had been anticipating violence during the moratorium on Friday should not be allowed to escape the consequences of their action in the way that they had built up tension in Australia in recent weeks, he said. I call upon them to denounce violence among their own followers, not the possibility of it among others, he said. ASIO stoned Marching students pelted the Australian Security Intelligence Organisations Melbourne headquarters with stones after leaving the Yarra Bank rally. Three of the 400 demonstrators were arrested during the mile-long march, which ended with a sit-in outside the American consulate in Commercial Road. The demonstrators carried North Vietnamese ags, portraits of revolutionary Che Guevera, and slogans like Stop Nixons War. The sit-in lasted about 15 minutes - until two trams made a pack of youths leap to their feet. Police, under Assistant Commissioner R. Braybrook, diverted trafc and called on the demonstrators were used [sic], and batons were drawn at one stage. Student leader, Albert Langer called on the crowd to back Fridays Moratorium and said there would be up to 30,000 demonstrators. Lets make the moratorium as militant a demo as this one, he said, before calling for three cheers for Chinas Chairman Mao. Sack teachers
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To Moratorium Day
The Age, 8 May 1970, p.7 (Editorial) To Moratorium Day The people who will demonstrate in Australian streets today, and the people who do not, are facing a test of their political and social maturity. The Vietnam Moratorium is based in a burning dissension that sometimes dees reason and demolishes ordinary human tolerance. Todays risk is that a lack of reason and intolerance might take hold of a large group of sincere people, lead to anger and violence, undercut the effect of the Vietnam protest movement and strengthen the hand of the large group of people who bitterly dispute the dissenters right to take his dissent into the streets. There is another, perhaps greater, risk: the active efforts of the idiots who actually seek violence. If Dr Cairns and any of his Moratorium supporters are not aware of this last risk then they are more foolish than even their critics believe.
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Moratorium march
The Age, 9 May 1970, p.15 (Editorial) It was, without doubt, the most impressive demonstration seen in Melbourne. The sheer weight of numbers alone was staggering; at least 70,000 people packed in close marching rows across Bourke Street and stretching from Elizabeth to Spring streets. More signicantly, the demonstration was non-violent: there were neither broken heads nor broken windows to mar the pleas of the marchers for peace in Vietnam. It was an admirable achievement - especially in view of the size of the crowd and the diverse elements which comprised it. The demonstration was a forceful reply to those MPs who described intending marchers as bikies who are pack-raping democracy. The marchers showed their concern was human agony. Whether we believe their tactics effective, useful or even sensible, they renewed democracy, rather than raped it. By taking PEACEFULLY to the streets, the demonstrators showed that they understood the importance to democracy of effective public expressions of opinion by the people - who are, after all, the ultimate rulers in a democracy. Yesterdays march cannot be written off by the Government as the antics of communist-inuenced fools. It was a legitimate expression of opinion by a substantial expression of the population. Obviously, the potential for violence was present during yesterdays demonstration. It was prevented by four factors. First, the professional organisation of the Vietnam Moratorium campaign (whose pamphlet Tactics to Avert and Minimise Violent Incidents should be compulsory reading for all demonstrators); second, the responsibility displayed by the marchers themselves; third, the excellent supervision of the marchers by their radio-controlled marshals; fourth, the sanity and understanding displayed by the police. The Victorian Police Force deserves high praise for its performance: it handled a most difcult situation with restraint, good humour and unappable calm. The successful demonstration virtually guarantees that more mass demonstrations will be attempted, perhaps in support of causes other than Vietnam. The Vietnam Moratorium Committee has given enlarged meaning to the notion of peaceful public dissent - a right which is basic to free people everywhere. It has also shown that Victorians can bear all the responsibilities attached to this right with maturity and good sense. Yesterdays demonstrators advanced their cause.
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Bruce Wilson reports on the big march: One small step on the road to peace,
The Sun, 9 May 1970, p.8 (Feature article) Perhaps one incident can sum up Moratorium Day - the day demonstrators and demonstrations came of age. There was a policeman on his horse at the corner of Collins St. and Swanston St. A youth, full of beer and fervor, was taunting him. Hey, copper, wheres your carbine? he said over and over again as he waved a National Liberation Front ag. A middle-aged woman wearing the Moratorium badge took the youth by the arm and led him away - Its a day of peace, she told him. The policeman doffed his white helmet. Thank you, madam, he said. And anyone who had seen earlier demos could only wonder if the Moratorium Day were real. The police were superb. They seemed to be more senior than the usual run of police you see on demonstration days. Nothing was going to blow their cool. And, apart from a handful of professional rabble-rowsers who feel that a demo hasnt worked unless they spend a night in jail, the marchers did no more than they said they would. They protested, as they felt was their right, against what they believed was a moral injustice. They did it in their own ways, some noisily, some with dignity, and others as if they were having a day at the Show. When it was over most of them went home quietly. It is not exaggerating to say that there were less incidents of crowd violence than at a Saturday football match. For ve hours I went with the marchers, starting full of apprehension, remembering the provocation on both sides which had led to split heads and bitterness in the past. In a crowd of 70,000 it is impossible to paint the full picture. But some incidents showed me what it was all about. 1.15pm: Melbourne University. The crowd of about 3,000 setting out for the Treasury Gardens. Already the word had ltered through that the Bourke St sit-in was not going to be opposed.
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A cool occasion
The Age, 19 September 1970, p.13 (Editorial) In the negative sense at least, the second Moratorium march yesterday was a success. No one was injured, no one was trampled on by police horses and only a handful of people were arrested. The marchers kept their heads in what was for all a tense and potentially inammable situation. So did the police. The march, containing as it did so many disparate elements, had within it the potential for disaster. But between them Dr J. F. Cairns and the Moratorium organisers managed to keep their supporters in check. This campaign is dedicated to non-violent action, Dr Cairns told the crowd in the Fitzroy Gardens. The marchers did not belie him. The police, to their credit, acted with no less restraint. The Premiers instructions to them to take appropriate action if there was any obstruction to the public were ambiguous. But happily the police force chose to interpret their instructions liberally. In the face of insults thrown at them by some of the marchers they kept their cool and let the waves of protest blow harmlessly past them. On the positive side, it is difcult to determine exactly what such mass demonstrations achieve beyond demonstrating that on two main issues - conscription and the presence of Australian troops in Vietnam - there is in Melbourne, Sydney and in the other capitals a substantial body of opposition which is not afraid to declare itself. Power still resides in Parliament and not in the streets, however, and in Parliament both Mr Gorton and Sir Henry Bolte know they have the numbers. At the
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For Australians, the Vietnam War was the rst war covered in a substantial way by television. Each night Australians sat in their lounge rooms and kitchens watching reports about recent events in the war. Within hours, at the most within days, Australians could view approved footage of the war. In some ways it meant the general public was better informed, but was this selective information? Whose opinions decided which footage and commentary (information and interpretation/viewpoint) would be given to the public at large? Did it reveal the whole story or selected parts only? Were Australians better informed by this visual material any more than fellow citizens during previous conicts? These are some of the questions you will need to answer. There are many visual records to help you gain a better understanding of the nature of the Vietnam War. These include:
Photographs
Visit the Australian War memorials website at www.awm.gov.au/database/collection.asp Click onto Collections search and enter key words into the Search terms box. For example, Vietnam Moratorium will provide access to 47 photographs and posters associated with the Vietnam Moratorium. Students could also browse to nd photographs that illustrate the living and ghting conditions. Decide whether or not these photographs are natural or posed shots. Why was each photograph taken? What is illustrated and what is not illustrated about the nature of the war? What information is missing? To help students understand visual resources, they need to ask themselves the types of questions an historian or social commentator would ask. Use the following visual literacy questions to guide discussion: Analysing the purpose of the images: Who and what is in each photograph? What are the people doing? What do you think happened before each photograph was taken? What do you think happened after each photograph was taken? Why do you think these photographs were taken? What do they tell you? When do you think that each photograph was taken? What might be happening outside each photograph? Where do you think the photographer stood when the photograph was taken? Do you think it might look much different if it was taken from another position? Is there anything in any of these images that shows humour? Do these images create an atmosphere of importance about the events they portray and if so, how? How do you think that the people in these images might be feeling? What are some of the feelings you had as you looked at each photograph? What details or information do you think are missing from these photographs?
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Works of Art
You can view 126 works of art portraying aspects of the Vietnam War at the Australian War Memorials website, www.awm.gov.au/database/collection.asp Click on Collections search and type Vietnam War in the Search terms box. From the more than 10,000 images available, select art works in the left hand box, Records by collection. To help students evaluate the worth of art works as a historical record, students should ask questions such as the following: Analysing the purpose of the images: Who and what is in each work of art? What are the people doing? How soon or how long after the events portrayed were these images made? Do you think this would make a difference to the accuracy of the art work? Why? Why do you think these images were made? What do they tell you? What might be happening outside each image? Is there anything in any of these images that shows humour? How do these images create an atmosphere of importance about the events they portray? How do you think that the people in these images might be feeling? What are some of the feelings you had as you looked at each image? What details do you think are missing from these images? Are they important images or details? Why? If you had to write a caption for each image for a newspaper article, what would it be? Are there any questions you could not answer to help you understand the event by examining the art work?
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Frontline : The search for truth in wartime (308025) Colour; Sound; 52 min 1983 Video Classroom (VC) General Media studies In this fascinating documentary, distinguished Australian war correspondent John Pilger traces the changing face of war reporting from Crimea through the First and Second World Wars to Vietnam and the Falklands. Prod Co Central Independent television Producer/Di Nicholas Claxton Director Ross Devenish Subjects Broadcast journalism; Journalism; Journalism - Objectivity; Journalism - Political aspects; Propaganda; Reporters and reporting; War; History(CB); Claxton, Nicholas(A); Devenish, Ross(A); Pilger, John(A) Holdings VHS - South Melbourne, 2 copies You can borrow these lms by visiting www.acmi.net.au/borrow.htm Other lms of general interest (from 132 listed) include: Australias anti-war movement (303539), 1993, 55 minutes Vietnam, Australias war (304014), 1990, Video Education Australia Vietnam: the long road home (304013), 1989, 47 minutes (includes footage of Malcolm Fraser and Dr Jim Cairns) See Impressions: Australians in Vietnam: Photography, art and the war at www.awm.gov.au/events/travelling/ impressions/aust_vietnam.htm, which looks at how the Vietnam War was covered by Australian ofcials at the time.
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