Browse Cases

Showing 1-6 of 6 results

Australian citizens force end to nation’s military participation in Vietnam War through Vietnam Moratorium Campaign 1970-1971

Country
Australia
Time period
8 May, 1970 to 1 June, 1971
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
Peace
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Shayla Smith 22/02/2017

Australian citizens offered little opposition to their country’s early involvement in the Vietnam War. Opposition came from groups like Youth Campaign Against Conscription (YCAC), founded in 1964, and Save our Sons (SOS), founded in 1965. Other early dissenters included: trade unionists, religious groups, and those affected by the National Service Act.     

University of Sydney students uncover and protest discrimination of Aboriginal people in New South Wales, 1965

Country
Australia
Time period
February 12, 1965 to February 24, 1965
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
7 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Jasmin Rodriguez-Schroeder, 15/02/2017

In 1965, a group of student students at the University of Sydney who were members of Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA) embarked on a two week bus ride through several towns and villages in New South Wales to draw attention to the prevalent discrimination against Aborigines in Australia. This campaign is often credited with directing national and international attention to the ongoing human rights violations against Aboriginal people and leading to the 1967 referendum that approved two amendments relating to Aboriginal rights and status in Australia.

Indigenous Gurindji win land rights in Australia (Wave Hill Walk Off) 1966-1975

Country
Australia
Time period
August 23rd, 1966 to August 16th, 1975
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Environment
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Angeline Rivard 18/11/2013

On August 23rd, 1966, the workers of the Wave Hill Station in Northern Territory, Australia, participated in a walk off led by Vincent Lingiari. The workers felt oppressed by the low wages, poor working and living conditions they received at the Wave Hill Station. The Indigenous people known to be part of the Gurindji Tribe were pastoral workers situated at Vesteys' Wave Hill station. The Vestey family was a rich British family that owned many acres of land and companies in Australia.

Australian women protest conscription during Vietnam War [Save Our Sons (SOS)], 1965-1972

Country
Australia
Time period
13 May, 1965 to December, 1972
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Hadley L. Stein, 27/11/2011

The “Gulf of Tonkin Incident” in early August 1964 marked the beginning of dramatic escalation of the United States’ involvement in the civil war in Vietnam. As a close ally, Australia made a commitment to support the United States’ intervention in Southeast Asia. To support the war effort, Prime Minister Robert Menzies’s Liberal government introduced conscription for national military service on November 10, 1964. A few months later on April 29, Menzies announced that Australian troops, including National Service conscripts, would be sent to Vietnam to assist in the American war effort.

Australians block cricket and impede rugby tour of apartheid South Africa, 1971

Country
Australia
Time period
May, 1971 to August, 1971
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Arielle Bernhardt, 11/02/2010

To South Africans and Australians alike, rugby is not just a sport, but a cultural symbol. In the 1960s and early 1970s, it was also a unifying force between apartheid South Africa and its “white neighbor by the sea”—Australia. At the time, Australia had in place many racist policies that discriminated against Aboriginal peoples and the Australian public was only beginning to gain an awareness of both the domestic and international issues of human rights at stake.