William "Bill" White was a
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
school teacher during the
Vietnam War. In July 1966, White defied a notice to report for duty at an army induction centre. White was the first
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n to be a public
conscientious objector
A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...
to the Vietnam War. Both this initial application for total exemption and subsequent appeals were rejected. White was removed from his classroom and ordered to report to Army quarters at
Watsons Bay. He refused to comply and waited at home for the authorities to make the next move.
This standoff lasted for several days and gained wide press coverage causing considerable embarrassment for the
Australian Government. The standoff ended when White was dragged from his home after refusing to comply with an order to enter the army. A photo of this event became a potent symbol of the nature of conscription.
He was jailed just before the
1966 election, and continued to seek conscientious objector status until he eventually succeeded on 23 December 1966.
White's main objection was that he felt he was being asked to kill other human beings. However, he also had objections to the war itself and to conscription.
Quote
:''Firstly, I am standing against killing - the taking of human life... Morality, to me, is based on the respect for life. I respect people, I respect their feelings, I respect their property and I respect their equality, on the basic conscientious assumption that they have, as I have, the unquestionable right to live.''
:''Secondly, I am standing against the war itself as a national and international policy. As war, by definition, has always incorporated killing, I would have been opposed to any war on this basis.''
:''On the third front I am opposed to a state's right to conscript a person, I believe very strongly in democracy and democratic ideals—and I believe that it is in the area of the State's right over the life of the individual that the difference lies between totalitarian and democratic government. My opposition to conscription, of course, is intensified greatly when the conscription is for military purposes. In fact the National Service Act is the embodiment of what I consider to be morally wrong and, no matter, what the consequences, I will never fulfil the terms of the act.''
It was these words that contributed to the memorable Moratorium Marches of 1970.
Further reading
* Scates, Bob (10 October 2022).
Draftmen go free: a History of the Anti-Conscription Movement in Australia Book review and whole book link. William is mentioned in the book. The Commons Social Change Library. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
References
Australian conscientious objectors
People from Sydney
Anti–Vietnam War activists
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