1. No category

Conscription
28 October 1916
By the third year of the war, high casualty rates and
a steady flow of injured soldiers returning home
discouraged Australian men from enlisting. At the same
time Britain was requesting more troops be made
available for service. On 28 October 1916 Australian
Prime Minister William Morris ‘Billy’ Hughes called an
advisory referendum (or plebiscite) on conscription,
hoping to make overseas military service compulsory.
Australians narrowly rejected the proposal and Hughes
called a second referendum in December 1917, which
was also unsuccessful.
The debates about these referendums divided the
Australian community. Supporters saw compulsory
service as a sign of support and loyalty to Britain and to
the many thousands of men already fighting or fallen in
the war. Opponents questioned both the effectiveness
and morality of forcing men to fight, and some also
questioned the war itself. Throughout World War I the
Australian Imperial Force remained a volunteer service.
Anti-conscription leaflet, Brisbane, 1916 .
National Archives of Australia: B197, 2021/1/40
Letter discussing conscription from Governor-General Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson to the
British Secretary of State for the Colonies, 31 August 1916.
National Archives of Australia: A11803, 1914/89/385
Ballot paper from the 1916 conscription referendum.
National Archives of Australia: A406, E1916/3585