An Almost Universal Scheme of National Service in Australia in the 1950s

While the Australian Government partly justified the introduction of a universal National Service Training Scheme for eighteen‐year old males in 1951 by highlighting the threat of imminent war and the consequent need for military preparedness, advocates also believed that national service encouraged...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Australian journal of politics and history 2006-09, Vol.52 (3), p.378-397
Main Author: Maclean, Pam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Armed Forces
Armies
Australia
Australia. Dept. of Labour and National Service
Australia: History
Australia: Social conditions
Citizen Participation
Citizenship
Citizenship education
Civic responsibility
Compulsory Participation
Conscientious objection
Development Policy
Discourse
Discrimination
Government
Holt, Harold Edward
Males
Military draft
Military preparedness
Military service
Military Strategy
National Service Training Scheme
Occupational deferral
Policy making
Political elites
Public Sector
Responsibility
Social capital
Social cohesiveness
Social responsibility
Training
Twentieth Century
Universality
Values
Youth
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Summary:While the Australian Government partly justified the introduction of a universal National Service Training Scheme for eighteen‐year old males in 1951 by highlighting the threat of imminent war and the consequent need for military preparedness, advocates also believed that national service encouraged the development of a sense of civil responsibility. Its confidence in the potential of national service to promote citizenship explains why the government was so strongly committed to the scheme's universality. Nonetheless, although the government went to great lengths to enforce compliance, Aborigines and those from other “non‐white” backgrounds were actively discouraged from participation and women were only reluctantly admitted to the professional army. As would be expected in this period, they were never considered for national service. An examination of the rationale for national service and the associated discourse for inclusion and exclusion not only indicates the social assumptions shaping policy‐making by government and bureaucratic elites in 1950s Australia, but also reveals their wider social aspirations.
ISSN:0004-9522
1467-8497
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8497.2006.00425.x