Australia followed the United States footsteps in this anti-war movement and on the 8th of May 1970 around 200,000 people throughout Australia, took part and marched in Moratoriums calling for an end to the war in Vietnam. Many have called it ‘the greatest single demonstration of strength that the peace movement in Australia has ever achieved’, Melbourne gathered the largest numbers which is estimated to be at least 70,000 and even as many as 100,000. The media and conservative politicians had all predicted and even appeared to be threatening violence, but all was avoided, even The Age was impressed by how peaceful protest was:
Seventy thousand citizens took to Melbourne streets yesterday, shouting, ‘Peace’, ‘Stop the war!’ A thousand police, many armed with pistols and shotguns, waited. But hardly a punch was thrown. The riots did not happen.
When speaking to any Australian involved in the first Moratoriums, there is a familiar observation made; no one was expecting the mass numbers and were taken by surprise by how many people felt the need to make a stand. For many like Betty Blunden it was …show more content…
Similarly, it is unbelievable that any Australian should fail to see that if the battle against Communism is to be an effective one it must be as forward of Australia as possible.”
Appearing Australia was not acting in service of America’s best interest but their own, looking after its own national interest and security in committing itself to the Vietnam War. The opinion polls taken during 1965 to 1968 clearly show that most Australian’s were in favour of the war, with the opinion polls only starting to change after the horrifying My Lai massacre, the invasion of Cambodia and later the Kent State
Seventy thousand citizens took to Melbourne streets yesterday, shouting, ‘Peace’, ‘Stop the war!’ A thousand police, many armed with pistols and shotguns, waited. But hardly a punch was thrown. The riots did not happen.
When speaking to any Australian involved in the first Moratoriums, there is a familiar observation made; no one was expecting the mass numbers and were taken by surprise by how many people felt the need to make a stand. For many like Betty Blunden it was …show more content…
Similarly, it is unbelievable that any Australian should fail to see that if the battle against Communism is to be an effective one it must be as forward of Australia as possible.”
Appearing Australia was not acting in service of America’s best interest but their own, looking after its own national interest and security in committing itself to the Vietnam War. The opinion polls taken during 1965 to 1968 clearly show that most Australian’s were in favour of the war, with the opinion polls only starting to change after the horrifying My Lai massacre, the invasion of Cambodia and later the Kent State