SUBJECTS: History
YEARS: 9–10
How would you feel if your birth date was picked out of a barrel, lottery-style, and you were ordered to report for military duty?
This was the fate that awaited the men whose birth dates were chosen in the Vietnam ballot.
In this clip, watch the process the Australian government put in place to choose men for this life-changing task. It was a process that would cause great debate between its supporters and detractors in the years that followed.
Things to think about
- 1.Can you think of situations in which you believe conscription would be appropriate? How do you think governments should determine who is sent to fight? Do you think that luck should play a part? What are the advantages, and disadvantages, of using a lottery to determine such an important decision?
- 2.How many young men were identified for national service in the ballot held before the report? What is the official term for the lottery that is used by the reporter? According to the reporter, why did Australia have to conscript men for military service? How many national servicemen were required to make up Australia's military forces?
- 3.A clip such as this can be produced for a number of reasons, some of which are to convey information, to entertain, or to cause the audience to take action. Which of these best describes the purpose of this clip? What makes you say this? If the clip had been created to fulfil the other two purposes, how might it have been constructed differently?
- 4.Find and use appropriate resources for researching the history of conscription in Australia. Create a conscription timeline, in which you outline when conscription has been used, why it was used at these times, and how many men were conscripted each time. Search this archive for more clips on conscription and describe the public's reaction in a brief report.
Date of broadcast: 1965
Copyright
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