In a galaxy far, far away

“Our minds and reason cannot support those who have made the decision to send you to this war, and we shall do our best to have that decision reversed.

“But we shall do our duty to the utmost in supporting you to do your duty. In terms of everything that an army in the field requires, we shall never deny you the aid and support that it is your right to expect in the service of your country. To the members of the Government, I say only this: if, by the process of misrepresentation of our motives, in which you are so expert, you try to further divide this nation for political purposes, yours will be a dreadful responsibility, and you will have taken a course which you will live to regret …

“I cannot promise you that easy popularity can be bought in times like these; nor are we looking for it … but if we are to have the courage of our convictions, then we must do our best to make the voice heard.

“I offer you the probability that you will be traduced, that your motives will be misrepresented, that your patriotism will be impugned, that your courage will be called into question.

“But I also offer you the sure and certain knowledge that we will be vindicated: that generations to come will record with gratitude that when a reckless Government wilfully endangered the security of this nation, the voice of the Australian Labor Party was heard, strong and clear, on the side of sanity and in the cause of humanity, and in the interests of Australia’s security …

“We believe that America must not by humiliated and must not be forced to withdraw. But we are convinced that sooner or later the dispute in Vietnam must be settled through the United Nations.

“If it is necessary to back with a peace force the authority of the United Nations, we would support Australian participation to the hilt.

“But we believe that the military involvement in the present form decided on by the Australian Government represents a threat to Australia’s standing in Asia, to our power for good in Asia and above all to the security of this nation.”

Arthur Calwell, 4 May 1965. Quoted from “A Certain Grandeur” by Graham Freudenburg, pp52-53.