The Australian women who protested against the Vietnam war

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 9 March 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Five Australian women made front-page news when they were sent to Melbourne's Fairlea Prison for protesting against the Vietnam War in 1971. The women were part of the Save Our Sons movement, which campaigned to stop Australians being conscripted to fight in the conflict. Their jailing sparked protests outside the prison and across Australia, and is credited with helping turn public opinion against conscription. Jean McLean -- nicknamed the "Blonde Bombshell" by the Australian tabloids -- was one of the Fairlea Five. She tells Josephine McDermott about their campaign - and the time she and a would-be conscript got in a car chase with military security.

PHOTO: A protest by the Save Our Sons movement (Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.
0:36.0	Thank you for downloading the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Josephine McDermott.
0:48.0	As part of our week of programme celebrating International Women's Day, I'm bringing you the story of how five women in Australia helped turn public opinion against the country's involvement in the Vietnam War.
1:00.0	I've been speaking to veteran activist and politician Gene McClain, one of the so-called
1:05.9	Fairly Five.
1:07.0	It's April 1971. Five women are in court in Melbourne for protesting against the Vietnam War.
1:19.2	The verdict will go down in Australian history.
1:22.4	We were in the court all day, we were the last case,
1:26.6	and we expect them to get fined.
1:31.1	This is Gene McClain, or the blonde bombshell as she was called in the press.
1:35.0	Then the magistrate said, well, the government has changed the rules so that you can be jailed without being able to pay a fine.
1:47.0	So go straight to jail. It was quite shocking because it was Easter Thursday. We had between us 25 children.
1:57.0	The women who spent that Easter holiday in Melbourne's Fairley prison would become known as the Fairly Five.
2:05.0	Australia had been sending troops to Vietnam to fight alongside the US
2:11.0	since the start of the war in 1965. The right-wing Prime Minister
2:16.2	Robert Menzies warned the public that if Vietnam fell to communism the whole
2:21.2	of Southeast Asia could follow and then Australia. Public opinion was split.
	...

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