ANDERSON, Leigh

Family Name:

Anderson

Given Names:

Leigh

Gender:

Male

Birth-date:

Unknown

Death-date:

Unknown

Marital Status:

Unknown

Age/ Age Range: 20 years

Location:

VIC, Glenroy

Occupation:

Student

Primary Motivation:

Conscientious Objector, humanist pacifism

Reason for Court/ Appearance:

Application for full exemption from military duties

Court Name and Location:

Petty Sessions, Melbourne

Court Hearing Date:

13 December 1968

Court Outcome:

Granted full exemption from military duties

Military Event:

National Service and Vietnam War 1964-1972

Further Information:

Leigh Anderson was from Glenroy a suburb of Melbourne. He was 20 years of age and a Melbourne University commerce student. He applied for and was granted full exemption from military duties by Magistrate P Monkhurst in the Melbourne Court of Petty Sessions on 13 December 1968. He described himself as a pacifist and humanitarian. He formed the court that he was so opposed to killing that he could not eat flesh or even wear leather shoes. He said it was immoral to kill and believed that taking life, human or animal, was terribly immoral. Leigh first formed these beliefs after wounding a bird with an air rifle when he was a small boy.

Confirmatory Sources:

Peacemaker, January/ February 1969, p.3; Canberra Times 13 December 1968, p.9.