HEADLAND, Keith Raymond

Family Name:

Headland

Given Names:

Keith Raymond

Gender:

Male

Birth-date:

Unknown

Death-date:

Unknown

Marital Status:

Unknown, probably single

Age Range:

Early 20s

Location:

VIC, Daylesford

Occupation:

Fireman, Railways

Primary Motivation:

Draft Resister

Reason for Court Appearance:

Refusal to register for national service

Court Name and Location:

Unknown, Unknown

Court Hearing Date:

May 1972

Court Outcome:

Fined

Military Event:

National Service and Vietnam War 1964-1972

Further Information:

Keth Headland was a fireman in the railways from Daylesford in Victoria. When his birthdate was drawn, he commented later that it was the “Only lottery he ever won”. He joined the Draft Resisters Union. He refused to comply with the National Service Act 1964, presumably by non-attendance at the mandatory medical examination. At the court hearing in May 1972, he was fined. During 1972 the Minister referred him to a court under reg. 32A to determine if he held conscientious objections under the Act. He was granted full exemption from military duties as conscientious objector.

As a draft resister he like so many others experienced discrimination for his stand. He recalled, I had a host of experiences, too many to write. They tried set me up to sack me, said that I would not pass my examinations for driver, all deflected by the union and men who supported me. I am the black sheep of the family that are still alive. Lost friends more than made up by some of the blokes from the job I didn’t know previously who sought me out to congratulate me for standing on my principles. He represented his union , the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Employees at the Divisional Council level.

Confirmatory Sources:

NAA, MP1357/1, item barcode number 12248074, control symbol 71, Title: Conscientious Objector Register, 17/8/1972, Registration number 2182492.

Bobbie Oliver, Hell No! We Won’t Go Resistance to Conscription in Postwar Australia, Interventions, Melbourne, 2022, esp. pp.203 and 207.

Bobbie Oliver 2000 Survey.