MOWBRAY, Robert

Family Name:

Mowbray

Given Names:

Robert

Gender:

Male

Birth-date:

1947

Death-date:

Unknown

Marital Status:

Single

Age Range:

20 years old

Location:

NSW, Glebe Point

Occupation:

Graduate Clerk Child and Social Welfare

Primary Motivation:

Draft Resister-Pacifism Religious

Reason for Court Appearance:

[1] Refusal to register for national service

[2] Refusal to attend the medical examination

Court Name and Location:

[1] Court of Petty Sessions, Sydney

[2] Court of Petty sessions, Sydney

Court Hearing Date:

[1] 1 October 1968

[2] 24 March 1969

Court Outcome:

[1] Fined $40 plus costs $12 with 26 days imprisonment with hard labour in lieu of payment

[2] Fined $40 plus $12 costs plus 7 days jail for refusal to enter a recognizance to attend future medical examination

Military Event:

National Service and Vietnam War 1964-1972

Further Information:

Robert Mowbray from Glebe Point in New South Wales (NSW) were triplets with his brothers Graham and David. All were Christians and active in the Methodist church. All were pacifists which was grounded in their Christianity. As such all would have had a good chance of full exemption from military service under the National Service Act 1964 (NSA) as a conscientious objector. Instead, each of them chose a response to the Act of non-compliance. Robert, with his brothers refused to register for national service for the July 1967 intake and informed Minister Bury of their non-compliance during August 1967. Robert was a Graduate Clerk in the research section of the Department of Child Welfare and Social Welfare in NSW. He was also a part-time Social Studies student. On 1 October at the court hearing before Magistrate CS Rogers Robert pleaded guilty to the offense of not registering for national service. He was convicted and fined $40 plus $2 court costs and $10 legal costs with 26 days hard labour in lieu of non-payment. Robert paid the fine. On the 8 November 1968 Robert refused to attend the medical examination He was summonsed to the Court of Petty Sessions Sydney. At a hearing before Magistrate CS Rogers he was convicted and fined $40 plus costs $12 or 27 days imprisonment in lieu of non-payment. He was given 14 days to pay the fine. He was sentenced to 7 days jail fin Long Bay jail for his refusal to enter into a recognizance to attend a future medical examination. He made a statement on 20 March 1969 about the NSA 1964 and said, Christian discipleship challenges me to resist I believe that conscription for military service is immoral. I recognise that I have an opportunity to place my beliefs before a court and gain exemption. However, I do not consider this sufficient. I must reject the right of a Government to conscript anyone to kill. An Act which crushes basic human rights and sends young men off to war which world opinion condemns. He believed that the Vietnam War was immoral and the NSA an unjust law and as such is ‘no law’ at all. Robert refused the call-up notice sent 9 July 1969.

He, along with his brothers, were deemed by Minister Snedden to.be conscientious objectors under the NSA 1964 using reg 32A. All brothers were likely not proceeded against because their non-compliance embarrassed the government.

Confirmatory Sources:

Peacemaker, Jully/ August 1968. P.1; September/ October 1968. P.1; January/ February 1969, p6; March/ April 1969 p.7; November/ December 1969, pp.1 and 8; May/ June 1970.p. 4; October/ November, p.6, March/ April, p.10.

Bobbie Oliver, Hell No! We Won’t Go: Resistance to Conscription in Postwar Australia, Interventions, Melbourne, 2022, esp. pp. 130-133.

Courtesy: The Peacemaker, January/ February 1969, p.6.