THE AUSTRALIAN PEACE HONOUR ROLL

Family Name:

 Coxsedge

Given Names:

Joan Marjorie

Gender:

Female

Birth-date:

5 January 1931

Death-date:

 14 January 2024

Marital Status:

 Married

Age Range:

30s-40s

Location:

 VIC, North Balwyn

Occupation:

Artist, Politician

Primary Motivation:

Anti Militarism, especially Conscription

Military Event:

 National Service Act 1964 and Vietnam War

Reason for Court Appearance:

Willful trespass on government property

Court Name and Location:

 Magistrates Court, Melbourne

Court Hearing Date:

 Thursday8 April 1971

Court Outcome:

Sentenced to 14 days jail at Fairlea Woman’s Prison, Melbourne

Personal Summary:

Joan Coxsedge was born in Ballarat, Victoria 5 January 1931. She was educated in Melbourne at Ormond State School, the Gardenvale Central School and MacRobertson Girls High School. She married Cedric William Coxsedge 7 March 1953. They had two sons and a daughter. The lived at North Balwyn, a suburb of Melbourne. Joan was a professional artist. In July 1979 she was elected as a member of the Australian Labour Party (ALP) to the Victorian Legislative Council. She served until 1992 and used her position to defend and promote peace. Joan was a Melbourne member of the Save our Sons Movement (SOS). She was also on the Moratorium Committee dedicated to ending the Vietnam War and conscription to it.

The Melbourne branch of SOS was active in supporting the rights of conscientious objectors and draft resisters (conscientious non-compliers) during the Vietnam War. It worked for the repeal of National service Act (NSA), the instrument of selective conscription. It also advocated for a change to the NSA to allow for conscientious objection to a particular war. In this case the Vietnam War. Some members formed a network of suburban safe-houses to help draft resisters evade the authorities. Its campaigns were non-violent and contributed to a larger movement dedicated to the same objectives. It had an advantage in that members were “ordinary” wives and mothers. Many wore hats and gloves and took their handbags to their protest activities.

Its activism included regular vigils at Melbourne City Square and the State Library. Members would stand in silent protest holding anti-war and conscription placards. Members also wore sashes to identify themselves. They also handed out draft registration forms and encouraged people to fill them out with fictious names. The aim was to overload the national service registration system. They also engaged in civil disobedience outside the Swan Street army barracks where intakes of young men reported to.

Joan recalled during an interview with Alexandra Pierce the protests at the army barracks …I can’t say I enjoyed them. I didn’t. Because you know you had to get up at the crack of dawn. That’s bad enough, but then having to drive there and get abused is worst. She also recalled a demonstration at the American Billy Graham’s crusade at the Myer Music Bowl. Graham was pro the Vietnam war. She described it, we walked up and held up our placards. Nobody said a word. Not a sound was said. He ignored us completely…so we just stood for a while. And then we quietly filed our again and stood there at the back and waited till they all came out.

Joan, together with Jean McLean, Irene Miller, Chris Cathie and Jo Maclaine-Ross, all SOS members, were charged with willful trespass on government property under the Summary Offences Act. Specifically, the handing out of anti-conscription leaflets to young men reporting for induction into the army. Joan and the others were sentenced to fourteen days imprisonment in Fairlea Woman’s Prison Melbourne. They served 11 days before being released. They became known as the “’Fairlea Five’. These protests attracted opprobrium, verbal confrontation, and abuse. She and other SOS members were charged with being communists or communist sympathisers, anti-Australian, bad mothers and neglectful wives. Joan was certain that the court case was compromised. She described it as follows, A few months earlier, we had walked into the headquarters of the Department of Labor and National Service in Melbourne and handed out our anti-conscription leaflets, while explaining the options to a trickle of anxious young men registering for National Service. One turned tail for home stating he would not sign up and others announced they would become conscientious objectors. Suddenly it seemed we had become a threat. Within minutes, six Commonwealth police appeared and asked us to leave. We refused and sat down on some benches. They dragged us out of the office and dumped us in the lift lobby, but we stayed put. Eventually a very flustered fellow came along and announced that he represented the Employers Federation, the owners of the building. He was accompanied by a posse of Victoria Police who ordered us to move on. Once again, we refused to budge. The state wallopers hustled us down to the basement car park into two police cars waiting to ferry us to Russell St HQ, where we were charged with wilful trespass under the Summary Offences Act used by Victoria’s reactionary Bolte Government to stifle dissent. Our case was the last to be heard that Easter Thursday – which in itself was a worry – and if the powers-that-be wanted a certain verdict they certainly picked the right magistrate. His allegiance to the League of Rights was well known. After going through the usual legalistic numbo jumbo, he dished out a mandatory fourteen-day gaol sentence with no option of a fine.

Joan also said in the interview with Pierce that…The court case came up on the Thursday before Easter. And it dragged on and on and on. And we were at the magistrate’s court waiting for the damn thing to come on. And nothing was happening. And it didn’t come on until about four o’clock in the afternoon before Easter. And of course, all the media had gone, except for one ABC journalist, except for one. And he was there and he reported it. And that’s when it got out. Now, it was sheer luck, because he could have gone and then – I don’t know, it would have got out but not like it did, it ended up on the, you know, seven o’clock news. And that really helped and the others picked up on it. And away it went.

The Fairlea Five were released at 9.15am on 18 April 1971.They were taken to a welcoming rally at the Melbourne City Square. Joan spoke to the assembled multitude, I’ve seldom had any illusions about the Establishment, but in Fairlea I had plenty of time to ponder the injustice of the justice. I’m glad our stand had some effect. But spare a thought for the woman still in Fairlea, or those who are out and have been debased by the prison system. Vietnam is important, and so are home issues like penal reform.

During the 1970s Joan also campaigned against the Croatian terrorist movement, opposed secret service organisations and was founding chair of the Committee for the Abolition of Political Police.

During December 1972 the ALP led by Gough Whitlam was elected as the Commonwealth Government. One of its first acts, during 1973, was to suspend the NSA1964 and release those conscientious objectors and draft resisters that had  been imprisoned. The SOS movement disbanded soon after.

She died 14 January 2024 aged 93 years.

Confirmatory Source:

Joan Coxsedge, Australian National University, Archives Library, https://archives.anu.edu.au/exhibitions/art-archives/joan-coxsedge accessed June 2021.

Parliament of Victoria, Remember Database, Joan Coxsedge, https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about/people-in-parliament/re-member/details/24/1137 accessed June 2021

Collins, Carolyn. 2021. Save Our Sons: Women, Dissent and Conscription during the Vietnam War. Monash University Publishing.

http://www.womenworkingtogether.com.au/12.%201970’s%20on%20…Protests%20-%20Women%20Together%20Again.html#75percent accessed 27 January 2024

Tribune, 21 April 1971, p.12.

Canberra Times, 9 April 1971, p.1; 19 April 1971, p.9

Interview with Alexandra Pierce 27 November 2018, http://www.livingpeacemuseum.org.au/s/alpm/page/sos-joan-coxsedge accessed 29 January 2024.