KITCHING, Robin Peter

Family Name:

Kitching

Given Names:

Robin Peter

Gender:

Male

Birth-Date:

1945

Death-Date:

Unknown

Marital Status:

Unknown, probably single

Age/ Age Range:

20 years old

Location:

NSW, Narraweena

Occupation:

Unknown

Primary Motivation:

Conscientious Objector-Pacifism Humanist

Reason for Court/ Tribunal Appearance:

[1] Application for full exemption from military service
[2] Appeal against not being granted full exemption

Court/ Tribunal Name and Location:

[1] Court of Petty Sessions, Sydney
[2] District Court, Sydney

Court/ Tribunal Hearing Date:

[1] 23 March 1965
[2] 23 and 27 July 1965

Court/Tribunal Outcome:

[1] Granted exemption from combatant duties
[2] Appeal upheld and granted full exemption as a conscientious. objector

Military Event:

National Service and Vietnam War 1964-1972

Further Information:

Robin Kitching was a 20-year-old from Narraweena in New South Wales and a member of the Eureka Youth League. He was due to be in the first conscripted intake into the army. He applied for full exemption from military service on the grounds of his humanist pacifism. His hearing was at the Court of Petty Sessions in Sydney on 23 March 1965. Robin informed the hearing heard by Magistrate CS Rodgers that, “I am on the Peace Committee of the Eureka Youth League in Western Australia and as a member of the Peace Movement I have a mora and humanitarian obligation to struggle for peaceful co-existence between nations. I believe in settling world problems by peaceful negotiation and am strongly opposed to military power being used which does not solve the problems but only exterminates innocent human life and creates more suffering”. Magistrate CS Rodgers granted him exemption from combatant duties only. Robin appealed the decision which was the first since the introduction of conscription
The hearing was held at the Sydney District Court. Before Judge Monahan and JM Small represented the Minister for Labour and National Service and J Staples representing Robin.

Staples concluded his case for full exemption by emphasizing that the applicant opposes all forms of military service and believes non-combatant duties play a supporting role to combatant duties. Small disagreed and argued that the conduct of the applicant was not consistent with the views he claimed to hold. He pointed out he had joined an organisation (eureka League) which did not eschew violence. During the course of the hearing Judge Monahan said, “There is nothing liberal about conscription. The law affirms that if a conscientious objector’s objection is not recognised, an applicant must serve. It may not be fair to call it evasion but it is escaping service. Your client repudiates everything from buying a War Bond and charging with a bayonet. The only question is whether I believe him”. When it came to the decision Judge Monahan said, “I believe the applicant has made out his case… He was consistent in his views, and stuck to them under cross-examination, however much they may be in conflict with conventional thinking on the subject”. Robin was granted on 27 July 1965 full exemption from military service as a conscientious objector.

Confirmatory Sources:

Peacemaker, September/ October 1965, p.1.; January/ February 1966, p.3.