Family Name:
Symons
Given Names:
Michael Brooke
Gender:
Male
Birth-Date:
1945
Death-Date:
Unknown
Marital Status:
Unknown, probably single
Age/ Age Range:
21 years old
Location:
NSW, Cremorne
Occupation:
Unknown
Primary Motivation:
Conscientious Objector-Pacifism Humanist
Reason for Court/ Tribunal Appearance:
Application for full exemption from military service
Court/ Tribunal Name and Location:
Special Court of Petty Sessions, Sydney
Court/ Tribunal Hearing Date:
5 October 1966
Court/Tribunal Outcome:
Granted full exemption as a conscientious objector
Military Event:
National Service and Vietnam War 1964-1972
Further Information:
Michael Symons was a 21-year-old from Cremorne a suburb of Sydney. He applied for and was grant full exemption from military service by Magistrate CS Rodgers of the Special Court of Petty Sessions at Philip Street Sydney on 5 October 1966. Magistrate Rodgers had been observed to grant full exemption on less occasions than other magistrates throughout Australia. Michael was only the third applicant to be granted full exemption from metropolitan Sydney by Rodgers. At the end of the hearing the magistrate said to Michael, “You have called your father and uncle to corroborate the views you say you hold on these matters, and though your father was in court at the time you gave your evidence, I suppose it is fair to say he would in any case be aware of the evidence or of the beliefs you say that you held. You are a professed pacifist, and as such it might be regarded in some spheres that some of the views held by you might be somewhat illogical or irrational; nevertheless if they be your honest views you are entitled to exemption…”.
Confirmatory Sources:
Peacemaker, October 1966, p.3.
THE AUSTRALIAN PEACE HONOUR ROLL 