SWIFT, Eric

Family Name:

Swift

Given Names:

Eric George

Gender:

Male

Birth-date:

1924

Death-date:

16 October 1943

Marital Status:

Single

Age Range:

18-19 years old

Location:

NSW

Occupation:

Nurseryman

Primary Motivation:

Conscientious Objector – Religious Pacifism (Christian)

Reason for Court Appearance:

Refusal to take the oath of enlistment.

Court Name and Location:

Court of Petty Sessions, Burwood, NSW

Court Hearing Date:

28 September 1942

Court Outcome:

6 months imprisonment

Military Event:

World War II

Further Information:

Eric Swift was a member of a non-denominational Christian group. He told Harold Allen, another conscientious objector, he was an orphan. He was a nurseryman by occupation. He refused call-up and taking the oath of enlistment. He was summonsed to the Court of Petty Sessions at Burwood in New South Wales. The same day as Harold. Eric was convicted sentenced to 6 months imprisonment. He was sent to Long Bay Military Prison. Harold commented on the high spirits displayed by Eric and said he was a tonic for Harold during their time of imprisonment at Long Bay. Harold described their arrival at the prison. At reception their, clothes were taken and stuffed in a calico bag and stored away. We had no underwear and were given a coarse coat and trousers and shirt a boot from the right box and another from he left; no worries if they didn’t match. Our numbers were sewn on back and front of our coats and we were taken back and locked in a yard. Eric and Harold were asked by the military authorities if we could go here to a cell as they were short of room. They asked who the third person was and was told a conscientious objector who was a Jehovah’s Witness. He proved to be a very unsuitable cell-mate with a very nasty streak

The prison conditions for conscientious objectors were very poor as described by Harold Alen. . This was especially so for Long Bay Gaol. Emu Plains was marginally better. When Eric and Harold was transferred after 5 weeks at Long Bay. Personal cleanliness was given scant regard by the warders. A clean shirt was supposed to have been issued to a prisoner once a week. But sometimes this did not happen. The prisoners wore rough ill-fitting clothes with a large number of the back and front. The food rations were sparse and served without due regard for hygiene. A Conscientious Objectors Group ensured the conscientious objector prisoners received visits from family and friends. The prison bible was permitted reading but prisoners ha d to request a copy, Sometimes the pages containing the sermon of the mount were removed presumably because of Christ’s statement ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. Eric shared a cell with Harold initially and at a later time Edward Hartley joined them. Harold says they were allowed to write a letter per week which was censored. On Sunday mornings they had to queue up and there were 6 pens between 100 men. It was a long wait. The cells which housed 3 men were 6 foot wide and 8 feet long and the only furniture was their coir mats on cement floors. Also in the cell there was a sanitary bucket and if it was used it stayed there until the next morning. Breakfast was watery porridge. For dinner they had meat and vegetables and half a loaf of bread which they divided into six to last them through the day. They were awoken at 6am and washed out their buckets then went to breakfast. After this they were locked in again until muster when they were given their jobs. Their lunch was had in their cells before they went back to their jobs. At 3.30pm there was a muster and at 4.30pm they were locked in for the night. On the walls of the cells the prisoners would mark off how many days they had served and would find satisfaction as the days to serve became the smaller number. The wage for doing jobs was an extra meal or a penny a day which did not benefit them until they were released.

On his release from Emu Plains Prison, possibly early September 1943, he was killed in a traffic accident on 16 October 1943. He worked as a nurseryman for Messrs. H and D Cook. Hector Cook was driving the truck went it went over the embankment at Murwillumbah. Eric suffered a number of injuries, including a fractured skull. He was 19 years old. He was buried in the Baptist section of the Murwillumbah General Cemetery.

Confirmatory Sources:

Hand-written notes by Harold Allen’s in E.G. Hartley’s papers (held Gwen Federici daughter of Harold Allen).

Tweed Daily, 18 October 1943, p.2; 21 October 1943, p.2.

Telegraph, 18 October 1943, p.4.

Courtesy: Gwenneth Federici (nee Allen)