TOWNSEND, Simon

Family Name:

Townsend

Given Names:

Simon

Gender:

Male

Birth-date:

1945

Death-date:

13 January 2025

Marital Status:

Single, engaged

Age:

20 years old

Location:

NSW, Potts Point

Occupation:

Journalist

Primary Motivation:

Conscientious Objector / Pacifism Humanist

Reason for Court Appearance:

[1] Applied for full exemption of military duties

[2] Appeal against decision to not grant his application for full exemption from all military duties

[3] Refusal to undertake the mandatory medical examination

[4] Second application for full exemption of all military duties

[5] Appeal against decision to not grant his second application

[6] Refusal to obey a call-up notice

[7] Refusal to obey arm orders after forcibly committed to army custody

[8] Third application to be fully exempted from military duties as a conscientious objector

Court Name and Location:

[1] Court of Petty Sessions, Sydney

[2] District Court, Sydney

[3] Special Federal Court , Sydney

[4] Court of Petty Sessions, Sydney

[5] District Court, Sydney

[6] Special Federal Court, Sydney

[7] Court Martial, Bardid Barracks Ingleburn

[8] Court of Petty Sessions. Sydney

Court Hearing Date:

[1] 1966

[2] Unknown

[3] 15 May 1968

[4] 1967

[5] 1967

[6] 15 May1968

[7] 22 May 1968

[8] 13 and 14 June 1968

Court Outcome:

[1] Application was refused with exemption from combatant duties only

[2] Appeal was dismissed

[3] Fined $5 and sentenced to a month in Long Bay Jail

[4] Second application was refused

[5] Appeal was dismissed

[6] Convicted and forcibly committed to the custody of the army

[7] Imprisoned at the Bardid Barracks, Ingleburn NSW and 2 years imprisonment at Sale, Victoria

[8] Application for full exemption from military duties as a conscientious objector was granted

Military Event:

National Service and the Vietnam War 1964-1972

Further Information:

Simon Townsend was a Journalist from Potts Point in New South Wales. He was the older brother to Stephen who was a draft resister. He was single but engaged to Mary Jane Boscacci who supported him through his ordeal. Simon registered for the first intake for National Service during February 1965. In late 1965 Simon applied to be fully exempted from military duties as a conscientious objector, as he was now a pacifist. He helped found the Sydney Conscientious Objectors Group. In early 1966 Magistrate Rogers granted Simon exemption from combatant military duties. Later in 1966 Simon appealed the magistrate’s decision at the District Court. Both the magistrate and then the judge believe he was insincere in his beliefs. In February 1967 Simon served a month in Long Bay jail for refusing to undertake the mandatory medical examination and pay the fine for this offence. He made a second application to be registered as a conscientious objector with full exemption from military duties, but the magistrate refused to hear it. The appeal against this decision was also dismissed.

On 15 May 1968 Simon was charged with two offences in the Special Federal Court in Sydney. Magistrate Bartley allowed him to read to the court the correspondence he had sent to the Department of Labour and National Service, and a statement which he had prepared for the court. Simon stated that, War is a crime against humanity and war will cease when man refuses to fight…I cannot do military training because I believe that preparation for war is as immoral as war itself. Outside the court he was handed a call-up notice which was to begin on 20 March 1968 which he refused. He was then forcibly committed into the custody of the army. He refused to accompany the army officer waiting in the court. Two Commonwealth police officers were called, and they escorted Simon under close arrest to an army facility. He refused to obey army orders and was placed in an army prison at Ingleburn, New South Wales. There he slept in a room guarded by eight soldiers, two of whom in rotation had to stay awake. Simon was awoken every two hours to check on his “well-being”. This can be considered as sleep-deprivation torture. Because of his continual refusal to obey orders Simon was court martialed on 22 May 1968. This resulted in a conviction and him being sentenced to two years jail at Sale, Victoria. Simon commented that, The Army does not want me of course but it can’t lose face by dishonorably discharging me.

The day before Simon was forcibly committed into the custody of the army, he had made a third application to be registered as a conscientious objector. On 13 and 14 June 1968 his application was heard by Magistrate Hunt. After an extensive review of legal precedent, the magistrate granted full exemption from military duties despite his opinion that Simon’s views were illogical.

Later in life he was the creator and host on children’s tlevision of the show Wonder World from 1979 to 1987.

He died 13 January 2025, aged 79 years.

Confirmatory Sources:

Peacemaker, May/ June 1968, p.6.

NAA: M1369, 423. [Personal Papers of Prime Minister Fraser] Townsend file [brief for possible opposition censure motion concerning Simon Townsend, Captain Rule and Vietnam water torture case]. 1964-1968. https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3424174 date accessed 13 July 2019.

Bobbie Oliver, Hell No! WeWon’t Go! Resistance to Conscription in Postwar Australia, Interventions, Melbourne, 2022, esp. pp.99-103.

NAA Private Service Number 2789553 Unit-Unallocated List Australian Military Forces Date of Court Martial 22 May 1968.

Canberra Times, 15 December 1967, p.9; Tribune, 29 May 1968, p.3