McLAINE-CROSS, Jo

Family Name:

McLaine-Cross

Given Names:

Gender:

Female

Birth-Date:

Unknown, probably 1936

Death-Date:

Unknown

Marital Status:

Married

Age Range:

30s

Location:

VIC, South Melbourne

Occupation:

Unknown

Primary Motivation:

Anti- Militarism, especially Conscription

Reason for Court Appearance:

Willful trespass on government property

Court Name and Location:

Magistrates Court, Melbourne

Court Hearing Date:

8 April 1971

Court Outcome:

Sentenced to 14 days jail at Fairlea Women’s Prison

Military Event:

National Service and Vietnam War 1964-1972

Further Information:

Jo was from South Melbourne, a suburb of Melbourne. She was married with four children. She was a member of the Save Our Sons Movement in Melbourne. It 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 the 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. Irene was involved with this. 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 In 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. The SOS ceased operating soon after the newly elected Labor government of December 1972 ended conscription and released conscientious objectors and draft resisters who had been imprisoned.

Jo, together with Joan Coxsedge, Jean McLean, Chris Cathie and Irene Miller, all SOS members, were charged with willful trespass on government property under the Summary Offences Act. The property was an office of the Department of Labour and National Service. The court hearing was Thursday 8 April 1971, Maundy Thursday the day before Good Friday. They were 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, without the option of a fine. They served 11 days before being released. They became known as the “’Fairlea Five’. These jailings 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. It was suggested that Magistrate Foley had been leant on by the authorities to make an example of the five women. Jo had a previous conviction for posting a political poster in South Melbourne prior to the trespass case.

She reflected on her time in prison, It is not possible to grasp what prison is like until you have been there. The continuing desire to get out back home and the family becomes almost a torment. But it had to be done, and I’m sure we’d all do it again. She commented on the inmates who she described as working class, The penal system is if anything, worse than the social system which put them there.

Confirmatory Sources:

Collins, Carolyn. 2021. Save Our Sons: Women, Dissent and Conscription during the Vietnam War. Monash University Publishing, especially Chp. 10.

Glen Davis, By-law 418: an episode in the anti Vietnam War Movement in Victoria, https://honesthistory.net.au/wp/davis-glen-by-law-418-an-episode-in-the-anti-vietnam-war-movement-in-victoria/ accessed 29 January 2024.

Tribune, 14 April 1971. p.1; 21 April 1971, p12.

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