THE AUSTRALIAN PEACE HONOUR ROLL

Family Name:

Dalton

Given Names:

Tony

Gender:

Male

Birth-date:

10 October 1948

Death-date:

NA

Marital Status:

Single

Age/ Age Range:

Early 20s

Location:

VIC, Moorabbin

Occupation:

Architecture Student

Primary Motivation:

Draft Resister -Pacifism

Reason for Court Appearance:

[1]. Refusal to register for National Service

[2] Refusal to pay fine and refusal to enter a recognisance to attend a medical examination

[3] Summonsed for refusal to obey call-up notice

Court Name and Location:

[1] Court of Petty Sessions, Melbourne

[2] Cheltenham Magistrates Court

[3] Unknown, Melbourne

Court Hearing Date:

[1] 19 December 1968

[2] 1 September 1969

[3] 18 June 1971

Court Outcome:

[1] Fined $40 plus costs $15

[2] Jailed for 7 days

[3] Warrant for his arrest and a likely sentence of 2 years jail

Military Event:

National Service and Vietnam War 1964-1972

Further Information:

Tony Dalton was from Moorabbin a suburb of Melbourne. He was   an Architectural Student at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He was single during his time as a draft resister. He was in a relationship with his girlfriend. As Tony himself has stated, although I was ‘single’, I was in a relationship throughout with a girlfriend who provided a lot of support throughout. I say this because it is easy to forget the women in our lives who shared our cause and supported us emotionally and practically. This was the case for many of those that appear on the Honour Roll.

He sent a Statutory Declaration to the Minister of Labour and National Service when liable to register in July 1968, stating he could not comply with the National Service Act.  He said that I have failed to register because I conscientiously believe that to engage in war is morally wrong and that the National Service Act is part of the means of carrying on war…War is an instrument for those whose aim is to gain power and wealth, and those who fight war must necessarily surrender their conscience to those in power. This I will not do. Tony continued with his explanation and observed that, I realise that I have a right to put my beliefs before the courts and apply for registration as a conscientious objector, However, in doing this I would be acknowledging that the Government has the right to conscript others to destroy and kill. They do not have this right; therefore, I cannot   comply in any way with the National Service Act…Remember that Wars will cease when men refuse to fight.

He was convicted of remaining unregistered on 19 December 1968 and fined $40 with $15 costs. He was subsequently given permission to leave Australia temporarily to take part in a NUAUS workcamp in Papua New Guinea. Tony refused to pay the fine for his refusal to register for National Service. He was summoned to the Court of Petty Sessions, Melbourne on 1 September 1969 for his refusal to registrar for National Service and was fined. His second offence was his refusal to pay the fine imposed in September, and subsequently enter into a recognisance to attend a medical examination. He was fined and jailed for 7 days.

 On Saturday 4 July 1970 Tony Dalton with for other Australians, Lynn Arnold, Michael Hamel-Green and Graham Jensen flew to Saigon, without permission of the Department of Labour and National Service. This was an offence under the National Service Act. They were part of an international mission organized by the International Fellowship of Reconciliation. They, with about 1000 local students, had barely walked two blocks when a cordon of police across the road, without warning or provocation fired CS tear-gas cannisters made in the US at them. Grham Jensen described it as a peaceful protest, the media including the Australian Broadcasting Commission described it as a riot.

Tony continued his non-compliance and refused to obey a call-up notice on 21 October 1969. He expected a summonsed with a likely conviction attracting two years jail.  Instead, Tony went underground using safe-houses organised by the Save Our Sons Movement. Four underground resisters, including Tony, appeared at the third Melbourne Moratorium March held June 1971. Police intended to arrest them, but they were protected by an estimated 5000 protesters. During September 1971 Tony and the other underground resisters publicly announced they were coming out of hiding to work with other draft resisters and supporters. They set up a pirate radio station at Melbourne University. The Commonwealth police raided the University to arrest them, but it proved unsuccessful. Tony had left during the night. He was never prosecuted and with the incoming Whitlam Labor Government, it suspended the National Service Act in December 1972. Following the election prosecutions ceased and those already jailed were released. Subsequently Tony had a successful academic career, working in the non-government sector, public service and at RMIT University.

Confirmatory Sources:

Bobbie Oliver, Hell No! We Wont Go: Resistance to Conscription in Post-War Australia, Interventions, Melbourne, 2022.

Peacemaker, January/ February 1969, pp.5-6; March/ April 1969. p.6; July/ August 1969, p.5; May/ June 1970. p. 4; October/ November 1970, p.6; March/ April 1971, p.11; May/ June/ July/ August 1971, p.12; Tribune, 29 September 1971, p.10; Woroni, 12 July 1972, p.14; Vivienne Abraham Notes, Anthony Dalton File.