DAVIS, Ian

Family Name:

Davis

Given Names:

Ian

Gender:

Male

Birth-date:

Unknown, probably 1951

Death-date:

Unknown

Marital Status:

Unknown, probably single

Age:

20 Years old

Location:

NSW, Lane Cove

Occupation:

University Student

Primary Motivation:

Draft Resister, ant-conscription

Reason for Court Appearance:

[1] Failure to register for national service

[2] Arrested and charged with incitement to not register for national service

[3] Failure to pay fine for non registration and attend the medical

[4] Non-attendance at court hearing

[5] Incitement to not register for national service (see [2])

[6] Repeated failure to attend medical examination

[7] Refusal to enter a recognizance to attend a future medical examination

Court Name and Location:

[1] Central Court of Petty Sessions, Sydney

[2] Special Federal Court, Sydney

[3] Special Federal Court, Sydney

[4] Central Court of Petty Sessions, Sydney

[5] Central Court of Petty Sessions, Sydney

[6] Central Court of Petty Sessions, Sydney

[7] Special Federal Court, Sydney

Court Hearing Date:

[1] 20 March 1972

[2] 15 July 1972

[3] 17 July 1972

[4] 9 August 1972

[5] 30 August 1972

[6] 30 August 1972

[7] 22 November 1972

Court Outcome:

[1] Conviction and fine $80

[2] Charged under section 7A Crimes Act, Bail of $200

[3] Conviction and 17 days jail

[4] Request for adjournment denied and warrant for arrest issued

[5] Conviction and fine $25 plus $5 costs

[6] Arrested, section 8A Crimes Act, remanded on $250 bail

[7] Conviction and 7 days jail

Military Event:

National Service and Vietnam War 1964-1972

Further Information:

Ian Davis was a 20-year-old from Lane Cove, a suburb of Sydney. He was Jewish by religion. He was one of three Jewish students elected to the Student’s Representative Council during October 1971. He was a member of the Co-ordinating Committee for the Moratorium and an organizer of the National Anti-War Conference. He was a second year Arts Faculty student at Sydney University. Ian was an activist who worked for the repeal of the National Service Act 1964 (NSA). He was Convenor of the Sydney Draft Resisters Union. He adopted a course of non-compliance towards the NSA. Accordingly, he refused to register for the July 1971 intake under the NSA. Ian was involved with continued non-compliance and protest against conscription. He explained his stance in a statement written on 20 March 1972. He said, I find it difficult to make a personal declaration outlining my reasons for refusing to comply with the National Service Act without sounding very self centred and self righteous. For what I have attempted to assert by my action is the government does not have either a right, nor my consent, to compel me to bear arms against those whom I have no quarrel, but that no government can possess a right to cause another man’s death, nor to be an accomplice to it. Ian then briefly reviews conscription in Australia from WW1 until the Vietnam War. In regard to the latter he says, Since the Australian government has never believed the situation sufficiently serious to declare itself at war in Indo-China it might reasonably be contended that at no stage since the introduction of the National Service Act in 1964 has the Defence Power been sufficiently wide to permit conscription as it is currently administered…My personal conviction is that the greatest danger that Australia faces today is not some hypothetical enemy but the policies and practice of the Australian government in international politics…Personal conviction demands of me that I refuse complicity in the crimes against humanity which have been committed in our names in Vietnam and which may be committed in Nuigini very soon…

Ian was very involved in protests and demonstration against the NSA. He was instrumental in the success of the interview on national television of the draft resister Michael Matteson on Tuesday 17 November 1971. Ian had approached the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) to set up the interview on its program “This Day Tonight”. Commonwealth police were unable to arrest Michael. Ian said the police knew about the interview and were present in the lounge directly outside the studio. He said it was sheer inefficiency by the police that Matteson was not arrested. The government blamed the ABC. Ian added if the government really wished to find Matteson, he spent most of his time on the campus of Sydney University. Ian’s house was raided by police without a warrant, during November 1972 searching for Matteson. He was not found. Ian said that his house was under continual surveillance and his telephone was tapped. Police were present when he spoke at meetings. On 24 April 1972 Matteson was arrested and hand cuffed. However, students prevented him leaving the campus and used bolt-cutters to free him. Matteson escaped again. Ian was quoted as saying, before they could get him out of the car, the driver drove straight into the university grounds. Students rescued and freed Michael. Ian was also arrested outside Sydney Town Hall on 15 July 1972. He with others were handing out leaflets headed ‘Don’t Register for National Service’. They were charged with incitement under section 7A of the Crimes Act. Incitement of persons to not register for national service. Ian was also involved in education against the NSA. On 20 August 1972 at a Forum of the Sydney Hillel groups, Danny Rezniak and Ian Davis led a discussion on ‘The Jewish New Left and its Attitude to Israel’, and at a later date Ian led a discussion on ‘Conscription’. During this time of non-compliance Ian was able to continue his studies at Sydney University with the help of ‘sympathetic lecturers’ who passed the material on to him, so he did not have to attend lectures and risk arrest.

Ian was arrested at the Special Federal Court, on 17 July 1972, for not paying a fine of $80 imposed for him not registering for national service. He was arrested by Commonwealth Police while his bail was being arranged in the Clerk of Petty sessions Office. Ian had just appeared in court on charges related to a demonstration outside the Sydney Town Hall on 14 July 1972. He was convicted and sentenced to 17 days jail for refusal to pay the fine and in addition refusing to attend the medical examination. He then decided to go ‘underground’. At a hearing, 9 August 1972, Ian did not attend it and requested via his representative to Magistrate Anable, for an adjournment to allow him to seek legal advice. The magistrate refused to do so but granted an application from the prosecutor with a warrant for Ian’s arrest. The Commonwealth Police immediately raided the Draft Resisters Union headquarters at Enmore, but they did not find Ian as he was ‘underground’.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 28, 29 and 30 August 1972, thirteen people appeared before Judge Berman at the Central Court of Petty Sessions, Sydney. They were charged under section 7A of the Commonwealth Crimes Act. Specifically, inciting people to not register for national service and for publishing an inciting document. This was a protest outside the Sydney Town Hall on 15 July 1972. Ian was one of the defendants. Like all of them he pleaded not guilty to the charge. Judge Breman convicted all them and fined each $25 plus $5 costs. All informed the judge they would not pay the fine and invited him to immediately send them to jail. A dozen or so police were waiting to escort them away. The Judge changed his mind and gave them a month to pay. However, it was not over for Ian as he was re-arrested as he stepped out of court. The charge was repeated refusal to attend a medical examination. No warrant was issued, and no summons was given, and it was a assumed police used section 8A of the Crimes Act. It allows an arresting officer the power to arrest if he believes the person would not respond to a summons. He was remanded on $250 bail. Ian was then summonsed to the Special Federal Court in Sydney, on the charge of refusing to attend the medical examination on 29 August 1972 as required under the NSA. He was then jailed for 7 days on 3 October 1972 for his refusal to enter into a recognizance to attend a future medical. He then was issued with a call-up notice. Refusal to obey it attracted 18 months jail. He was never prosecuted as all pending prosecutions ended with the election of the Whitlam Labor Government in early December 1972.

Confirmatory Sources:

Canberra Times, 17 January 1972, p.6; 25 April 1972, p.1; 18 July 1972, p.18;

Tribune, 18 November 1971, p.1; 24 November 1971, p11; 9 March 1972, p11; 18 July 1972, p.12; 22 August 1972, p.1; 17 October 1972, p.2; 24 October 1972, p.8.

Tharunka, 29 August 1972, p7; 5 September 1972, p.15; 12 September 1972, p.7 and p.11; 18 October 1972, p.6

Australian Jewish Times, 28 October 1971, p.15; 1 May 1972, p.15; 27 July 1972, p.15; 27 July 1972, p.15; 26 October 1972, p.15.

Bobbie Oliver, Hell No! We Won’t Go! Resistance to Conscription in Post War Australia, Interventions, Melbourne, 2022, pp.169, 183 and 248.