FOLEY, Anthony James (Tony)

Family Name:

Foley

Given Names:

Anthony James (Tony)

Gender:

Male

Birth-date:

Unknown, possibly 1951

Death-date:

Unknown

Marital Status:

Unknown, probably single

Age Range:

Early 20s

Location:

NSW, Glebe

Occupation:

Unknown

Primary Motivation:

Draft Resister, anti-conscription

Reason for Court Appearance:

Court Name and Location:

Court Hearing Date:

Court Outcome:

Military Event:

National Service and Vietnam War 1964-1972

Further Information:

Anthony Foley was from Glebe, a suburb of Sydney. He opposed the National Service Act 1964 (NSA). Accordingly, he publicly refused to register for the July 1971 intake of conscripts. Later in 1971 he refused to attend the mandatory medical examination under the NSA. Tony signed a statement, with many NSW draft resisters, published in Tharunka, a University Newspaper, dated 18 October 1972. It read in part, We have all publicly refused to comply with the National Service Act with the full expectation of being gaoled…We demand that the government stop back-pedalling and end selective conscription and gaol us now…We know that the government refuses to gaol because of the widespread opposition to conscription. We know that if the government did gaol us the Australian people would not tolerate it…We will not be conscripted. We will not register. We refused to condone the massed stupidity, the organized barbarism of your state. We defy you…all nations, all governments, all people dedicated to war. It is unlikely Tony was prosecuted under the NSA. The government during 1971, and especially 1972, were reluctant to prosecute when the result would be jailing a young man. This was particularly in regard to a refusal to obey a call-up notice. This attracted 18 months’ imprisonment. The government aimed to minimize its political risk of having large numbers of young men in prison. All pending prosecutions under the NSA were stopped by the newly elected Whitlam Labor government in early December 1972.

Confirmatory Sources:

Tharunka, 18 October 1972, p.6.

Bobbie Oliver, Hell No! We Won’t Go! Resistance to Conscription in Post War Australia, Interventions, Melbourne 2022, p.249.