SCHANKA, Peter

Family Name:

Schanka

Given Names:

Peter

Gender:

Male

Birth-date:

Unknown, possibly 1950

Death-date:

Unknown

Marital Status:

Unknown, probably single

Age Range:

Early 20s

Location:

NSW, Paddington

Occupation:

Unknown

Primary Motivation:

Draft Resister, anti-conscription

Reason for Court Appearance:

Failure to register for national service

Court Name and Location:

Court of Petty Sessions, Sydney

Court Hearing Date:

10 May 1971

Court Outcome:

Convicted and fined $50plus $12 costs

Military Event:

National Service and Vietnam War 1964-1972

Further Information:

Peter Schanka was from Paddington, a suburb of Sydney. He opposed the National Service Act 1964 (NSA). He refused to register for the July 1970 intake of conscripts. He was summonsed to the Sydney Magistrates Court on 10 May 1971. He was convicted and fined $50 plus $12 costs. He refused to attend the mandatory medical examination under the NSA. Peter 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 was unlikely that Peter 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:

Peacemaker, August/ September 1970, p.7; May/ June/ July/ August 1971, p.11; August/ September 1971, p.7.

Tharunka, 18 October 1972, p.6.