BOYD, Thomas Brian (Brian)

Family Name:

Boyd

Given Names:

Thomas Brian (Brian)

Gender:

Male

Birth-date:

17 July 1951

Death-date:

Marital Status:

Single

Age:

20 years

Location:

VIC, Melbourne

Occupation:

University student

Primary Motivation:

Draft Resister, opposition to the Vietnam War

Reason for Court Appearance:

Court Name and Location:

Court Hearing Date:

Court Outcome:

Military Event:

National Service and Vietnam War 1964-1972

Further Information:

Brian Boyd was a 20-year-old from Melbourne in Victoria, He was university student in 1970 and at RMIT during 1971. He did not register for National Service under the National Service Act 1964 (NSA) for the July 1971 conscription intake. He wrote to the Minister of Defence, informing him that although he was not a pacifist and was willing to fight to defend Australia, he saw no threat to Australia from an independent Vietnam. He was also opposed to military conscription.

From July 1971 until 6 December 1972, he was an activist draft resister. He was a member of the Draft Resisters Union (DRU) in Melbourne. He assisted at an anti-Vietnam war/ DRU tent at a pop-festival at Sunbury, Victoria. He attended the Moratorium protests against the Vietnam War during 1970-1971. He supported the Save Our Sons women who had been imprisoned in Fairlea Women’s Prison, by attending protests outside the Prison. During September 1971 a number of Draft Resisters established a piracy radio station at Melbourne University. These included Michael Hamel-Green and Michael Matteson. Commonwealth police raided the building but both Michaels hid in a cavity behind a wall. Brian had assisted in sealing up the wall to make this possible. He also assisted the pirate radio from detection by the Postmaster General’s tracking vechicles in the Carlton area. A warrant for his arrest was issued but Brian managed to evade the Commonwealth police after they had raided two premises where he lived. Whilst underground he worked on a farm at Nyah West in Victoria. He was never arrested and all this ended 6 December 1972 when the incoming Whitlam government suspended all prosecutions under the NSA

Confirmatory Sources:

Bobbie Oliver, Hell No! We Wont Go!: Resistance to conscription in post war Australia. Interventions, Melbourne, p.244.

Personal Interview, Brian Boyd, October 2024