YEO, Vivian

Family Name:

Yeo

Given Names:

Vivian

Gender:

Male

Birth-Date:

Possibly 1895or 1896

Death-Date:

Unknown

Marital Status:

Single

Age/ Age Range:

Circa 16-17 years old

Location:

SA, Broken Hill

Occupation:

Unknown

Primary Motivation:

Conscientious objector, opposition to conscription

Reason for Court Appearance:

Refusing to drill

Court Name and Location:

Magistrates Court, Broken Hill

Court Hearing Date:

1912-1913

Court Outcome:

Convicted and sentenced to prison for 14 days

Military Event:

Boy Conscription 1911-1929

Further Information:

Vivian Yeo from Broken Hill in South Australia, refused to register for compulsory military training under the Defence Act. He was convicted and imprisoned at Broken Hill for 14 days for refusing to drill. His younger brother Victor, when 14 years old, was convicted and imprisoned for failing to attend the mandatory medical exam offence on two occasions.

Vivian’s father was described as, a thoroughly respectable well-read man…opposed to war on humanitarian and economic grounds and is strongly opposed to the ‘oath of allegiance’ in the present Act. Many years ago he himself served for four years as an artillery-man, but he says that if he had to take the oath again or be shot, they might shoot him.

Vivian went hiding after being released from prison. He managed to evade the authorities until 1918. What happened after the is unknown.

Confirmatory Sources:

John Barrett, Falling In: Australians and “Boy Conscription” 1911-1915, Hale& Iremonger, Sydney, 1979, pp.141, 177, 199, 238 and 254.

Bobbie Oliver, Peacemongers: Conscientious objectors to military service in Australia 1911-1945, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1997, p. 27.