LANGFORD, Keith Albert

Family Name:

Langford

Given Names:

Keith Albert

Gender:

Male

Birth-date:

21 December 1948

Death-date:

Marital Status:

Single

Age:

20 years old

Location:

VIC, Bulleen

Occupation:

Student Teacher

Primary Motivation:

Draft Resister, opposition to American imperialism, the Vietnam War and military conscription

Reason for Court Appearance:

[1] Incitement to breach the NSA

[2] Refusal to attend a mandatory medical

Court Name and Location:

[1] Magistrates Court, Ballarat

[2] Magistrates Court, Melbourne

Court Hearing Date:

[1] July 1970

[2] 1971

Court Outcome:

[1] Convicted and fined

[2] Convicted and sentenced to 7 days jail

Military Event:

National Service and Vietnam War 1964-1972

Further Information:

Keith Langford was a 20-year-old from Bulleen in Victoria. He did not register under the National Service Act (NSA) for the second intake of conscripts in 1968. Instead, he publicly burnt his “draft card”. He applied for deferment for 1969 whilst he completed his Primary School Teacher training at Toorak Teachers College. Upon completion he was assigned to his first school at Ballarat. He refused to further comply with the NSA, as he was opposed to American imperialism, specifically the Vietnam War. Keith refused to attend the mandatory medical exam. If he had done so he suspects he would have failed it because of a chronic asthma condition. He chose not to disclose this because of his conscientious position of opposing the Vietnam War and military conscription, he wished to make a stand.

At a public meeting in Ballarat during July 1970, Keith urged people to not register for national service and not pay income tax for the Vietnam War. The penalties for these incitement offences under the NSA could have risked an extended jail term. He was summonsed to the Ballarat Court on 5 November 1970. He was convicted and fined.

Whilst teaching at Templestowe Primary School during 1971, he was visited by the Commonwealth Police and was given summons to attend court, to answer the charge of refusal to attend the medical. He attended the Melbourne Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to the charge. He was convicted and sentenced to 7 days’ jail. He was incarcerated at Pentridge Prison. He was taken from the court straight to prison. He served 5 days of the sentence with 2 days off for good behaviour. He signed in late July / early August 1971, with a number of other opponents of the war and conscription, in response to Earl Ingelby and Barry Connor being charged under the Commonwealth Crimes Act. It was the offence of inciting person to not register for military service. It read, We the undersigned urge people to break the National Service Act by not registering and/or filling in false registration form as Earl Ingleby and Barry Connor have likewise urged.

In mid-1971, again whilst teaching, he was delivered a call-up notice to report to the Watsonia Military Barracks. He refused to obey the notice and went ‘underground’. He lived at friends’ places first at Park Orchards and then at Templestowe. A warrant for his arrest was issued 6 April 1972. The risk of the authorities prosecuting him for failure to obey a call-up notice with a mandatory 18 months jail, abated with the election of the Whitlam Labour Government in December 1972. All outstanding prosecutions were set aside and persons in jail for offences against the NSA were released. After 1972 Keith returned to primary school teaching

Keith was very active in his opposition to conscription and the Vietnam War. He was a member of the Draft Resisters Union in Melbourne and attended many marches and protest meetings, including the Melbourne Moratorium against the Vietnam War. Whilst ‘underground’ at great personal risk, he continued to participate in political activities such as writing, printing and distribution of political pamphlets. He also took part in late-night ‘paste-ups of anti-war posters and ‘paint-ups of anti-war slogans on walls.

Keith is still involved (2024) in political activism. In the early 2000s he opposed the war on Iraq. His life-time interest in the middle east led Keith to become a foundation member of the Palestine-Australia Solidarity Committee. He stated this organisation was the first established in Australia to support the Palestinian struggle. He said, he currently participates in the opposition movement to the US supported Israeli genocide in Gaza and Lebanon.

Confirmatory Sources:

Personal Interview, Keith Albert Langford, 7 November 2024.

Bobbie Oliver, Hell No! We Won’t Go! Resistance to conscription in post war Australia, Interventions, 2022, p.254.

National Library of Australia, Resist Interview in the Papers of Thomas of Thomas Eyre Forrest Hughes 1963-72, catalogue: MS4651, file 6, box 5.

Glen Davis, 2001, The established New Left grouping in the anti-Vietnam War movement in Victoria 1967-72 Vol.2, No. 3, Resist, 6 August 1970 https://www.reasoninrevolt.net.au/objects/pdf/d0744.pdf accessed 7 November 2024.

Woroni, 22 February 1971, p.14.