Australian
Screen

an NFSA website



You Can’t See ‘Round Corners (1969)

  1. The Review mentions "when National Service was introduced for Vietnam". This is wrong.

    Often known as conscription, the National Service Scheme was introduced by the Menzies Government in November 1964. Popular belief holds that the scheme was conceived specifically for Vietnam. Although untrue, the close timing of its introduction and Australia’s growing commitment to the war made it seem so to many people. In late 1964 the Government had yet to decide on increases to the number of Australian troops in Vietnam, and was, in fact, more concerned about the regional implications of the Confrontation between Malaya and Indonesia, particularly its potential to spill over the border of Papua New Guinea for which Australia had defence responsibility. Small numbers of national servicemen served in Sarawak, a Malayan state on the island of Borneo, in early 1966 towards the end of Confrontation. The first national servicemen reached Vietnam in the middle of that year, several months before the official end of Confrontation on 11 August 1966.

    2. #1 from VietVet – 9 years, 4 months ago.

  2. VietVet, thanks for your comment. We've amended the notes accordingly.

    3. #2 from Editor – 9 years, 4 months ago.
To comment on this title, you need to be logged in.

RSS RSS – Subscribe to an RSS feed of comments on this title. (learn about RSS)