Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This black-and-white clip with commentary shows scenes from the visit of South Vietnamese Premier Air Vice-Marshall Ky to Australia in January 1967. A scene of Ky’s wife inside a car, being greeted by well-wishers in Brisbane, is followed by footage showing her and her husband leaving Brisbane Airport and later arriving in Sydney. At Sydney Airport they are welcomed by New South Wales Premier Robert Askin, before greeting supporters. Scenes of their motorcade, accompanied by music, provide glimpses of supporters with placards lining the streets.

Educational value points

• This clip, which is from an ABC news report, portrays the Kys’ visit in a positive light by using footage that focuses on the glamour of the couple and shows their friendly interaction with Vietnam War supporters. The upbeat music accompanying the motorcade footage adds to the celebratory tone.

• Anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, which were timed to coincide with Ky’s visit, are referred to in the voice-over, although no footage of them is shown. Opposition to the War had been steadily growing since 1966, when Holt announced that Australia’s contribution would be trebled to a force of 4,500 men, including conscripted national servicemen. Leading members of the Opposition Labor Party frequently addressed the anti-War rallies, including the one referred to in this clip.

• Although the clip could be described as an effective public relations exercise, the scenes of the motorcade show the high level of security that was put in place for the visit, and this – together with the narrator’s comments about the number of police, the speed of the official cars and the enforced change of route – reflects the government’s concern that demonstrators might disrupt the visit.

• Premier Ky’s visit to Australia, on the invitation of Prime Minister Harold Holt, took place during the Vietnam War (1962–75). Australia had entered the War against communist North Vietnam in 1962, in support of the South Vietnamese Government and its ally, the USA. The predicted 'domino effect’ throughout South-East Asia if one country fell to communism, and the consequent threat to Australia’s national security, had been used effectively by Prime Minister Robert Menzies to justify Australia’s involvement in this civil war.

• The clip illustrates the role played by the media in influencing public opinion about the Vietnam War. Footage of atrocities in Vietnam and of the tens of thousands of people protesting against the War, both in Australia and in the USA, had already appeared on Australian television. The footage in this clip provided another perspective on Australia’s involvement, and allowed Australians to see the leader of the country that Australian soldiers were fighting to support.

• Nguyen Cao Ky (1930–) became Premier of the Republic of Vietnam in 1965. He visited Australia and other nations to gather support for South Vietnam’s position as a sovereign nation, and to secure military assistance for the fight against the communist forces of North Vietnam. In September 1967 he was elected Vice-President. He retired from politics in 1971 and later settled in the USA. In 2004 he became the first South Vietnamese leader to visit Vietnam since the War.

A scene of Ky’s wife inside a car, being greeted by well-wishers in Brisbane, is followed by footage showing her and her husband leaving Brisbane Airport.
ABC announcer (voice-over) During the day crowds were friendly outside the Red Cross headquarters and Lennons Hotel as Mme Ky arrived and departed. But by the time her husband arrived back from Canungra, the crowds had built up to almost 2,000, including many anti-Vietnam demonstrators. Fights broke out between the rival factions and 14 people were arrested. However, all this was forgotten by the next day as the visitors left for Sydney. The second Air Vietnam plane carrying many of the official party followed the RAAF Viscount carrying the Prime Minister.

SYDNEY – Saturday
At Sydney Airport they are welcomed by New South Wales Premier Robert Askin, before greeting supporters. Scenes of their motorcade, accompanied by music, provide glimpses of supporters with placards lining the streets.
ABC announcer (voice-over) At Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport more than 300 police outnumbered the welcoming crowd. The Premier of New South Wales, Mr Askin, escorted Mme Ky as she went with her husband towards the safety fence. The cheers and applause from the crowd had prompted the South Vietnamese leader once again to brush aside his security men and go to speak to the people.

Sydney, with a population of two-and-a-quarter million, is the largest city in Australia but few residents on this Saturday afternoon had an opportunity of seeing the visitors at close range. The motorcade carrying them to Kirribilli House travelled to and through the city at speeds up to 50 miles an hour. Small groups of people dotted the route and, at one of the city’s busiest intersections, several hundred people lined the road, most carrying posters in support of the distinguished visitor. A carload of police and security men headed the procession with Air Vice-Marshall Ky’s limousine and other official cars flanked by a line of police motorcycles. The temperature at this time was in the high 80s and it was stifling in the airless city streets.

Officials made a last-minute change in the route to avoid more than 3,000 demonstrators near Kirribilli House. Instead of driving across the Harbour Bridge, the party was taken down to Circular Quay. The organisers of the procession had decided that Air Vice-Marshall Ky and Mme Ky should cross Sydney Harbour by boat.