Australia in the 20th Century Assessment for learning

Chapter 5: Australia in the Vietnam War era 1 Match each of these events with a number on the timeline on the

following page:

• Korean War begins • Korean War ends • first Australian combat troops arrive in South Vietnam • ANZUS Treaty signed • SEATO signed • referendum to ban communism in Australia • Prime Minister Holt announces ‘All the way with LBJ’ • Petrov Affair • Australia sends advisers to Vietnam • conscription legislation for ‘National Service’ introduced • first Moratorium rallies • last Australians withdrawn from Vietnam War • Vietnam united under communist rule

2 Explain the purpose of the ANZUS treaty and SEATO alliance. 3 Outline the key developments that led to the referendum to ban the

Communist Party in Australia. 4 In the book The Petrov Conspiracy Unmasked, the author, J W

Brown, states:

The desertion of Vladimir Petrov and his wife from the Soviet Embassy in Australia in April 1951 allowed the Menzies government and the Australian daily newspapers to unleash a spate of ‘spy scare’ hysteria such as the country had never seen before … [The] truth of the Petrov Affair is that it was no more than a crude political conspiracy organised over a long period with the knowledge of the Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies …

The conspiracy was aimed at influencing the 1954 federal elections in favour of the Menzies government. It was further aimed at opening the way for … attacks on both the Communist Party of Australia and the Australian Labor Party.

J W Brown, The Petrov Conspiracy Unmasked, Current Books, Sydney, 1957

Using this interpretation and your knowledge, outline how the Petrov

Affair influenced Australia’s response to communism in the 1950s.

Australia in the 20th Century Assessment for learning

Timeline for question 1

Australia in the 20th Century Assessment for learning

5 Explain the reasons for Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War. 6 Copy out and complete the following table:

Australians who supported involvement in the Vietnam War

Australians who opposed involvement in the Vietnam War

Reasons

7 Use the information from the table you created in question 6 to explain the reasons why different groups within Australia supported whilst other opposed Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War.

8 Much has been written about Australia’s and the Vietnam War. Locate

and select sources (from books and/or websites) that have different perspectives about Australia’s involvement to complete this table. One entry has been completed as an example.

Source

The Pursuit of Happiness, published by Hyland House, 1988

Author

Karen Throssell

Details about the

author

Is against nuclear weapons; against US involvement in Australia; believes Australia’s alliances are supposedly to protect us but in fact create threats for Australia

Australia in the 20th Century Assessment for learning

Author’s perspective

‘The Australian Government sent troops [to Vietnam] to convince the United States of our loyalty’

9 Assess the impact of the Vietnam War on one of the following:

• Vietnam veterans and their families • Indo-Chinese refugees • Australian culture • Australia’s relationship with Asia