What is the Home front?
Two important factors / issues
affecting the Home front.
CONSCRIPTION & THE ROLE OF WOMEN
CONSCRIPTION
World War 1
WHAT IS CONSCRIPTION?
 Conscription is the compulsory
enrolment of persons for military or
naval service; it is also known as ‘The
Draft’.
CONSCRIPTION
 Conscription stirred Nationalist ideas
about loyalty to Australia.
 It made people question what it meant
to be an Australian
WHY DID WE NEED CONSCRIPTION?
1914
World War 1
Begins
There is a rush
of Australian
men keen to
enlist
Reasons
• Glory / Adventure
• See the World / Travel
• Money
• Ladies
• Fear of German invasion
• Patriotism
• To support Britain
End of 1915
The campaign in
Gallipoli has
been fought and
approximately
8,000 Australian
men have been
killed with no
goal achieved.
1916
Australian
enlistment
figures drop, the
Glory of war has
been shattered
and men are no
longer as eager
to fight
Source – Audio-visual Education
centre, Education Department of
Victoria, Recruitment Slide set.
CONSCRIPTION IN AUSTRALIA
 In 1916 Prime Minister Hughes proposed raising the
numbers needed to maintain Australian troops at full
strength at the Front by conscripting those who to date
were unwilling or opposed to enlisting to fight.
 The government already had the power under the
existing provisions of the Defence Act to conscript men - but only for service in Australia. They could not be
sent overseas to fight.
 All the government needed to do was to change the
Defence Act to extend the existing power of conscription
from home service, to overseas service.
CONSCRIPTION IN AUSTRALIA
 All it had to do to achieve that change in legislation
was to pass an amendment through both houses of
parliament -- the Senate, and the House of
Representatives.
 But there was a problem -- Some members of the
Labor Government were against conscription.
 Hughes knew that he had enough supporters of
conscription among the Labor and Liberal parties to
have a majority in the House of Representatives;
but he was a few short of a majority in the Senate.
CONSCRIPTION IN AUSTRALIA
 To overcome this problem Hughes decided to hold a
national vote on the issue.
 This vote is sometimes called a referendum.
Strictly speaking a referendum is a vote to change
the Constitution. There was no need to change the
Constitution in this case, as the Constitution
already gave the government power to introduce
conscription.
 The vote was in effect a national ‘public opinion
poll’ on the issue. The vote would not mean
anything officially -- but Hughes planned to use the
public vote in favour of conscription to persuade a
few Senators to change their vote in parliament.
CONSCRIPTION IN AUSTRALIA
 Even though the Senators were personally against it,
the vote would show that the people they represented in
fact wanted conscription, so the Senators would accept
the people’s wishes. That was the idea.
 The supporters and opponents of conscription started
campaigning vigorously on the issue. The campaign
literature of each side was often bitter and divisive.
 Each side presented its argument as the moral and
loyal thing to do, while the other’s approach would be
disastrous.
with conscription
being rejected 51 to 49 per cent.
 The vote was very close --
1916 Referendum
State / Territory
Yes
No
Informal
New South
Wales
356 802
474 523
27 038
Victoria
353 930
328 216
14 538
Queensland
144 017
157 049
7 596
South Australia
87 908
119 119
4 009
Western
Australia
94 049
40875
5 680
Tasmania
48 490
37 830
1 037
Territories
2 136
1 269
63
1 087 332
1 158 881
59 961
Commonwealth
Yes
No
Majority for No
1 087 332
1 158 881
71 549
HUGHES FAILS
 The failed vote in 1916 was repeated by Hughes in
1917, to give people another chance to overcome what
he saw as their great mistake in rejecting it in 1916.
 Once again it was a close vote and the result was
the same – Australia said NO
PROPAGANDA FOR A YES VOTE
Propaganda for a NO Vote
THE ROLE OF WOMEN
World War 1
THE ROLE OF WOMEN
 At the outbreak of war far fewer women than men
participated in work, and these tended to be in lowerpaid occupations.
 Women’s main role was seen to be in the home. The
withdrawal of about half a million men most of whom
had been in the workforce did not, however, result in
their direct replacement by women.
 Women’s contribution to the workforce:
24 per cent of the total in 1914
37 per cent of the total in 1918
THE ROLE OF WOMEN
 The increase tended to be in what were already traditional areas
of women’s work -- in the clothing and footwear, food & printing
sectors.

There was some increase also in the clerical, shop assistant and
teaching areas.
 Unions were unwilling to let women join the workforce in
greater numbers in traditional male areas as they feared that this
would lower wages.
THE ROLE OF WOMEN
 Many women sought to become more involved in war- related
activities -- such as cooks, stretcher bearers, motor car drivers,
interpreters, munitions workers -- but the government did not allow
this participation.
 A number of women’s organisations did become very active during
the war -- including the Australian Women’s National League, the
Australian Red Cross, the Country Women’s Association, the Voluntary
Aid Detachment, Women’s Christian Temperance Union, the Australian
Women’s Service Corps, and the Women’s Peace Army.
THE ROLE OF WOMEN
 Many women were also
actively involved in
encouraging men to
enlist, and were often
used in recruiting and
pro-conscription and
anti-conscription
propaganda leaflets.
HOME FRONT: DEBATES

The class will be divided up into four groups and each group will be given
an issue and argument to develop.

Based on the information we have just gone through and the resources
provided to your group read through and discuss the evidence to support your
argument.

You are to select three members of your group to represent you in the
debate, they are to take on the roles assigned to them and argue your case as
best they can.

Those of you who are not debating remember to show your support for your
group as they perform the debate.
THE 4 ARGUMENTS
The Role of Women
The Issue: The role of women in
WWI and the impact this had
on their role in
Australian society.
You are: A group of feminist
historians reflecting on the
issue.
Your task: To use the
information provided to develop
a strong, convincing
argument that Although
women contributed to
Australia’s WWI war effort, it
had no effect on their social
status in Australian society.
The Issue: The role of women in
WWI and the impact this had
on their role in
Australian society.
You are: A group of feminist
historians reflecting on the
issue.
Your task: To use the
information provided to develop
a strong, convincing
argument that women played a
vital role in WWI and that this
changed their
social status in Australia.
THE 4 ARGUMENTS
Conscription
The Issue: The 1916
referendum to decide whether
conscription (compulsory
military service) will be
introduced in Australia.
You are: Archbishop Daniel
Mannix and members of the
Queen’s and Women’s Peace
Army.
Your task: To use the
information provided to develop
a strong, convincing
argument that conscription is
not necessary in Australia to
aid Australia’s WWI effort.
The Issue: The 1916
referendum to decide whether
conscription (compulsory
military service) will be
introduced in Australia.
You are: Prime Minister Billy
Hughes and members of the
Labor party supporting the
‘YES’ vote.
Your task: To use the
information provided to develop
a strong, convincing argument
that conscription is necessary
in Australia to aid Australia’s
WWI effort.