During World War I, the conscription referendums of October 1916 and December 1917 created enormous divisions within Australian society. At the political level, the conscription issue split the Labor Party, with Labor Prime Minister Billy Hughes being expelled from the party following the 1916 conscription referendum, then continuing as Prime Minister, leading a wartime coalition Nationalist government.
In the months leading up to the 1916 and 1917 referendums, the conscription debate played out in public meetings and rallies held across the country. For the most part, the press coverage of the conscription campaigns was highly partisan. The mainstream press promoted the government line that Australia had a duty to maintain its contribution to the Allied war effort, insisting that conscription was required to provide sufficient numbers of reinforcements to support the troops fighting overseas. The Labor press argued that conscription was anti-democratic, and that it would undermine the position of the workers. In the regions, there were concerns at the impact that conscription might have on farming and agriculture. Both referendums resulted in narrow wins for the 'No' vote.
Many of the literary works involving conscription which appeared during the war years reflect the polemics of the 1916 and 1917 conscription debates, with most authors being either emphatically for or against conscription. The finer nuances of the conscription issue, which saw many people torn by competing loyalties, are generally absent.
One of the few creative works by an Australian author which deals with the complexities of the conscription issue is Katharine Susannah Prichard's 1948 novel Golden Miles, which is set in the West Australian goldfields during World War I.
For a list of works involving conscription in the World War I data set click here.
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