Key Figures and Groups
Vivienne Abraham and her sister Shirley were active in a number of peace, pacifist and conscientious objector support groups from the 1940’s to 1989 (Shirley died earlier). Vivienne was editor of 'The Peacemaker' from 1953 until 1955, joint editor with Shirley 1964-1968, and editor from 1969 until 1971, when it ceased publication.
This collection contains correspondence, ephemera, minutes, accounts from the Australian Peace Pledge Union, Victorian Branch 1942-44; Conscientious Objectors Central Committee 1942-44, [Melbourne] minute book 1940-41, Mutual Subsidy Fund membership 1942-44, and Service Group 1941-42; Federal Pacifist Council Australia 1958-66 (Shirley A); and Goodwill Service Community House correspondence 1940-41.
Collection number 1997.0017 (73 boxes and online finding aid)
Kenneth Rivett studied at the University of Melbourne and received his Ph.D. in Economics in 1954. A dedicated pacifist he became a prominent and outspoken campaigner for world peace. He was co-secretary of the Australian Peace Pledge Union from 1938 and active in support of conscientious objectors to compulsory military service and later conscription during World War II.
This collection contains private correspondence with other pacifists (including Aldous Huxley, Brian Fitzpatrick, Vance Palmer); pamphlets, journals & magazines; Australian Peace Pledge Union correspondence, circulars, newsletters; Christian pacifist movement reports, papers, correspondence and circulars.
1981.0136 (19 boxes and online finding aid)
The Victorian Peace Council disbanded in 1959 after it established, with various other peace groups, the Congress for International Co-operation and Disarmament (CICD). The Victorian Peace Council Research and Information Centre existed as an autonomous group until 1964, publishing material on different aspects of peace, disarmament and anti-colonialism. The CICD took over the Council's active campaign for peace and nuclear disarmament, later acting as a co-ordinating facility for anti-Vietnam war protests, particularly the 1970 to 1972 Moratorium rallies.
Collection number: 1980.0068 (8 boxes and online finding aid)
The Australian Peace Pledge Union was formed in England as a direct response to World War One. Its Australian counterpart attracted over one thousand pacifists who joined groups in several capital cities between 1936 and 1939 and pledged not to support any war. The PPU were a vocal and outspoken lobby group during the Second World War, particularly opposed to the issue of conscription. After the Armistice, the party continued to renounce war and refused to sanction another.
Collection number: 1980.0154 (not listed)
Alvie Booth was heavily involved in the local Melbourne Peace Movement. The collection holds newsletters and flyers from the Coburg Broadmeadows Peace Discussion Group, which was later, know as the Brunswick-Coburg Peace Committee. Also included are C.I.C.D publications, newsletters and flyers from Save our Sons and Brunswick People for Nuclear Disarmament. A CD titled ‘The life and times of Alvie Booth’; a radio interview with Jan Barratt in 1998 is also included in the collection.
Collection number: 2010.0006 (not listed)
Joanne Hayter began working as a peace activist and was a volunteer with Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in London. Between 1983 and 1987 she worked as State Co-ordinator for People for Nuclear Disarmament (PND) in Perth. Jo was granted the Quaker funded Donald Groom Fellowship to Japan in 1986. She moved to Melbourne in 1987 and began working as Campaign Officer for PND.
Collection number: 1992.0103 (1 box and online finding guide)
Andrew Hewett commenced his political activism whilst completing secondary studies at Melbourne High School. He later joined the Australian Labor Party and was a founding member of Melbourne University Students Representative Council. Hewett was an active member of the peace movement and belonged to various groups and committees including the Vietnam Moratorium Committee, Communist Party of Australia, Campaign for International Co-operation and Disarmament, Australian Union of Students and the sole full time employee of People for Nuclear Disarmament.
Collection number: 1996.0041 (5 archive boxes and online finding aid)
A lecturer in physics at Monash University, Dr. Alan Roberts also had a long and active involvement in left wing movements from the Communist Party post-WW2, Trotskyism in the 1950’s, and the peace movement generally. He was a member of the ALP and participated in their deliberations about nuclear energy. He avoided committee work in his later years, and concentrated on lecture tours, publishing and broadcasting on political and scientific issues such as nuclear energy, Omega bases, and the environment.
This collection contains personal correspondence from Alan Robert's involvement WW2; his post-war activism in the Communist Party; his later involvement in the Trotskyist movement in Australia and the anti-war movement in Sydney and Melbourne; and his involvement with the Monash University staff association in the 1960’s and 1970’s especially on the side of student protesters and anti-Vietnam war.
Researchers are advised to also check the Monash University Archives for related content.
Collection number: 1997.0093 (41 boxes and online finding aid)
Norman Rothfield migrated to Australia in 1938 and by 1941 became a member of the Australian Labor Party. In 1942 he was appointed to the executive of the Jewish Council to Combat Fascism and Anti-Semitism, he was appointed president in 1947. During the next five decades of ongoing political activism, Rothfield became a foundation member of various associations, including the Australian Jewish Democratic Society (AJDS). The AJDS was established in 1984 to support activities for peace and nuclear disarmament, promotion of peace in the Middle East, tolerance and harmony between ethnic communities in Australia and to support Aboriginal land rights.
Included in the collection are newspaper articles; Rothfield letters to newspaper editors; newsletters and pamphlets regarding the nuclear arms race. Also included are various publications; speeches; news items; country specific opposition and moratorium clippings regarding the Vietnam War.
Collection number: 2002.0014 (39 boxes and online finding aid)