Vietnam Generation Volume 3 Number 2 Australia R&R: Representation and Article 1 Reinterpretations of Australia's War in Vietnam 1-1991 Australia R&R: Representation and Reinterpretations of Australia's War in Vietnam Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/vietnamgeneration Part of the American Studies Commons Recommended Citation (1991) "Australia R&R: Representation and Reinterpretations of Australia's War in Vietnam," Vietnam Generation: Vol. 3 : No. 2 , Article 1. Available at: http://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/vietnamgeneration/vol3/iss2/1 This Complete Volume is brought to you for free and open access by La Salle University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vietnam Generation by an authorized editor of La Salle University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ON THIS SITE WILL BE ERECTED A MEMORIAL FOR THOSE WHO DIED & SERVED IN THE VIETNAM WAR maoKJwmiiMisanc? wmmEsnp jnauKi«mmi KXm XHURST rw svxr Representations and Reinterpretations of Australia's War in Vietnam Edited by Jeff Doyle & Jeffrey Grey Australia ReJR Representations and Reinterpretations o f Australia's war in Vietnam Edited by Jeff Doyle & Jeffrey Grey V ietnam Generation, I n c & Burning Cities Press Australia ReJR is published as a Special Issue of Vietnam Generation Vietnam Generation was founded in 1988 to promote and encourage interdisciplinary study of the Vietnam War era and the Vietnam War generation. The journal is published by Vietnam Generation, Inc., a nonprofit corporation devoted to promoting scholarship on recent history and contemporary issues. Vietnam Generation, Inc. Vice-President President Secretary, Treasurer HERMAN BEAVERS KALI TAL CYNTHIA FUCHS General Editor Newsletter Editor Technical Assistance KALI TAL DAN DUFFY LAWRENCE E HUNTER Advisory Board NANCY AN1SFIELD MICHAEL KLEIN WILLIAM J. SEARLE S. Michael's College University of Ulster Eastern Illinois University KEVIN BOWEN GABRIEL KOLKO JAMES C. SCOTT William Joiner Center York University Yale University University of Massachusetts JACQUELINE LAWSON ROBERTSLABEY JEAN BETHKE ELSHTAEN DAVID MARR University of Notre Dame Vanderbilt University Australian National University BARBARA TISCHLER RICHARD FALK JOHN CLARK PRATT Columbia University Cornell University Colorado State University NANCY WEIGERSMA DAVID HUNT JOCK REYNOLDS Fitchburg State College William Joiner Center Washington lYojcct for the Arts CHRISTINE PELZER WHITE University of Massachusetts TOM RIDDELL University of Hawaii PHILIP JASON Smith College DAVID WILLSON US Naval Academy RUTH ROSEN Green River CC WILLIAM KING UC Davis M ARILYN B. YOUNG University of Colorado New York University All correspondence, including manuscript submissions, should be sent to Kali Tal, Editor, Vietnam Generation, 2921 Terrace Dr., Chevy Chase, MD 20815; (301) 608- 0622; FAX: (301)608-0761. Style sheets may be requested from the editor. If you wish your submission returned, please enclose SASE. Subscriptions to Vietnam Generation are $40. per year for individuals, and $75 per year for institutions. (Add $12 postage for subscriptions outside the US.) Single copies may be purchased at $12. per issue, or at $9 per issue for orders of over 10. All orders must be prepaid in US currency. Please notify us of change of address at least six weeks in advance; there is a charge for replacement of issues which are returned by the Post Office as undeliverable at the address shown. If claims for undelivered issues are made within six months of the publication date, we will replace the journal. We do not accept cancellations or provide refunds. Vietnam Generation is published quarterly, in January, April, July, and October. Copies o f the Vietnam Generation Newsletter and access to the Vietnam Generation bibliographic database are included in the purchase price of the subscription. Copyright © Vietnam Generation, Inc., 1991 Articles published do not necessarily represent the opinion of, and arc not the legal responsibility of Vietnam Generation, or Vietnam Generation, Inc. or its editorial staff. Volume 3 1991 Number 2 ISSN: 1012-7597 ISBN: 0-9628524-2-2 Contents Technical Note iv Acknowledgements v Introductory comments 7 Jeff Grey & Jeffrey Doyle T he A ustralian government & Involvement in the V ietnam war 16 Peter Edwards V ietnam A s H istory: T he A ustralian Case 26 Jeffrey Grey Policy Contradictions of the Australian task force 35 Terry Burstall V eterans in A ustralia: T he Search for Integration 50 Jane Ross W iio Cares for the Caregiver? 7 A Jan Bassett International Factors Influencing A ustralian governments' RESPONSES TO THE INDOCHINESE REFUGEE PROBLEM 84 James E. Coughlan T he Funny P lace': A ustralian L iterature & the W a in V ietnam 98 Peter Pierce D ismembering the A nzac L egend: A ustralian Popular culture & the V ietnam W ar 109 Jeff Doyle A ustralia & the V ietnam W ar— A Select Bibliography 126 Jeff Doyle & Jeffrey Grey A Select Chronology of the A ustralian Involvement in the V ietnam W ar' 167 N otes on the A uthors 175 A Technical Note about the Text of the Essays Following One technical aspect of this volume requires a brief comment, or more of a technical note, referring to differences in the Australian habits of spelling and punctuation. Separated as is well known, by the spoken variants of common English usage, Australians and Americans share a few distinct printed differences. With minor exceptions, involving minimal editorial intrusion (mostly by way of extending, perhaps excessively, clarifications of Australian nomenclature), the editors of this volume present these essays in a linguistic fashion acceptable to Australian readers. Some practices may then strike American readers as odd or even as incorrect. The most obvious examples are of the kind which find the use of “c” in the Australian spelling of “defence”, or variant letter order as in “centre” for “center”, “theatre” for “theater", and so on. Punctuation is the other most obvious area where American usage more happily accepts (and occasionally demands) more diacritics generally (especially commas), than some Australian usage always requires. The option to normalise these essays to US expectation seemed to the editors both unnecessary for the relatively few cases where genuine confusion might eventuate and, more importantly, it seemed very unsound as a matter of principle. Given the volume’s intent to uncover the Australian experience as similar to, though different from, America’s Vietnam, unusual spelling and punctuation effects stand as signs, minor perhaps, of those differences. Acknowledgements This Special Number of Vietnam Generation is the second book length contribution to the study of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War which has its origins in a cross-disciplinary research project undertaken in the English and History Departments of the University College, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy. The Project, titled “Representations of the Vietnam War in Australia, from 1962 to the Present”, has been funded in its initial three years by grants from the Australian Research Council, to whom our first acknowledgment is made. Without the backing of the ARC, the Vietnam Project and its various results, including this volume, could not have been produced. Nor could a cross-disciplinary task of the magnitude of the Vietnam Project work smoothly without the wide support ofthe University College as an institution, and that of our colleagues and friends; the editors of this volume would like to record their gratitude for such support. From its inception the Project has benefitted substantially from the aid of a number of our senior colleagues: Professor Alan Gilbert, formerly Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) of the University of New South Wales, and now Vice-Chancellor of the University of Tasmania, has always provided sure-footed scholarly guidance and research impetus; sustaining intellectual and personal guidance have been forthcoming, as ever, from both Professor Harry Heseltine, Deputy Rector and Head of the Department of English, and Professor Peter Dennis, Head of the Department of History. We owe them debts, individually and together, greater than we know; lastly to Peter Pierce, our former colleague at the University College, and now lecturer at the Australian Studies Centre, Monash University, Victoria, for his intellectual and other observations, we are always grateful. No research in the English department could function half so well without the untiring efforts of Trish Middleton (Administrative officer, English Department). ARC funding over the first two years (1989-90) provided the Project with two admirable Research Assistants, Lucy O’Connor and Hath Dermody whose voluminous gatherings underlie much of the compilation of the bibliography. Other elements of the bibliography could not have appeared without the extremely able work of the Australian Defence Force Academy Library staff. Thanks to Lynn Hard (Librarian); we are also particularly indebted to Mary Anne Neilsen, Chris Dawkins, Sue Adams, and Glynnis Moore. Our thanks too, for some last minute assistance with archival matters, to Antoinette Merrillees. The tasks of editing this special number have been aided by the pleasant and stimulating co-operation of our contributors. Our dealings with our senior editor. Kali Tal, have been conducted in the highest spirit of academic exchange. We are pleased to have been asked to contribute to Vietnam Generation, and to have had such