View letters and diaries, listen to oral histories and read about the response of South Australians to the war in Vietnam.
A Department of Veterans Affairs site about the Australia's involvement in the war in Vietnam.
Educational, entertainment, and research material
relevant to the study of the Vietnam War
Australia and the Cold War: Some Possible Reasons for Entering the Vietnam Conflict
One of the significant historical debates in Australia concerns the reasons why Australia entered into a conflict in Vietnam. This debate has links to the historiography of the Cold War itself. When considering Australia’s reasons for entering a war in Vietnam alongside the USA during the 1960s, it’s necessary to consider a variety of perspectives.
Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War
On April 29th1965, the Australian Menzies Government announced it would be sending an Australian battalion to Vietnam alongside US troops.
Australian Army: The Battle of Long Tan
The Battle of Long Tan is the most publicised Australian battle of the Vietnam War. In a decade-long war that, for the most part, consisted of small contacts with an enemy that was reluctant to engage in pitched battles, Long Tan was one of the exceptions.
Australian War Memorial: Vietnam War 1962-75
The arrival of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) in South Vietnam during July and August 1962 was the beginning of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War.
Australians at War: The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was the longest twentieth century conflict in which Australians participated; it involved some 60,000 personnel and grew from a limited initial commitment of 30 military advisers in 1962 to include a battalion in 1965 and finally, in 1966, a task force.
The Second Indochina War, 1954-1975, grew out of the long conflict between France and Vietnam.
What Was Australia Doing in Vietnam?
In July 1967 President Lyndon B. Johnson sent two of his principal advisers, Clark Clifford and Gen. Maxwell Taylor, to Australia and New Zealand with an urgent mission.
Listen to Geoff's oral history, read his letters and view photographs of his time in Vietnam.
Gil Green joined the Army in 1969 when he was 18. He went with the 7th Battalion to Vietnam which arrived in February 1970 at Vung Tau. Gil Green is an Aboriginal Koori Elder from the Bundjalung group, born in Woodenbong, who spent his formative years in and around Sydney before volunteering for service in the Australian Armed Forces in the late 1960s.
View the transcript of Donald Hemley's letters about working in a pathology lab during the Vietnam War.
In late 1971 Robert Martin was sentenced to one week in Adelaide Gaol as a conscientious non-complier with the National Service Act. The interview was undertaken outside the main gate, sally port, visiting area, No. 3 Yard, exercise yard adjacent to the New Building, New Building, No. 4 Yard and the former garden.
Elizabeth Nghia Bui was born in North Vietnam. Her family fled to South Vietnam in 1954 and settled in Saigon. Elizabeth entered the order of the Lovers of the Holy Cross and trained first as a teacher and then as a social worker. In 1975 at the time of the fall of Saigon she was in charge of an orphanage which came under Communist control. Elizabeth escaped on board a fishing boat with 31 others in June 1976. After two weeks they were rescued and taken to Japan. From there Elizabeth decided to come to Australia. In the extract presented here she describes her flight from Vietnam.
Peter speaks of his career in the army; his service during the Occupation of Japan, the Korean War and the Vietnam War; and of his observations of the physical and psychological effect that service in Vietnam had on many of the soldiers who served there under his command.
Don served in the Vietnam War in 1968, and in 1984 he served with a peace-keeping force (the Multinational Force and Observers force) in the Sinai. Don speaks of his service in Vietnam, Malaysia, Borneo and the Sinai; community attitudes to Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War; and of his service with the Legacy Club of Adelaide.
In early 1971 Les was sent to Vietnam with the 17 Construction Squadron. Les speaks about his service in Vietnam; his feelings about Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War; the incidence of post traumatic stress disorder experienced by Vietnam veterans; community attitudes to Vietnam veterans; and of his work as the State President of the Vietnam Veterans Federation
At The National Security Agency (NSA)
The National Security Archive at GWU
At the Naval History & Heritage Command
Australian Diggers in Vietnam War – 1968
A documentary made in 1968 for publicity purposes to give insight into the Australian soldiers' experience. The film follows a group of Australian soldiers transiting into Vietnam, onto helicopter and into a contact with the VC, involving gunfire and capture of a Viet Cong fighter.
Battle of Long Tan
The Battle of Long Tan becomes one of the most savage and decisive engagements in ANZAC history, earning both the United States and South Vietnamese Presidential Unit Citations for gallantry along with many individual awards.