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The Dictionary of Sydney
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Front page of Universal Service League journal,...

Front page of Universal Service League journal, 26 August 1916

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National Library of Australia

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Recruiting for World War I

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Armed forces War World War I

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Universal Service League

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Conscription referendum 1916 World War I

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Martin Place

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National Library of Australia

Recruiting for World War I

As the embarkation point for many World War I soldiers, Sydney was a centre for recruiting volunteers from all over New South Wales, and also strongly affected by the bitter conscription referenda campaigns of 1916 and 1917, and the subsequent political fallout.

World War I

Armed forces

War

Universal Service League

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Pro conscription organisation in Sydney in World War I that was modelled on the British National Service League.

World War I

International war between the Allies (Britain and its dominions, France, Russia, Italy and the USA) and Central Powers (Germany and Austria–Hungary,Turkey and Bulgaria) that was fought mainly in Europe and the Middle East. It began on 28 July 1914 and ended on 11 November 1918. Australia's involvement in the war began on 4 August 1914 when Britain and Germany went to war and Australia, as one of Britain's dominions, pledged full support. Australians fought in the British and Australian armies.

While no battles took place on Australian soil, Australian involvement in the conflict had both immediate and long term impacts on the local community.

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Martin Place

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Wide street running through Sydney's centre, from the General Post Office at the George Street end, and completed when Sydney City Council resumed property to extend the street all the way to Macquarie Street in the 1930s. Lined with elegant buildings of grand design and lavish materials it has been entirely pedestrian since 1979.

Conscription referendum 1916

Whilst universal military training for Australian men aged 18 to 60 had been compulsory since 1911, the referendum, if carried, would have extended this requirement to service overseas. It arose as British pressure mounted for Australia to continue to supply adequate forces for the European war.

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