Military History of Australia During World War I - Home Front - Internment, Censorship and Other Special Measures

Internment, Censorship and Other Special Measures

The global nature of the war meant that many functions that were previously vested in the individual Australian state governments had to be placed under the control of the Commonwealth government. Additionally the exigencies of the war meant that the government required the power to enact certain laws that under the Constitution it would not normally be able to do. In order to enable this to occur, the War Precautions Act 1914 was introduced in October 1914, providing the Commonwealth government with wide ranging powers for a period of up to six months after the duration of the war.

The main provisions of the Act were focused upon allowing the Commonwealth to enact legislation that was required for the smooth prosecution of the war. The main areas in which legislation was enacted under the War Precautions Act were: the prevention of trade with hostile nations, the creation of loans to raise money for the war effort, the introduction of a national taxation scheme, the fixing of the prices of certain goods, the internment of people considered a danger to the war effort, the compulsory purchase of strategic goods, and the censorship of the media.

At the outbreak of the war there were about 35,000 people who had been born in either Germany or Austria-Hungary living in Australia. Due to large scale German migration in the late 19th century, there were also an inestimable number of people of German origin, many of whom maintained an affinity for their ancestral roots. Many of these were naturalised Australians and indeed it is believed that many men of German origin enlisted in the AIF, however, due to concerns about the loyalties of some members of the German and Austrian communities internment camps were set up where those suspected of unpatriotic acts were sent. In total it is believed that 4,500 people were interned under the provisions of the War Precautions Act, of which 700 were naturalised Australians and 70 Australian born. Following the end of the war, 6,150 were deported.

There was a considerable public backlash to the way in which some of the provisions of the War Precautions Act were applied, particularly in relation to certain sections of the community such as trade unions and other sections of the community that were for various reasons not as sympathetic to the British cause as the wider community. Indeed, in 1917, following the suppression of a prominent trade union and the jailing of 12 of its members on charges of sedition and sabotage, it seemed as if Australia's war effort might have been in danger of breaking down.

After the war, the continued operation of the War Precautions Act led to considerable social and political unrest in late 1918 and into 1919 and a number of violent incidents broke out. The most notable of these was the so-called Red Flag Riots in Brisbane, in 1919.