Kim Pink

Jun 18, 20204 min read

The White Feather Movement

Updated: May 17, 2023

An innocent and fragile object, the white feather came to symbolise a time when Australia was torn in two.

I’m completely obsessed with the incredible melting pot of heightened emotion that made up the society of Australia in the years 1914 to 1918.

I deep dive into this theme in my upcoming novel, Wool and White Feathers (working title). We see wartime Perth through the eyes of 19 year-old twin sisters, Lizzie and Joan Porteous.

Where the White Feather Movement Began

The White Feather Movement was founded in Britain in August 1914. It was part of a strategy to encourage women to pressure men in their communities to enlist.

Women gave young, fit men who did not volunteer for service a white feather, usually placing it into his jacket pocket and shaming him as a coward.

In Australia, the White Feather came into force during the 1916 conscription referendum campaign - a public battle that has never been rivalled in Australian political history.

I use the word battle, without exaggeration, as referendum platforms were destroyed, and speakers beaten and even tarred and feathered.

Fear and Restless Hands

Imagine that by this time, the tremendous loss of life of Gallipoli had well and truly hit home.

Not to mention the more recent Battle of Fromelles, just months earlier, that saw only 28% of Australians involved survive that 48-hour fight.

All around them women watched as notifications of death were delivered, or indeed, received one themselves. Imagine living with the terror of receiving that news at any moment.

Very few Australian women were able to serve in World War I. Most were nurses, with the close to 3,000 serving overseas. Imagine the frustration of not being able to ‘do your bit’.

While it could be said that Australia led the way for the suffrage movement in the late 19th century, women were still heavily constrained by laws and social conventions.

They were considered second rate citizens and therefore not as strong, smart or ‘good’ at anything as men, with the exception of raising children, cooking and cleaning.

And yet they held an incredible responsibility to mould and shape a young nation.

It was necessary that they step into roles that had previously been thought to only be possible for men.

Even though the many that did ‘step out’ into these roles fought sexism every step of the way, imagine how empowering that must have felt.

‘Their intelligence, their pioneering background, their pride in being the youngest, newest national on the battlefields, needed release – and erupted.’

Patsy Adam-Smith, Australian Women At War

Although they are identical twins, Lizzie and Joan chose very different ways to ‘do their bit’ for the war.

Let it not be all in vain

Many of the women behind the White Feather Movement in Australia were driven by the loss of someone close to them.

They felt that by getting more people to enlist and fight for ‘yes’ votes in the conscription referendum, that the loss of their loved one would not be in vain.

Then there were those who feared losing someone. If they didn’t get more enlistments, then their loved one was more likely to die.

Grief-fuelled fear and anger is a powerful force indeed.

“We women pass on the human ammunition of our only sons to fill up the gaps.”

Patsy Adam-Smith, Australian Women at War

The Good

The White Feather Movement was closely linked to Australian Women’s National League.

The League was responsible for a tremendous amount of fundraising and the donations of goods for the war effort.

They sent 1,300 newspapers each quarter to soldiers overseas, on Australia Day collected 7 tonnes of goods for the British Red Cross and even sent four ambulances to the front.

They claimed to not seek place or power but to help educate themselves and others to vote intelligently.

However, the manner in which they did so could be cruel and fuelled by false assumption.

The Bad

They filled newspapers and magazines with fear-mongering propaganda. They had fake letters to mothers and soldiers published in newspapers.

And on occasion shamed men that were not able to enlist.

One of the most identifiable injustices was of Seaman George Samson. He was presented with a white feather whilst on his way to a reception to receive a Victoria Cross following his efforts in Gallipoli.

The Other Side

Women who chose to vote against the conscription referendum often focused their efforts on fundraising or sending comforts such as wool socks to soldiers on the front line.

While some eastern states had branches of the Australian Women’s Peace Army that gave women who opposed conscription a structured outlet for their efforts, Perth did not have a chapter of this group.

A 1915 American anti-war song, written by Alfred Bryan, I Didn’t Raise My Boy to be a Soldier was banned by Australian military authorities, but became an anthem at anti-conscription rallies.

I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier, I brought him up to be my pride and joy. Who dares to place a musket on his shoulder, To shoot some other mother’s darling boy? Let nations arbitrate their future troubles, It’s time to lay the sword and gun away. There’d be no war today, If mothers all would say, I didn’t raise my boy to be a solider.

Whichever side of this highly emotional battle a woman chose, it was a time when many women felt for the first time that they had the ability to speak their mind and act.

That made for some incredible fireworks!

Fireworks aside, this vicious sectarianism remained through World War II and re-invigorated during the Vietnam War.

‘Yes Vote’ Propaganda – source: Adam-Smith, Patsy, 1984, Australian Women at War