What were the conscription referendums in WWI?

The conscription referendums in the First World War were two national votes held during the war to decide whether the federal government should be allowed to conscript Australian men for overseas military service. The first referendum was held on 28 October 1916 and the second on 20 December 1917. Both were defeated, leaving Australia (alongside New Zealand) as the only major Allied combatant relying entirely on volunteers for overseas service.

The first referendum (28 October 1916) was held under Prime Minister Billy Hughes, who had switched to the pro-conscription side of the argument and had split the Labor Party. Hughes argued that conscription was necessary because the AIF's casualty rate had outstripped voluntary enlistment, with monthly enlistment falling from 9,000 in early 1916 to about 3,500 by mid-1916. The Yes campaign was supported by the Labor government, the Liberal Party (then in opposition but supportive), much of the press, the Returned Soldiers' Association, and patriotic groups. The No campaign was led by the Australian Labor Party's anti-Hughes wing, the trade union movement, the Catholic Church (particularly Archbishop Daniel Mannix in Melbourne), the Industrial Workers of the World, and many rural and working-class voters. The result was 1,087,557 No to 1,160,033 Yes, with the No vote winning by about 72,000 votes nationally and carrying NSW, Queensland, and South Australia.

The split over conscription destroyed the Labor government. Hughes and 23 other pro-conscription Labor MPs were expelled from the party in November 1916. Hughes formed the National Labor Party, which merged with the Liberal Party in February 1917 to create the Nationalist Party. Hughes remained Prime Minister under the new Nationalist banner and was returned at the May 1917 election with an enlarged majority.

The second referendum (20 December 1917) was again supported by Hughes and again defeated, this time by a larger margin: 1,181,747 No to 1,015,159 Yes. Every state except Western Australia and Tasmania voted No. The campaign was particularly bitter, with Catholic-Protestant tensions, rural-urban divisions, and anti-war sentiment all playing roles. Archbishop Mannix's strong No campaign and Hughes' increasingly personal attacks on No campaigners (including the famous egg-throwing incident at Warwick in Queensland in November 1917) produced lasting divisions in Australian society. After the second defeat, voluntary enlistment continued at progressively lower rates until the war ended on 11 November 1918. About 416,000 Australians served in the AIF over the course of the war, with about 320,000 serving overseas.