Doug McEachern

It's surprising, really, that there is still so little Australian literature about activism to end Australia's participation in the Vietnam War. For some of the generation that was impacted by it, it left scars that have never gone away, and while Anzac Day brings up stories of returned soldiers still suffering the effects of that war, there's very little acknowledgement anywhere about the heroism of those tried to end it. That struggle tore families apart and for some that estrangement lasted decades.

Perhaps this neglected aspect of our literary story is because between 1965 and 1972, conscription in Australia directly impacted only 15,000 conscripts and their families. Most of the rest of the population of 12 million-odd ignored 202 deaths on active service and 1279 wounded* and kept voting to support the war until 1972, going blithely about their lives without any concern for those national servicemen, who were cynically conscripted when they were too young to vote. Summer's Gone by Charles Hall (2014) captures this insouciance well, showing the reader that for many, the Vietnam War was so far off-stage that they had no understanding of its impact.

*Needless to say, Australian casualties are swamped by casualty numbers for civilians and military in Vietnam. Numbers are contested, but all the estimates are horrific.

However, apart from Some Here Among Us by Kiwi Peter Walker, I don't know of much fiction about the protest movements at all. So I was pleased to come across Doug McEachern's debut novel Stardust and Golden. (The title is an allusion to a Joni Mitchell song.) The author profile at UWAP tells us that he is a 'late bloomer', achieving his PhD in Creative Writing after retirement from his academic career. Significantly for the theme of Stardust and Golden, which is set in the 1960s, it turns out that his adolescent ambition to become a writer was led astray by the political urgency of the campaigns against the Vietnam War and conscription.

Bookended by chapters in the present day, the novel is narrated by the central character Mark David who is revisiting his university years in 1969. He and his mate Stryder wait with trepidation for the conscription ballot which is to decide their fate. Neither of them support the war in general or conscription in particular but are undecided about what to do. Their options include failing to register, either quietly or overtly to make a protest, with a penalty of two years in gaol if they are convicted. They could try registering as conscientious objectors, though the courts are reluctant to confer that status without a long history of pacificism. Or, they could register, and then fade into a quiet life if they aren't called up, or if they're unlucky and their number comes up, defer on the grounds of study commitments for as long as possible. (It's 1969 and they sense that the war is coming to an end, but it may not come soon enough.) If all else fails, there's the option of disappearing overseas, but that involves severing all contact with family and friends.

For these two characters what is equally important is not just their own fate, but the fate of others and the need to protest effectively to bring the whole hateful system to an end.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/09/25/stardust-and-golden-by-doug-mceachern/… (mais)