Not "Apocalypse Now": Government-Sponsored Australian Entertainers in Vietnam 1965-71

Abstract

In his 1979 classic Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola presents an unforgettable image of entertainers in Vietnam. As his boat turns a bend in the river on his dark and dangerous journey upstream, Captain Willard suddenly confronts a bizarre scene. Great wheels of lights form a backdrop to a stage on the bank. Amplified rock music fills the night. A helicoper descends and scantily clad women perform erotic dances until the aroused soldiers storm the stage. The helicopter quickly whisks the dancers away leaving their audience once more in the heart of darkness. This is a picture of entertainment which was inappropriate for its audience and incredibly dangerous for the performers. The Australian government went to considerable lengths to make sure that the experiences of Australian entertainers resembled the above scenario as little as possible. Throughout the period of Australia's military commitment to Vietnam (1965-72) the government took great pains to maintain the level of popular acceptance with which the decision to send troops there was initially received. Despite their efforts the Vietnam commitment divided Australian society more than any of the other expeditionary wars to which Australian troops had been sent since the Boer War. It was conscription for overseas service, not the legitimacy of the war itself, which caused so much dissension in Australia at the time of the 1916 and 1917 referenda. The 1939-45 war was met with almost