Geoffrey Richard Mullen (16 March 1947 – 25 November 2014) was an Australian draft resister whose jailing in 1971 became a focal point of opposition to conscription for the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. Mullen was born in

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city suburb in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the Ci ...

and attended Waverley College on scholarship. He attended the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. In 1967 he registered for national service, but having become a fierce opponent of the Vietnam War, he refused medical examinations in 1968. An avowed

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

, he worked briefly for the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

and the

University of New England University of New England may refer to: * University of New England (Australia), in New South Wales, with about 26,000 students * University of New England (United States), in Biddeford, Maine, with about 6,000 students See also * New England Coll ...

before becoming a computer programmer at

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. Imprisoned for 29 days in February 1969, he wrote anti-conscription articles for the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

'' and the ''Tribune'', and ran in the 1969 federal election as an independent candidate for Wentworth, in opposition to

Les Bury Leslie Harry Ernest Bury CMG (25 February 1913 – 7 September 1986) was an Australian politician and economist. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served in the House of Representatives between 1956 and 1974, representing the Division o ...

, the Minister for Labour and National Service. In February 1971 he was arrested; he refused to plead as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

, was sentenced to two years in prison, and served for twelve months. His cause attracted great attention and was championed by left-wing

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MPs

Tom Uren Thomas Uren (28 May 1921 – 26 January 2015) was an Australian politician and Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1975 to 1977. Uren served as the Division of Reid, Member for Reid in the Australian House of Representatives from ...

and George Petersen. In prison he completed a post-graduate

Bachelor of Literature A Bachelor of Literature (; B.Lit.) is one of thirteen statutory undergraduate academic degrees in China. The basic duration of study is four years. The undergraduate Literature degree course consists of three major categories, with a total of ...

; after his release he returned to IBM but later became an independent contractor. He retired at the age of sixty and in his later years was noted as a prolific writer of letters to newspapers. Mullen died at St Vincent's Hospital in 2014.

References

1947 births 2014 deaths Australian anarchists Australian computer programmers {{Australia-stub