This striking, greyscale mural with bold splashes of colour honours the Save Our Sons movement. It depicts Sydney women standing in solidarity against conscription on the very footpath where the movement began in 1965. The artwork was completed during History Week 2023 in New South Wales and was officially opened by the Inner West Council on 5 September 2023.
Addison Road Community Centre sits on the edge of the Gumbramorra Swamp area. It was and always will be Aboriginal Land.
Firstly a military camp and then becoming army barracks in 1916, it was a place for recruiting and training troops for both WW1 and WW2.
In 1964 Australia introduced national service for young men turning 20, sending them to battle in Vietnam.
A group of Sydney housewives issued a national “distress call - SOS - to mothers everywhere.”
On the Addison Road footpath the Save Our Sons movement was born.
The first recruits arriving in June 1965 were met with a large crowd, traffic congestion, TV cameras, SOS protestors, police and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) officers.
The fervent nation-wide protests and silent vigils lasted another 8 years.
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