-
Almost 60,000 Australians, including ground troops and air force and navy personnel, served in Vietnam
521 died as a result of the war and over 3,000 were wounded. The war was the cause of the greatest social and political dissent in Australia since the conscription referendums of the First World War. -
The arrival of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) in South Vietnam
It is the beginning of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War. Almost 60,000 Australians, including ground troops and air force and navy personnel, served in Vietnam -
First victoria cross recipients in the Vietnam
It was awarded to Kevin Wheatley -
The government announced the dispatch of a taskforce
The government announced the dispatch of a taskforce to replace 1RAR, consisting of two battalions and support services (including a RAAF squadron of Iroquois helicopters), to be based at Nui Dat, Phuoc Tuy province. -
A company of 6RAR was engaged in one of Australia's heaviest actions of the war, in a rubber plantation near Long Tan.
They were greatly assisted by a timely ammunition resupply by RAAF helicopters, close fire support from Australian artillery, and the arrival of reinforcements in APCs as night fell. -
A major offensive by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army, launched during the Vietnamese lunar new year holiday period, known as "Tet".
The timing and the scale of the offensive came as a complete surprise, taking in cities, towns, and military installations throughout South Vietnam. -
Anti-war protests were gathering momentum in Australia.
More people came to believe the war could not be won. A "Don't register" campaign to dissuade young men from registering for conscription gained increasing support and some of the protests grew violent. -
US and South Vietnamese troops were ordered to cross the border into Cambodia.
The invasion succeeded in capturing large quantities of North Vietnamese arms, destroying bunkers and sanctuaries, and killing enemy soldiers, it ultimately proved disastrous. By bringing combat into Cambodia, the invasion drove many people to join the underground opposition, the Khmer Rouge, irreparably weakening the Cambodian government. -
Australia had also begun to wind down its military effort in Vietnam
The 8th Battalion departed in November (and was not replaced), but, to make up for the decrease in troop numbers, the Team's strength was increased and its efforts became concentrated in Phuoc Tuy province. -
The withdrawal of troops and all air units continued
the last battalion left Nui, while a handful of advisers belonging to the Team remained in Vietnam the following year. -
The last Australian troops to come home
Their unit having seen continuous service in South Vietnam for ten and a half years. -
Australia's participation at an end
Formally declared at an end when the Governor-General issued a proclamation -
Communists launched a major offensive in the north of South Vietnam
Resulting in the fall of Saigon -
The Khmer Rouge came to power
It imposed a cruel and repressive regime that killed several million Cambodians and left the country with internal conflict that continues today. The extension of the war into a sovereign state, formally neutral, inflamed anti-war sentiment in the United States and provided the impetus for further anti-war demonstrations in Australia.
