Tens of thousands of Sydneysiders took to the streets in a mass display of protest, unity, and Aussie humor, led by notable figures such as NSW Premier Neville Wran, sitting federal Minister Tom Uren, and trade unionist Norm Gallagher. They gathered to voice their opposition to US nuclear warships docking in Sydney Harbour at the 1986 Palm Sunday Rally and March for Nuclear Disarmament.
The 1986 Palm Sunday Rally, a powerful statement against nuclear armament, saw a diverse coalition of hundreds of thousands people united under the banners of peace and disarmament across Australia. The presence of influential politicians underscored the significance of the event and the widespread support for the cause.
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The 1986 Palm Sunday Rally and March for Nuclear Disarmament
1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. The 1986 Palm Sunday Rally and March for Nuclear Disarmament was part of a broader global campaign for nuclear disarmament that saw significant support across the country.
Surveys at the time revealed that around half of Australians opposed uranium mining and exporting, as well as visits by U.S. nuclear warships.
Additionally, 72 percent believed that the use of nuclear weapons could never be justified, and 80 percent supported the idea of building a nuclear-free world.
Palm Sunday Disarmament Rally was held on 23 March, 1986, starting at Hyde Park, Sydney. Around 130,000 Sydneysiders marched along the city’s streets.
Palm Sunday nuclear disarmament marches and rallies drew an estimated 300,000 people in cities across Australia in 1986. Palm Sunday had become one of the biggest social movements in Australian history.
The 1986 Sydney Peace March
The streets of Sydney were alive with the typical Australian humor that often accompanies serious causes.
Determined young children carried signs reading “Paperboys for Peace,” adding a touch of innocence and earnestness to the march. The atmosphere was electric as the massive crowd wove through the city, their chants and songs resonating off the buildings.
Led by NSW Premier Neville Wran, sitting Minister for Local Government and Administrative Services Tom Uren, and trade unionist Norm Gallagher, the crowd was determined to change the world, or at least, Australian public policy.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters
The diversity of participants reflected the broad opposition to nuclear armament and the desire for a peaceful and safe future.
Banners with slogans like “Perverts for Peace” and the anarchist’s “People Without a Banner” showcased the wit and creativity of the protesters.
Families, students, workers, and activists from various backgrounds and walks of life came together, united by a common goal.
The 1986 Sydney Peace March was not just a protest; it was a demonstration of the collective will of a city determined to stand against the threat of nuclear war.
The presence of figures like Neville Wran, Tom Uren, and Norm Gallagher added weight to the cause, while the creativity and humor of the participants made it a memorable and impactful event.
Neville Wran
Premier Neville Wran’s participation in the peace march was greeted with applause and highlighted his ongoing commitment to social justice and peace.
Known for his charismatic leadership and progressive policies, Neville Wran was the longest-serving Premier in the state’s history at the time, leading the Australian Labor Party to four consecutive election victories from 1976 to 1986.
His administration was marked by significant social reforms, including the decriminalization of homosexuality, improvements in women’s rights, and advancements in environmental protection.
Wran resigned from parliament a few months later, on 4 July 1986.
Tom Uren
Tom Uren, the then-sitting federal Minister for Local Government and Administrative Services, was a key figure in Australian politics.
A former prisoner of war during World War II, including surviving the Burma-Thailand Railway with his commander Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop, Uren’s experiences profoundly shaped his views on peace and justice.
On August 9, 1945, while working as a POW at a lead smelting works at Omuta, Japan, he saw the sky turn an unearthly colour when the Fat Man atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, 130 km away.
“If you’ve ever seen one of those glorious sunsets they get in northern Australia, it was about 20 times as vivid as that,” he recalled.
He was instrumental in establishing the heritage and conservation movement in Australia, working tirelessly to preserve the historic and cultural sites of inner Sydney.
Uren took a 20-year-old Anthony Albanese under his wing and gave him a start in his office, which started him on the road to become Prime Minister of Australia.
Uren’s dedication to peace extended beyond domestic issues, as he became a vocal advocate for nuclear disarmament and global security.
He often campaigned against the Vietnam War, conscription and nuclear testing.
Norm Gallagher
Norm Gallagher, a prominent trade unionist, brought the support of the working class to the protest.
As the leader of the Builders Labourers Federation (BLF), Gallagher was known for his robust advocacy for workers’ rights and his involvement in the Green Bans movement, which aimed to protect the environment and heritage sites from inappropriate development.
Gallagher’s participation in the peace march emphasized the solidarity between labor movements and peace activists, demonstrating that the fight for workers’ rights and global peace were deeply interconnected.
Not all peaceful
“An estimated 130,000 people turned out for the fifth annual disarmament march in Sydney, where alleged saboteurs the previous night scattered sackfulls of shattered glass on the grassy rally site downtown,” UPI reported.
Premier Neville Wran called the act ‘outrageous’ and said the culprits would be brought to justice.
In Melbourne, more than 100,000 people marched for disarmament. However, a pro-nuclear rally was organised to coincide with the disarmament march.
Four punks were arrested after clashing with the pro-nuclear group and burning an American flag.
Tensions escalated when a punk rocker took the microphone at the disarmament rally, demanding the release of the arrested punks.
The incident led to a melee, with 300 punk rockers fighting police, although there were no serious injuries.
NSWIT’s NEWSWIT Student newspaper
These photographs captured by Mark Anning in 1986 for the UTS Students’ Association newspaper, Newswit, so named from the days when UTS was the NSW Institute of Technology.
Newswit was first published on 1 March 1973, with Ross Gittins as editor. Newswit became Vertigo in 1991.
The Nuclear Disarmament Movement in the 1980s
The nuclear disarmament movement of the 1980s was a global effort to reduce and eventually eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons.
In Australia, the movement was particularly strong, with widespread public opposition to the presence of US nuclear-armed ships and the potential dangers they posed.
Any discussion of the history of the nuclear disarmament movement must include the incredible work of Dr. Helen Caldicott, a prolific writer and activist. Her books are available on Amazon.
In 1984, a Royal Commission was established to address health concerns in the Aboriginal community stemming from British nuclear tests in South Australia.
The commission found that the test site was heavily contaminated and recommended rehabilitating the land and returning it to its traditional owners.
In 1984, the Nuclear Disarmament Party was founded and won a Senate seat. At the same time, the ALP national conference expressed support for the ANZUS treaty, US bases, and visits of nuclear warships to Australian ports.
When the U.S. government requested entry for a nuclear-capable destroyer, David Lange, New Zealand Labour Party Prime Minister, announced in January 1985 that the warship was banned from his country which was an enormously popular decision.
On 10 July 1985, the Greenpeace protest ship Rainbow Warrior was sunk in New Zealand waters by French Intelligence. The ship was protesting against French nuclear testing at Mururoa, in French Polynesia.
The new Treaty of Rarotonga, adopted in August 1985 by the thirteen members of the South Pacific Forum, established the South Pacific as a nuclear-free zone.
The Chernobyl disaster began on 26 April 1986 with the explosion of the No. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.
In 1986, the Hawke government decided to resume uranium sales to France.
The Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament left Los Angeles, California on 1 March, 1986, crossed the length of the United States to raise awareness of nuclear proliferation and arrived in Washington D.C., on November 15, 1986.
Surfing the bow wave in Sydney Harbour
On 29 September 1986, Ian Cohen made headlines when he surfed the bow wave of US Spruance-class destroyer USS Oldendorf, as it entered Sydney Harbour.
The Oldendorf was one of six vessels capable of carrying nuclear weapons participating in the Australian Navy’s 75th birthday celebrations and was the largest international assembly of allied vessels in a foreign port since World War II.
“We all felt that we were breaking through and I think we sent a really strong message to the powers that be at that stage of the Cold War that there were Australians who objected strongly in a non-violent manner to the entry of nuclear warships into Sydney Harbour,” Mr. Cohen told the ABC.
Ian Cohen gives an account of surfing the bow-wave of USS Oldenforf for five minutes in this excerpt from Green Fire, Harper Collins, 1997. Mr Cohen went on to become a Greens senator in the NSW Parliament.
Sydney Morning Herald photographer, Robert Pearce’s images of Ian Cohen clinging to the bow of the USS Oldendorf won the Rothmans 1987 National Press Photo Awards.
In 1988 during the Australian Bicentennial, Australian protest flotillas again blockaded the arrival of foreign nuclear warships.
In Melbourne, the seamen’s union boycotted the warships, and even the prostitutes went on strike, declaring that the nuclear behemoths could “take their money, ships, bombs, and diseases and go home.”
Sparked by the escalating arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union, the movement gained traction as people around the world became increasingly aware of the devastating potential of nuclear warfare.
Globally, the anti-nuclear movement contributed to various arms reduction treaties, such as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in 1987.
Nuclear arms control agreements and the waning of the Cold War led to a decline in the antinuclear campaign after 1989.
While the immediate goal of preventing US warships from docking in Sydney Harbour was achieved, the broader movement faced mixed results. The complete elimination of nuclear weapons remains an ongoing challenge.
The Legacy of Protest: From Vietnam to Nuclear Disarmament
The anti-Vietnam War sentiment had evolved into a broader anti-nuclear and peace movement, reflecting continued public concern over issues of war and peace.
The same ethos of solidarity, justice, and opposition to military aggression that fueled the Vietnam War protests was evident in the banners and slogans of the peace marchers in 1986.
Participants of the 1986 peace march, many of whom had also marched against the Vietnam War a decade and a half earlier, carried forward the legacy of their earlier activism.
They were joined by a new generation of protesters who shared their commitment to a world free from the threat of nuclear conflict.
In the years following the Vietnam War, the docking of US warships in Sydney continued to provoke mixed reactions.
The 1986 peace march against US nuclear warships docking in Sydney Harbour was a continuation of this legacy of protest.
The protest against nuclear warships docking in Sydney Harbour was not just about a single issue; it was a continuation of a long-standing tradition of public opposition to policies perceived as dangerous and unjust.
The anti-war and anti-nuclear movements were deeply intertwined, with many Australians seeing the presence of foreign military vessels as an ongoing threat to peace and sovereignty.
The marches and demonstrations reflected a persistent undercurrent of resistance to foreign military influence, rooted in the broader context of Australia’s involvement in global conflicts and the desire for a peaceful and autonomous future.
Further reading (elsewhere on the internet)
The Australian Nuclear Disarmament Movement in the 1980s: In the 1980s, a large, diverse and vibrant nuclear disarmament movement arose in Australia. “The appearance of the Nuclear Disarmament Party highlighted divergent views that had arisen in the movement about how to relate to the Australian Labor Party“
Nuclear Disarmament Activism In Asia And The Pacific, 1971-1996 by Lawrence S. Wittner “Australia, like its counterparts elsewhere, experienced a phenomenal growth of nuclear disarmament activism. Antinuclear professional organizations sprang up, and hundreds of small, local anti-nuclear organizations appeared.”
Further reading from Amazon
The Making of the Atomic Bomb: 25th Anniversary Edition Paperback, 2012 by Richard Rhodes
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