Australians, including many thousands of Diggers fighting in Europe, voted against conscription during the Great War. It was a blow to then-prime minister Billy Hughes.

During World War One, conscription initially applied to single men aged 16 to 40. The upper limit was later raised to 51, ...

during World War I. In 1916 and 1917, Australia’s servicemen and women were asked to vote on military conscription: could the Australian government force men to enlist and serve in war overseas?