Skip to main content
  • dva.gov.au
  • anzaccentenary.gov.au

The Anzac Portal

Home
Home
  • Home
  • History
    • Conflicts
      • Gallipoli and the Anzacs
      • Australians on the Western Front
      • Australia and the Second World War
      • The Thai–Burma Railway and Hellfire Pass
      • The Kokoda Track
      • Australian involvement in South-East Asian conflicts
      • The Korean War
      • Australia and the Vietnam War
    • Special features
      • Veterans' stories
      • Great War memories
      • Victoria Cross recipients
  • Education
    • Resources
    • Competitions
      • Anzac Day Schools' Awards 2018
    • Curriculum units
      • Anzac Day for Young Australians in Year 3
      • Australia and the Pacific War 1941–1945
      • Australia and the Second World War
      • Australia's under-18s during World War I
      • Australian Prisoners of War in the Second World War
      • Australians at War (WWI & WWII)
      • Australians at War
      • Australians at War: World War Two
      • Australians in Vietnam
      • Counting the Cost of Kokoda
      • Depth Study: World War One 1914–18. Year 9
      • Do Statues Speak?: Investigating the continuity and change in beliefs that have influenced the Australian way of life through local war memorials
      • First World War—Year 9 History/Humanities
      • In Their Footsteps: Recording the histories of military personnel from the Korean and Vietnam Wars, Afghanistan, other conflicts and/or peacekeeping missions for Year 10 students
      • Making of the Modern World: World War I
      • The Great War: Conflict, Chaos and Courage
      • The Human Face of War: The First World War and Beyond
      • The Korean War
      • The Legend of the Anzac Spirit
      • The Post-War World: A Video Game, Year 10 History
      • The Significance of WW1
      • The Vietnam War and Australia
      • VC or No VC: That is the Question
      • WWI and Australia on the Western Front
      • WWII: Shaping the Modern World
      • What was the significance of World War I?
      • Who is that soldier in the carpark?
      • World War 1
      • World War I: Year 9
      • World War One
      • Year 3 History—Fortifying North Queensland
    • Activities
      • Coming Home: An investigation of the Armistice and Repatriation
      • Keeping the Peace: Investigating Australia's contribution to peacekeeping
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Documents
    • Images
    • Publications
      • 1916—Fromelles and the Somme
      • 1917—Bapaume and Bullecourt
      • 1917—Ypres
      • 1918—Amiens to Hindenburg Line
      • 1918—Villers-Bretonneux to Le Hamel
      • A Bitter Fate—Australians In Malaya & Singapore
      • Ancestry—Stories of multicultural Anzacs
      • Audacity—Stories of heroic Australians in wartime
      • Australian Flying Corps
      • Australian Light Horse—Palestine 1916–1918
      • Bomber Command
      • Chinese Anzacs
      • Comradeship—Stories of friendship and recreation in wartime
      • Curiosity—Stories of those who report during wartime
      • Decision—Stories of Leadership in the Services
      • Devotion—Stories of Australia's Wartime Nurses
      • Forever Yours
      • Gallipoli
      • Greece and Crete
      • Home Front
      • Laden, Fevered, Starved—the POWs of Sandakan
      • Memories and Memorabilia
      • North Africa and Syria
      • North Beach Gallipoli 1915
      • Operation Jaywick
      • Resource—Stories of innovation in wartime
      • Royal Australian Navy
      • The sinking of the Centaur
      • Valuing our veterans
      • World Wide Effort: Australia's Peacekeepers
    • Videos
  • Conduct an event
    • Multimedia
    • Resources
    • Sample Speeches
  • Resources
    • 60th Anniversary of the Korean War
    • 70th Anniversary Tobruk 1941
    • 70th Anniversary of the battles for Greece and Crete
    • 70th anniversary of the Kokoda campaign
    • 70th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin
    • 95th Anniversary of the landings on Gallipoli
    • Anzac Centenary School Link Program
    • Anzac Day poster
    • Anzac Day poster
    • Australia and the Vietnam War
    • Australian Prisoners of War
    • Australian Women in War
    • Australians at War Film Archive
    • Australians on the Western Front
    • Centenary of the Flanders Offensive
    • Centenary of the Royal Australian Navy
    • Centenary of the Sinai–Palestine campaign
    • Centenary of the Somme
    • Commemorating Australian Forces in the Vietnam War
    • Commemorating Australian forces in the Korean War
    • Commemorating Australian forces in the Vietnam War 1962–1975
    • Commemorating Australian prisoners of war on the Burma–Thailand Railway
    • Commemorating the Centenary of the Gallipoli Landings
    • Commemorating the Malayan Emergency and Indonesian Confrontation
    • Commemorating the first convoy of Australian troops to the First World War
    • Commemorating the return of Australian forces from Afghanistan
    • Discovering Anzacs Exhibition Tips and Tools (Learn Area)
    • Discovering Anzacs School and Community Toolkit (Learn Area)
    • Discovering Anzacs Video Tutorials and Timeline (Learn Area)
    • Gallipoli and the Anzacs
    • Great Debates—Conscription 2016
    • Here they come—A day to remember
    • INTERFET—International Forces for East Timor
    • Indigenous Service
    • Investigating Gallipoli
    • Kokoda: Exploring the Second World War campaign in Papua New Guinea
    • Korea—A Cold War conflict (1950–1953)
    • M is for Mates—Animals in Wartime from Ajax to Zep
    • Remembering Them app—Education Activities
    • Remembrance day
    • Schooling, Service and the Great War (Primary Resource)
    • Schooling, Service and the Great War (Secondary Resource)
    • Symbols of Commemoration Cube Education Activities (Secondary)
    • Symbols of Commemoration Cube—Education Activities (Primary school resource)
    • The Flanders Poppy—A symbol of remembrance
    • The Nominal Roll of Australian Korean War Veterans
    • The Nominal Roll of Australian Vietnam War Veterans
    • The Nominal Roll of Australian World War 2 Veterans
    • The Sinking of HMAS Sydney
    • The War that Changed Us Education Activities
    • Their Spirit, Our History
    • Wartime snapshot #23—1918-2018: Centenary of the Final Campaigns
    • We Remember Anzac (Primary Resource)
    • We Remember Anzac (Secondary Resource)
    • We'll Meet Again

Search form

  • Gallipoli and the Anzacs
  • Australians on the Western Front
  • Australia and the Second World War
  • The Thai–Burma Railway and Hellfire Pass
  • The Kokoda Track
  • Australian involvement in South-East Asian conflicts
  • The Korean War
  • Australia and the Vietnam War
  • The Korean War
  • Events
  • Locations
  • Resources
  • The Korean War
    • The Cold War and the crisis in Korea
      • A chronology of the Korean War
      • What was the Cold War
      • Communist leaders and their policies
      • Anti-communist leaders and their policies
      • How was Australia involved?
      • The theatre of war
    • The Armed Forces in the Korean War
      • United Nations Forces in the Korean War
      • North Korea, China and the USSR
      • Royal Australian Navy in the Korean War
      • Royal Australian Airforce in the Korean War
      • Australian Army in the Korean War
      • British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF)
  • Events
    • The war begins - the invasion of South Korea
      • The communists advance towards Pusan
      • First Australians in the Korean War
      • Shot down over Korea
    • The United Nations counteroffensive to the Yalu
      • United Nations drives north (Inchon)
      • Australian engagements: Pakchon, Yongju, Chongju, 'broken bridge'
      • Charles Green
    • China Intervenes in the Korean War
      • United Nations forced to retreat south
      • The Battle of Kapyong, 23–25 April 1951
      • HMAS Murchinson in the Han River (28 September 1951)
      • The Battle of Maryang San, 3–8 October 1951
      • The aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney
      • Captain Reg Saunders
    • Stalemate, the war in 1952–1953
      • MiGs versus Metors
      • Battle of the Hook: first and second Battalions Royal Australian Regiment
      • Trench warfare and patrollling between the lines
      • Australian medical services
    • The support base in Japan
      • Australian nurses at the British Commonwealth General Hospital at Kure
      • The RAAF in Japan
    • Ceasefire at Panmunjon, 27 July 1953
      • Peace negotiations
      • Casualties
      • Policing the ceasefire: post-ceasefire operations 1953 to 1957
      • Missing in action
    • Prisoners of War
      • Australian prisoners
      • Other prisoners
      • Private Bob Parker
  • Locations
    • Remembrance
  • Resources
    • Korean War—strategic map
    • The Australian Veterans' Accounts

You are here

  • Home
  • History
  • Conflicts
  • The Korean War
  • The Cold War and the crisis in Korea

How was Australia involved?

The Australian government during the Korean War was firmly anti-communist...

Photo of 3RAR troops in US troopship 'Aiken Victory' at Pusan

Pusan, 28 September, 1950. From the deck of the United States Navy troopship Aiken Victory, members of the 3rd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment look out on a large welcoming party waiting on the wharf to greet them. The ship has just brought the battalion from Kure in Japan to serve in the war in Korea. On the wharf (left) is a large choir composed of Korean women who are holding bouquets of flowers to present as gifts of welcome to senior Australian officers. At right is a Republic of Korea military band. Donor Ian Robertson. [AWM P01813.581]

Australian troops introduced to South Korean President Syngman Rhee

Pusan, 1950. Major Weir and members of the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment are introduced to South Korean President Syngman Rhee and the Australian delegate to the United Nations Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea, James Plimsoll. [AWM 044419]

Sir Robert Menzies the Prime Minister championed the unsuccessful Anti-Communist Dissolution Bill of 1950; however, when the Korean War broke out, Menzies, who was Eurocentric in his world view, did not support Australia committing military forces to the conflict. Sir Percy Spender, the Minister for External Affairs, was of a very different persuasion. Spender saw that Australia’s vital security interests in Asia and her diplomatic relationship with the United States were directly affected by the situation in Korea. It was Spender who pushed for an Australian military commitment to both fight communist aggression in Korea and cement a firm alliance with the United States. Spender’s Korean War alliance with the United States would eventually evolve into the ANZUS treaty. Spender made the decision to commit Australian military forces to combat in Korea without consulting the Prime Minister who was overseas. Menzies, when presented with the fait accompli of Australian military action in Korea, adapted quickly to political realities and publicly proclaimed his support. There was very little political or community opposition to involvement in the Korean War within Australia. The Opposition Labor Party agreed that communist aggression in Korea needed to be answered with firm resolve, and in the wider community the overwhelming majority of people supported the war effort. Only a very small fragment of the Australian population, composed mostly of local communists, opposed the Australian commitment.

The Korean War marked a point at which Australia recognised that it was in Asia and not elsewhere that its vital security interests lay. The War was also the catalyst for the formalisation of Australia’s military alliance with the United States in the ANZUS treaty.

  • Home
  • History
  • Education
  • Multimedia
  • Conduct an event
  • Resources
  • Site info
  • Research tips
  • Contact
  • Copyright
  • Events
  • Accessibility
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • Links
  • Bibliography

Follow us on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to us on YouTube