‘All in – up to a point’ cartoon

Published in the Bulletin, 14 January 1942. Cartoon referring to the issue of overseas conscription during the Second World War. When the war broke out, the government re-introduced conscription for men to serve with the Citizen Military Forces (CMF). However, the CMF were not required to fight beyond Australia and its territories, which at that time included Papua and New Guinea. That changed on 19 February 1943 when Prime Minister John Curtin passed legislation that required the CMF to fight in additional parts of the Pacific.