VPRS 10159 Register Of Applications For Exemption From Military Service (corangamite Military Sub District)

A referendum on conscription for military service outside of the Commonwealth was held on 28 October 1916 (see Victorian Year Book 1916-17, p.84). Although the proposal was defeated, the practice of requiring persons to serve within the Commonwealth continued.Automatic exemptions were granted to:persons unfit for any naval or military service,members and officers of the Parliament of the Commonwealth or of a State,Judges, stipendiary or special magistrates of Federal or State Courts,ministers of religion,persons employed in the police or prison services of the Commonwealth or State,persons employed in lighthouses,persons employed as medical practitioners or nurses in public hospitals,persons not substantially of European origin or descent,persons whose conscientious beliefs did not allow them to bear arms, andpersons engaged in any employment specified by Regulations or by Proclamation.Applications could also be made for exemptions for a number of other reasons. These were:on grounds that it was expedient in the national interest that the man should be engaged in other work in which he was habitually engaged, be engaged in other work in which he wished to be engaged, continue to be educated or trained,on the ground that serious hardship would ensue owing to his exceptional domestic financial obligations,on the ground that the man was the sole support of aged parents, a widowed mother, orphan brothers or sisters under the age of sixteen years who were physically incapable of earning their own living,on the ground that he was the only son, the sole remaining son, or one of the remaining sons of a family of whose sons one-half at the least had enlisted prior to 2 October 1916,on the ground that the man was not a natural-born or naturalized British subject.Applications for exemption were heard by an exemption court in the military sub-district in which the applicant lived. Details of applications for exemption and the court's decision were recorded in registers. Each entry records the case number, the applicant's name, the applicant's reason for seeking exemption and the court's decision.

1916年10月28日，澳大利亚就「在英联邦境外服兵役的征兵制度」举行全民公投（详见《1916-1917年维多利亚州年鉴》第84页）。尽管该公投提案未获通过，但要求民众在英联邦境内服兵役的制度仍得以延续。

可自动获得兵役豁免的群体包括：
1. 所有不适用于任何海军或陆军服役者；
2. 英联邦或各州议会的议员及公职人员；
3. 联邦或州法院的法官、领薪治安法官或特委法官；
4. 宗教神职人员；
5. 英联邦或各州警务及监狱系统雇员；
6. 灯塔值守人员；
7. 公立医院的执业医师或护士；
8. 非欧洲裔或无欧洲血统者；
9. 出于良心拒服兵役者；
10. 依据法规或公告指定行业的从业人员。

申请人还可基于以下其他情形申请兵役豁免：
1. 基于国家利益考量，申请人应从事其惯常从事的其他工作，或从事其希望从事的其他工作，或继续接受教育与培训；
2. 因需承担超额的家庭经济义务，将导致严重生活困境；
3. 申请人为年迈父母、寡母或十六岁以下、无独立谋生能力的孤儿弟妹的唯一赡养人；
4. 申请人为家庭独子、仅剩的独子，或是家庭半数以上儿子已于1916年10月2日前入伍的剩余儿子之一；
5. 申请人并非本土出生或入籍的英国臣民。

兵役豁免申请由申请人居住地所属军事分区的豁免法庭审理。所有豁免申请及法庭裁决的相关信息均记录于登记册中，每条登记条目均包含案件编号、申请人姓名、申请豁免的理由以及法庭最终裁决结果。