'A National Nuisance': The Banning of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Australia in 1941

Abstract

In 1941, during the Second World War, the Menzies government banned Jehovah’s Witnesses, giving them the distinction of being the only Christian religious body to be banned in Australia during the twentieth century. Unlike the banning of the Communist Party of Australia in 1940 and similar security strictures, the banning of Jehovah’s Witnesses has been a little-explored footnote in Australia’s political history. This article will redress that situation, based primarily on files from the Attorney-General’s Department, and will argue that the banning of the Witnesses had as much to do with personal politics and a cavalier attitude to fundamental legal principles of religious freedom as with broader issues of national security.