The Defiant Anti-conscriptionist

- Blurb -

Ephraim Henry (Harry) Coombe was a ' self-made man' of strong principles. With no more than six years of formal schooling, he became a journalist, newspaper editor and member of parliament, representing the Barossa District for a total of 14 years. He advocated for proportional voting, women' s suffrage, the extension of the railway to country towns, and against the closure of Lutheran schools during the First World War. But his steadfast anti-conscription stance led to his persecution, and many of his parliamentary colleagues labelled him a coward, a traitor to the men at the Front, and disloyal to King and country. In 1917 he was prosecuted under the War Precautions Act, at a trial deliberately held in his electorate, for using words that were ' likely to prejudice recruiting' . Shortly afterwards Harry suffered a sudden seizure while speaking at a public rally, and died a week later at the age of 58. Determined to walk his own path, Harry is remembered as a man willing to stand up for his beliefs. A hero of the working class and many others in the community, the curious life of E. H. Coombe placed Gawler and its region firmly on the map.