---
title: Reinforcements. Our scrap of paper, honor it. Vote Yes. Referendum (Australia, 1917)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/reinforcements-referendum-vote-yes-1917/
description: A torn strip of paper carries a quotation signed by former Prime Minister Andrew Fisher, 'We will fight to the last man and the last shilling', framed as…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Reinforcements. Our scrap of paper, honor it. Vote Yes. Referendum (Australia, 1917)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/reinforcements-referendum-vote-yes-1917.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/reinforcements-referendum-vote-yes-1917.jpg)

# Reinforcements. Our scrap of paper, honor it. Vote Yes. Referendum (Australia, 1917)

A torn strip of paper carries a quotation signed by former Prime Minister Andrew Fisher, 'We will fight to the last man and the last shilling', framed as 'our scrap of paper' to 'honor'. The named ex-Labor leader vouches for a Yes vote (testimonial), and 'scrap of paper', the phrase then associated with the German dismissal of the Belgian neutrality treaty in 1914, is turned into a pledge whose breach a No vote would repeat (transfer).

- **Date:** 1917
- **Period:** [First World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwi)
- **Made by:** Reinforcements Referendum Council, Melbourne (pro-conscription 'Yes' campaign), printed by Sands & McDougall
- **Region:** [Oceania](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=oceania)
- **Country:** [Australia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=australia)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [Movement](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=movement)
- **Regime:** [Hughes Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=hughes-government)
- **Leader:** [William Morris Hughes](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=william-morris-hughes)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Elections and party politics](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=elections-party-politics)
- **Event:** [Australian Conscription Referendums](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=australian-conscription-referendums)
- **Techniques:** [Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Australian War Memorial](https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2603582), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (published 1917; AWM: copyright expired; PD-Australia) Reinforcements Referendum Council; printed by Sands & McDougall Pty Ltd, Melbourne. 1917. Australian War Memorial, AWM2017.1202.1.

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
REINFORCEMENTS

OUR SCRAP OF PAPER

"We will fight to the last man and the last shilling"  Andrew Fisher [signature]

HONOR IT

VOTE YES

REFERENDUM

Authorised by the Reinforcements Referendum Council, Claude McKay, Publicity Secretary, 366 Collins St., Melbourne. Printed by Sands & McDougall Pty. Ltd. [imprint line, very small; read at low confidence]
```

The image as supplied by the holding institution carries a white caption strip below the sheet reading 'AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL AWM2017.1202.1', added by the museum and not part of the poster.

[← Putting the mortgage on the cradle](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mortgage-on-the-cradle-1917/) [So hilft dein Geld Dir kämpfen! In U-Boote verwandelt, hält es Dir feindliche Granaten vom Leib! (This Is How Your Money Helps You Fight! Turned into U-boats, It Keeps Enemy Shells off Your Body!) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/u-boote-kriegsanleihe-1917/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Seljuq gold dinar of Sanjar, dated 493 AH, with the Abbasid caliph named on one face](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/seljuq-gold-dinar-sanjar-caliph-name-1099/) (1099 · Testimonial)
- [Bande Mataram (Paris), memorial page to Madan Lal Dhingra, 17 August 1909](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bande-mataram-paris-dhingra-memorial-1909/) (Aug 17, 1909 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Australia's imperishable record. Australians! The empire needs you (Farmer's, Sydney)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/australias-imperishable-record-1915/) (1915 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Ireland & Poland (recruiting appeal quoting the Rev. William P. Burke)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ireland-and-poland-1915/) (1915 · Fear appeal, Testimonial)
- [Mr. John Dillon, M.P., on recruiting in Ireland. Join an Irish regiment to-day](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/john-dillon-on-recruiting-in-ireland-1915/) (1915 · Testimonial, Semantic hijacking)
- [Wer Kriegsanleihe zeichnet, macht mir die schönste Geburtstagsgabe! (Whoever Subscribes to the War Loan Gives Me the Finest Birthday Present!)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hindenburg-geburtstagsgabe-1917/) (1917 · Testimonial)
- [The Black Stork (cinema advertisement)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/black-stork-1917/) (Nov 1917 · Glittering generalities, Transfer, Testimonial, Fear appeal). Content note: Advertises a film arguing that disabled newborns should be left to die, and calls them "defective infants".