The Austudy Five was the epithet

Epithet

An epithet or byname is a descriptive term accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It is also a descriptive title...

 given to a group of five activists arrested in 1992 at a National Union of Students

National Union of Students (Australia)

The National Union of Students is the peak representative body for Australian university students. Most student unions in Australian campuses are affiliated to NUS...

 (NUS) national demonstration in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. NUS had called the demonstration around the Keating Government

Keating Government

The Hawke-Keating Government refers to the federal Executive Government of Australia of the Australian Labor Party from 1983 to 1996. The government was led initially by Bob Hawke as Prime Minister, who was succeeded by Paul Keating in 1991....

's proposed abolition of Austudy

AUSTUDY

The AUSTUDY Scheme was an Australian educational assistance scheme that provided financial assistance to eligible students between 16 and 64 years of age...

 as a student grant to be replaced by a student loan. There were reportedly
around 3,000 protesters who broke through police lines advancing on the steps of the Victorian Parliament. Demonstrators surrounded a police van after some demonstrators had been arrested, forcing the Victoria Police

Victoria Police

Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of Victoria, Australia. , the Victoria Police has over 12,190 sworn members, along with over 400 recruits, reservists and Protective Service Officers, and over 2,900 civilian staff across 393 police stations.-Early history:The Victoria Police...

 to release them. Three weeks later, police arrested the five activists in dawn raid

Dawn raid

A police raid or dawn raid is a visit by the police, immigration officers or other officials in the early morning, hoping to use the element of surprise to arrest targets that they think may hide evidence, resist arrest, be politically sensitive, or simply be elsewhere during the day.-Germany:Dawn...

s, who were at the time, all from the International Socialist Organisation

International Socialist Organisation (Australia)

The International Socialist Organisation was an Australian Trotskyist political organisation, founded in 1971, originally as the Marxist Workers' Group until it dissolved to form Solidarity in 2008 with two other socialist organisations...

 (ISO). They were charged with unlawful assembly

Unlawful assembly

Unlawful assembly is a legal term to describe a group of people with the mutual intent of deliberate disturbance of the peace. If the group are about to start the act of disturbance, it is termed a rout; if the disturbance is commenced, it is then termed a riot.- Section 144 :Section 144 is a...

, obstruction

Obstruction of justice

The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...

 and illegal rescue

Rescue

Rescue refers to responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or prevention of injury during an incident or dangerous situation....

; by where they would be held responsible for the actions of the entire demonstration. The Labor Left President of NUS at the time unsuccessfully moved to have the ISO expelled from NUS. Civil liberties

Civil liberties

Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...

 activist described the case as "the most important political frame-up of the decade". The case and campaign to defend the five continued for two years before it was finally dismissed in 1994.

The Austudy Five arrestees

• Jill Sparrow
  Jill Sparrow
  Jill Sparrow , has been active as a socialist in Melbourne since 1991. She helped organise protests against the Gulf War and was involved in free education campaigns throughout the early 1990s, as well as participating in nearly every left-wing political cause over the past decade .-Biography:Having...
  
  
• Jeff Sparrow
  Jeff Sparrow
  Jeff Sparrow is an Australian leftwing writer, editor and former socialist activist based in Melbourne, Victoria. He is the co-author of Radical Melbourne: A Secret History and Radical Melbourne 2: The Enemy Within...
  
  
• Jonathon Sherlock
• Marcus Banks
• Mick Armstrong
  Mick Armstrong
  Mick Armstrong is a socialist activist and author based in Melbourne, Australia. He is one of the founding members of the Trotskyist organisation Socialist Alternative and was also one of the Austudy Five....