While a celebrated cause for the Australian left — particularly the Communist Party of Australia and the trade union movement — the war failed to spark particular public interest and the government maintained its neutrality . Australian opposition to the Republican cause was marshalled by B.A. Santamaria on an anti @-@ communist basis , rather than a pro @-@ Nationalist basis . Equally , although individual right wing Australians may have served with the Nationalist rebels , they received no public support . Service in a foreign armed force was illegal at the time , however as the government received no reports of Australians travelling to Spain to enlist , no action was taken . Consequently , returned veterans were neither recognised by the government or the Returned and Services League of Australia ( RSL ) . Although the number of Australian volunteers was relatively small compared to those from other countries , at least 14 were killed .