"Communism I knew very little about. I think there's an isolation in - or their was - an isolation in being an Australian and being a young Australia.

"Communism was - our thoughts were perhaps influenced by McCarthyism, and reds under the bed. And there was no way we could have that in Australia. And anything - I think also the media perhaps a lot of propaganda about the red horde coming south.

"And so, perhaps, but I'm not sure that influenced me. I'm not sure that influenced me. If I'm absolutely truthful, it was the thought, the excitement, and the thought of caring for young people who were prepared to leave their normal way of life, perhaps to go and try to do something about communism."

LIEUTENANT PEG WEBSTER, NEE NICHOLSON