From my memoirs:
A few days before Christmas in 1965, a colleague and I were booked TAA Sydney Melbourne as the final leg of our journey back from Vietnam. For reasons possibly not unconnected to the discovery of a broken down M1 Carbine in a veteran's luggage (not mine), Customs decided to do us all properly. The result was that we were in danger of missing our flight. However, after a bit of pushing by our air-movements man, we were cleared, and whilst our luggage had an easy run on the back of a towmotor, we had a lengthy sprint through the ancient Mascot terminals from the arrivals hall to the TAA departure gate.
We were escorted across the tarmac to an Electra sitting there with the front all buttoned up, numbers 3 and 4 running at idle, and the extremely senior Air Hostess awaiting us at the foot of the rear stairs. She was, indeed, the only four-bar hosty I had ever met, and I guess she was the senior check and trainer or somesuch. She escorted us to the semi-circular lounge at the rear of the Electra, and plied us with champers and goodies for the trip south. This was probably not such a great idea at 10 in the morning, we having come off PanAm Saigon to Singapore, then QF to Sydney, all first class, but we weren't about to refuse. Indeed, apart from the odd hasty hand-shake, it constituted the only real welcome home (apart from our families) that we had until 23 years later. It might have also contributed to me falling asleep during the family welcome home, who knows?
I was later told that she had refused to allow the rear stairs to be cleared by the expedient of standing on the bottom step until we turned up. At this distance, I salute her - but can anybody tell me her name and official rank? PM if necessary.