ALTHOUGH we largely associate the Cold War with the Soviet Union's quest to dominate Europe, some part of it did play out in this region of the world. 
When World War II ended in 1945 there was already deep suspicion in Australia about communism, the Australian Communist Party and anyone who sympathised with communism in any way.
Newspapers were filled with reports of communists' involvement in industrial disputes, along with editorials about the insidious nature of communism. Some reprinted a 1937 speech by Winston Churchill warning communism was "not only a creed, it is a plan of campaign" and that communists would do anything to achieve their ends.
Events in Europe in the late 1940s inflamed these fears and Liberal Party leader Robert Menzies, who had been in Europe during the Berlin Blockade, returned to Australia in 1949 to campaign against communism. The climate of fear helped his party win the election but for Menzies it was not just a political ploy, it was a passionate belief Australia needed to be protected from communist infiltration.
As prime minister, in 1950-51 he tried to have the Communist Party banned. His quest was unsuccessful and the Liberals lost five seats at the 1951 election.
In 1950, when war broke out in Korea, Menzies was quickly convinced by his minister for external affairs, Percy Spender, that Australia needed to take a stand against the communists there.
He also committed forces in 1950 to help fight a communist insurgency in the former British colony of Malaya.
In 1954 the defection of Soviet diplomat Vladimir Petrov and revelations that there were communist spies in Australia seemed to vindicate Menzies and he comfortably won the election that year.When the US sent troops to Vietnam in the 1960s, Australia also took part for fear of other Asian nations turning communist if the Vietnamese communists won.