This history of student politics at Australia"s oldest university from the 1920s to the 1950s details the impact of student activity off campus and on, through such turbulent times as the Great Depression, World War II, and the postwar anticommunist period. Australia"s most significant university during this period, before the creation of the Australian National University, served as the starting point for many of Australia"s most prominent politicians, academics, and professionals, of the past 50 years, as they became immersed in such national issues as the peace movement of the 1930s, debate over the second world war, and the postwar development of the cold war and anticommunism. Also discussed is the progressive alliance forged by Communists and Protestant evangelicals, and the opposition they faced from both conservatives and freethinkers.