In 1982, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service--with the backing of the Australian government at the time--formed its first ever. special covert operations team in support of Secret Service agents operating overseas. Similar to the UK's Special Operations Executive that was formed during World War II, this Top Secret team was comprised of a small number of highly trained civilians whose actions--should they be caught--would be government deniable. The team trained intensely for just one year ending in the inglorious and notorious Melbourne Sheraton Hotel raid at the end of 1983.
At just 25 years old, Alexandra Stowasser was the first and only woman recruited to that team. In 'Tasting the Oyster,' she relates the many paths that led her to that fateful time in her life: her family background, her childhood as an English migrant in Western Australia, the difficulties thrown in her path as she pursued her destiny, and the final challenge of leading a secret double life during a year of intense and often highly dangerous training.
This is her story...
