The two hour episode, "The Children's Carol", starred
a young Australian actress by the name of Sally Boyden. Sally
played the guest role of Tess, the young English girl who, with
her brother Pip, were war evacuees from London. They arrived
on Waltons Mountain, initially to stay with the Baldwin ladies,
but when they didn't seem to be responding very well, the sisters
asked Olivia to step in and take the two children into her own
family.
Sally was discovered by the producers of an Australian talent
show, Young Talent Time, when she was just 7 years old. She went
on to join the team of 8 young performers who were singing and
dancing on the show, and remained with the show for three years.
During that time she performed on television, did live concerts
and made a record which did very well.
After her three years with the show, she went on to make a
US/Australian movie called Barnaby and Me, which also starred
Sid Caesar and Juliet Mills. It was while she was in America,
auditioning for several movie parts, that the part of Tess in
The Waltons, was offered. She also made Lassie - A
New Beginning while she was over there, and won several other
lead movie roles.
Back in Australia she continued her schooling, as well as finding
time to appear in stage productions of Peter Pan and The
Sound of Music, another Australian film and several other
Australian television series.
She left eventually Australia for England where she began her song writing. I believe she is still there, and is still writing songs. I don't think she acts any more.