Commander Jenny Daetz and Lieutenant Commander Jan Noonan

Caption:

COMMANDER JENNY DAETZ (Morrison) (1968 -     )

In 2001 Royal Australian Navy hydrographic officer, Lieutenant Commander Jenny Daetz became the first RAN surveyor in seventy years to visit Mawson's Hut in isolated Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica. Lieutenant Commander Daetz charted navigational hazards in previously poorly-charted channels and also updated the tidal data collected by Sir Douglas Mawson in 1912.

Jenny Daetz was born in Penrith New South Wales in 1968 and joined the Royal Australian Naval College as a midshipman in 1986. When a change of policy the following year allowed women to train as Seamen, she transferred and completed her Officer of the Watch training in HMA Ships Jervis Bay, Stalwart and Moresby. In 1990 she qualified in hydrography at HMAS Penguin.

In 1997 Jenny Daetz became the first woman to command a Royal Australian Navy ship, HMAS Shepparton. Promoted to the rank of Commander in 2005, Jenny Daetz is currently in command of HMAS Cairns, home port to the fourteen ships performing the key roles of community and defence support, border protection, and hydrographic surveying.


LIEUTENANT COMMANDER JAN NOONAN, CSC

Jan Noonan, who was born in Launceston, Tasmania and joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1988, graduated from the Australian Defence Force Academy in 1990. Her seagoing career started in HMA Ships Tobruk and Canberra 1991-1995, with service in Somalia for Operation Solace. Her next postings were as an Instructor at HMAS Watson’s Bridge Simulator, then as the Navy Recruiting Officer in Melbourne, before returning to sea as the Executive Officer of the Fremantle Class Patrol Boat, HMAS Warrnambool.

In May 2000 Lieutenant Commander Jan Noonan became the first woman to command a Royal Australian Naval ship assigned to active service, when Landing Craft HMAS Labuan was deployed to East Timor. She led Labuan’s crew through intense and demanding operations in East Timor in support of the United Nations; with other landing craft Labuan provided vital stores, food, water and medical aid to the United Nations peacekeeping forces and local communities. This contribution to the relief and reconstruction effort in East Timor earned Labuan the 2000 Landing Craft Heavy proficiency shield. On completion of sea command, Jan Noonan became Officer Commanding the Navy Squadron at the Australian Defence Force Academy. The mother of two young daughters, Lieutenant Commander Noonan was awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross in the 2003 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for leadership of her Squadron at ADFA.

Source:

Images courtesy Australian Department of Defence

Themes: Peace workers, Explorers, expeditioners & missionaries, Gallery WHM 2008: Women with a Mission , War & Defence

This image appears in WHM 2008 - Women with a Mission