By Eleanor Wilson
Born and bred Berwick local Chloe Anderson has Navy blood flowing through her veins.
Her father and uncle are both Navy Gulf War veterans and their brother, sister-in-law and niece have all served in the Royal Australian Navy.
So it was somewhat of a right of passage for the 22-year-old when she led her cohort, the 66th graduating class at HMAS Creswell, at their graduation ceremony last week.
But one part of the ceremony she hadn’t prepared for came when presented with the Cunningham Cup for outstanding leadership qualities – an award mum Julie Anderson believes is well deserved.
“We are very proud of her, she’s always had a very strong work ethic,” Mrs Anderson said.
Awarded to the graduate demonstrating outstanding leadership, officer like qualities and good influence among colleagues, Chloe’s name will be engraved into the 103-year-old award, alongside its first recipient from 1919.
Commanding the ceremony of over 190 graduates – the Royal Australian Navy’s largest graduating cohort ever – Chloe is no stranger to leading her peers.
She captained the U18s Beaconsfield Football Club to the girl’s premiership in 2018, her fourth premiership.
She was also given a Captains commendation for moral courage during her navy training, an award her family is very proud of.
Mrs Anderson herself is an OAM recipient for her service to veterans and their families and her father and uncle are both decorated navy veterans, so it is perhaps not difficult to imagine where Chloe derived her strong work ethic from.
But being a navy officer wasn’t always on the cards for Chloe.
“She was always going to join the police force, since she was a young girl that is what she wanted to do,” Mrs Anderson said.
“It was only when she attended her cousin’s ADF graduation ceremony when she was in Year 9 that she indicated she was interested in joining the navy.”
Alongside her naval training, Chloe studied to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in science and a Master’s in podiatry.
She has now been posted to HMAS Watson in Sydney and looks forward to beginning her career as a Maritime Warfare Officer.
According to Mrs Anderson, she has high hopes for her career.
“She’ll be a lifer – she has hopes to become a Chief of Navy, so she is aspiring to great heights,” she said.
