Medivac on Macquarie Island

2025
acrylic on canvas
40 x 50 cm

I joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1975. I was only 15. After seven years of operational service, I left the navy. I carried the defence force experience and core values into my civilian career. On 28 April 1996, I was deployed to the Port Arthur massacre site in Tasmania as Manager Work Health and Safety for Tasmania Police. Martin Bryant killed 35 people and wounded 23 others in the deadliest massacre in modern Australian history. For 20 years, I remained professional at work while reliving the horrors of Port Arthur every night.

Inevitably, I had a breakdown, a serious suicide attempt, was diagnosed with PTSD, and retired on the grounds of ill health. To me, creating art is therapy: purpose, hope and joy.

This artwork tells the story about naval ingenuity and resilience. I was a crew member of HMAS Hobart. In 1979, Hobart and the Antarctic support vessel MV Thala Dan deployed to Macquarie Island to medivac a seriously injured scientist and return him to Australia. In a world first, Hobart’s crew constructed a makeshift helipad which was used by Thala Dan's helicopter to transfer the injured man to the destroyer.