Hydrographic Ship White Crew
Lieutenant Commander Michael Gulyas, RAN
Lieutenant Commander Michael Gulyas, RAN joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1983 as a General List Officer. After completing studies at Royal Australian Naval College, HMAS Creswell towards a Diploma in Applied Studies, he undertook professional seaman training which saw him serve on board HMA Ships Jervis bay, Vampire and Perth. He was awarded his Bridge Watchkeeping Certificate on HMAS Tobruk. Following a posting on board HMAS Torrens Gulyas served as the Project Officer, Training Systems Projects Directorate, managing surface warfare training systems procurement projects.
In 1991 Gulyas joined HMAS Tarakan, a Landing Craft Heavy, as the Executive Officer and then returned to Canberra and serving as the Staff Officer Reserves, HMAS Harman completed his Bachelor of Arts at the Defence Academy. This posting was short lived as university studies highlighted an interest in the environment and in 1996 he completed the initial Hydrographic Officers Course. He then joined HMAS Flinders as the Survey Systems Manager, then Officer in Charge of the Ship’s 10 metre Survey Motor Boat (SMB), and then Executive Officer.
After serving on Flinders, Gulyas joined the Laser Airborne Depth Sounder Unit (LADS), where he performed the duties of Survey Systems Manager, Survey Flight Co-ordinator, and then Executive Officer. LADS utilises a scanned laser mounted in a Fokker F27-500 to survey reef waters and provided a unique and rewarding opportunity to fly over the Great Barrier Reef. He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in January 1999.
From LADS Gulyas attended the Advanced Hydrographic Officer’s Course at HMS DRAKE in the United Kingdom. On completing the course he assumed Command of the Survey Motor Launch HMAS Paluma between October 2000 and July 2003. In September 2003 he returned to LADS Flight as Commanding Officer and then in January 2005 he joined HMAS Warrnambool, a Darwin based Fremantle Class Patrol Boat, as Commanding Officer until the Ship decommissioned in November 2005. In 2006 he served as the Maritime Adviser to the Republic of Fiji Navy, followed in 2007 by a posting as the Hydrographic Survey Force Quality Manager; and during this posting he introduced and achieved ISO 9001 accreditation of the HSF Quality Management System, a document system governing RAN Survey policy and procedures. He then assumed command of HS White Crew, which serves on the RAN survey ships HMA Ships Leeuwin and Melville, on 18 December 2008.
Lieutenant Commander Gulyas is married to Jeannine and together they have three children, James (18), Katelan (17) and Liam (9).
