Commander Stewart Dunne

Commander Stewart Dunne RAN was born in Sydney in 1969 and later lived in Brisbane and Townsville. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at James Cook University in Townsville in 1990 and joined the Royal Australian Navy. Stewart graduated from the Royal Australian Naval College at HMAS Creswell in 1991.

After graduating and initial fleet training, including Phase II in HMA Ships Jervis Bay, Hobart and Adelaide, Stewart commenced Phase IV in HMAS Geelong in 1992. He was awarded his Bridge Watchkeeping Certificate later that year and joined HMAS Success in 1993 to gain his endorsement. He completed the Submarine Officers Training Course at HMAS Platypus in 1995 and was subsequently posted to HMAS Orion. He returned to General Service in 1996 undertaking postings in HMA Ships Tarakan and Balikpapan and was then posted as Executive Officer, HMAS Geraldton in 1997 . He commenced and successfully completed the Basic Hydrographic Officers Course at HMAS Penguin in 1999.

On completion, Stewart joined HMAS Melville as the Boat's Commissioning Officer. During this time he served on HMAS Paluma as an operational relief, participating in Op Belisi in Bougainville and Op Tanager in East Timor whereupon he was awarded the Australian Service Medal and the Australian Active Service Medal. In 2000 he was posted as the Executive Officer, HMAS Shepparton for two years. This was followed by a posting in 2003 to HMS Drake in the UK where he completed the Royal Navy Advanced Hydrographic Course, being awarded a Post Graduate Diploma in Hydrographic Surveying from Plymouth University. On his return to Australia he attended the Commanding Officer Designate Course.

LCDR Dunne assumed command of the Survey Motor Launch HMAS Benalla on 31 December 2003 and continues to enjoy this challenging and rewarding job of Charge Surveyor. In addition to this responsibility, he assumed duties as Class Co-ordinator for the Paluma Class in February 2004 and carried on these duties for 18 months.