Navy People: From broke student to multi-linguist
29 November 2010
A few years ago Shepparton’s Trish Dollisson (nee Johnson) got tired of being a poor student at Monash Uni and decided to change her life. She joined the Navy.
Trish’s family were no strangers to life in uniform. Her dad Graeme, now the manager of SPC Ardmona, had been in the Navy 20 years and her mum Chris’s family had worn khaki Army for five generations.
“It was a hard choice,” said Trish, now 28. “But after Notre Dame I really wanted to travel, I knew I was good at languages — and that first year at Monash proved I didn’t like being broke!
“I went to HMAS Cerberus near Melbourne for my basic training,” she said. “Since then I‘ve specialised as a linguist and been promoted to Leading Seaman.”
Now Trish can speak Bahasa (Indonesian), Tok Pisin (PNG) Bislama (Vanuatu), and Pijin (Solomon islands).
And if you think that limits her to the South Pacific she can also speak Chinese, Japanese and Russian.
“I’m not fluent in those three yet but I can get by,” she said.
So far she’s travelled to Hawaii and trained at sea with US Marines, been all through the South Pacific and as far west as the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean.
“I’ve had a few stand-out moments,” she said. “I’ve crossed over the dateline and been on an island which had the same time but a different date.
“I’ve been seconded to Customs, and I’ve also been on exchange to Parliament House for a week. I found politics really interesting. Now I’m thinking of leaving the Navy and getting into politics — but not for a few years yet!
“There’s still plenty to do in the Navy — including promotion to officer.
“But there’s also the social side. It’s fantastic. I’ve more friends than I ever had at school. Everyone bonds so well. There’s nothing more fun than going ashore in a foreign port with a bunch of mates.”
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