Navy People: Things have certainly changed
7 October 2010
Wendy Sharp grew up on the farm at Coreen with her parents Ron and Betty Sharp, and her first job after Corowa High School was at Roslyn’s dress shop in Corowa.
She then joined the Navy and fetched up in London. Now she’s based in Nowra, but moving back to Canberra in 2011, so she’s definitely looking forward to getting home a bit more often.
“My sister had been in the Navy and so had my uncle in World War two,” said Wendy. “I was a country girl, working in a dress shop, but I wanted to explore!
“First stop was HMAS Cerberus where every sailor goes for their basic training. From there I specialised as a medic and got promoted up the ranks to Warrant Officer, and then commissioned as an officer in 2006.
“When I first joined the Navy women didn’t even go to sea. Things have definitely changed,” said Wendy. “My first ship was HMAS Moresby, a hydrographic survey ship based in Perth. We got to know the coast up to Darwin pretty well.
“Then I was posted to East Timor in 2001, working at the hospital in Dili. After that I was aboard HMAS Kanimbla as part of the Asian tsunami relief operation in 2005, before getting posted to London on Exercise Long Look.
“London was fabulous — the history and the buildings were amazing, but you really have to have money to live there!
“With my experience as a medic, my next posting will be in health intelligence — it’s a whole new way of managing health, very new and exciting.
“My partner Glenn Harber is ex-Navy so he understands how things work and is very supportive — and I’m due to be promoted to Lieutenant-Commander in January.
“I’m still a Corowa girl but I’ve certainly had a few adventures since I was that young sales girl in the dress shop.”
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