Our People in NSW
Leanne Hinton - From Naval Cadet to International Troubleshooter
Three years in the Naval Cadets was enough to convince Gosford’s Petty Officer Bosun Leanne Hinton that she was cut out for a long term naval career. Now she’s a senior sailor aboard HMAS Kanimbla and heading for the Sumatra disaster zone.
Leanne, now 35, is now part of the Australian Government’s response to a request by the Indonesian Government for assistance following the devastating earthquakes that hit Sumatra earlier this month.HMAS Kanimbla is one of the Navy’s two amphibious transport ships and is normally based in Sydney but now she’s carrying tonnes of emergency supplies and over 100 uniformed specialist disaster-relief experts.
Leanne joined the Royal Australian Navy 15 years ago from Gosford and has already seen plenty of sea-time aboard HMA ships Newcastle, Tobruk and Success.
“I have also worked for Defence Force Recruiting and as an instructor at the Australian Defence Force Academy,” Leanne said.
Add to this a four month exchange deployment to the United Kingdom on Operation Long Look last year, plus visits to countries including Tonga, Vanuatu, Fiji, Hawaii, Guam and New Zealand, and you can see that, like in the song, Leanne really has seen the world.
As a Petty Officer Bosun, she is one of Kanimbla’s small arms weapons specialists and is a key player in the ship’s boarding party operations.
“Essentially, I manage all seamanship evolutions onboard, which includes refuelling at sea, man overboard exercises and jackstay transfers (where stores or personnel are transferred from one ship to another while underway),” she said.
In 1999 she was awarded the Australian Active Service Medal for her service in East Timor as part of the Interfet Taskforce.
Soon she and her shipmates will be getting to grips with the latest natural disater to hit the region.