Kathryn guards her man

Beside every good man is a good woman. LSHSO Kathryn Howlett will carry a Steyr rifle when she guards her husband WO Kevin Howlett when he leads the ‘scroll party’ in Saturday’s Wollongong Freedom of Entry parade. Photo by ABPH Bill Louys.

When Warrant Officer Kevin Howlett steps off in the Australian Hydrographic Service’s initial Freedom of Entry parade through the City of Wollongong on Saturday, he will have an armed guard at his side...his wife Kathryn.

Kath Howlett is a Leading Seaman in the Naval Reserves.

The other armed sentry will be LS Kate Grarock.

Both are hydrographic systems operators at the Australian Hydrographic Office in Wollongong.

With Steyr rifles at the port, both women will accompany Kevin as he falls in behind the Australian Hydrographer, CAPT Bruce Kafer and ahead of some 40 Hydrographic Service members and the Royal Australian Navy Band/Sydney.

The Australian Hydrographic Service, as an entity, is 82 years old but has never been granted the Freedom of Entry to any city.

This will change on Saturday, when in a number of ceremonies along the parade route the Lord Mayor of Wollongong (Councillor Alex Darling) will formally present to CAPT Kafer and WO Howlett the documentation (a scroll now being completed by 77-year-old calligraphist Ray Johnson at his Bayview home) which declares that the City of Wollongong will allow the service to march through its streets with “swords drawn, flags flying and drums playing”.

The Freedom of Entry ceremony will take place in The Wollongong City Mall from 11.55am.

The RAN officers and sailors will then move off only to be challenged several hundred metres away by the Local Area Police Commander, Superintendent John Trott.

Kevin will read out loud the words on the newly drawn scroll, and receive permission from the police to proceed.

The official Mayoral party will make its way to a reviewing platform outside the Council Chambers Administration Centre in Burelli St.

Here the Lord Mayor and the Chief of Navy, VADM Chris Ritchie, will review the parade. An official reception will follow.

One interested spectator will be Master Kieran Howlett, son of Kevin and Kathryn.

He will celebrate his second birthday on the day of the parade.

Kevin and Kathryn have known each other for many years, drawn together by their interest in hydrography.

“We met when she was in HMAS Paluma, and I was in HMAS Shepparton,” Kevin explained. “Kathryn came from Adelaide. I’m from Umina.
“Kathryn left the Navy after 11 years and I have been in for almost 29 years.
“Kath became a Reservist and now works in the Hydrographic office two days a week.
“She is undertaking a Certificate 4 Course at the Wollongong TAFE College in beauty therapy.
“We married in 1998 and live locally,” he said.

• By Graham Davis

 

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