LSCSO Matt Roberts left Canberra in the Seahawk to propose to Jo-Anne.

LSCSO Matthew Roberts had a surprise in store for his girlfriend Jo-Anne Allen while she waited anxiously for the return of her loved one on HMAS Canberra.

Matthew had organised the unfurling of a banner asking for her hand in marriage while he proposed to her on the wharf at Fleet Base West.

He came up with the idea to make the banner in the first week of the deployment.

"I started designing it when we left Phuket so it took about nine days to design and I had a lot of help from other people which was really good," Matthew told Navy News.

Matthew was flown off the ship by Seahawk and approached her with an engagement ring while shipmates unfurled the banner as HMAS Canberra approached.

"I decided to get her a ring while I was away and do the whole banner thing," Matthew said.

Jo-Anne said she had no idea of Matthew's proposal plan.

She said the proposal was wonderful and said yes straight away.

The couple have been going out for the past four-and-a-half years after first meeting at the Metropolis Nightclub in Perth on Christmas Eve 1997, which was Jo-Anne's 18th birthday.

Matthew has been in HMAS Canberra for just over 12 months.

By Tim Slater