‘SERVING MY COUNTRY IS AN HONOUR’
TWENTY YEARS AGO, TRACY JOINED THE ARMY AND HAS SINCE PAVED THE WAY FOR WOMEN IN DEFENCE
Every year on Anzac Day, Lieutenant Colonel Tracy Allison will rise in the early hours to host a dawn service in the crisp Canberra air.
Beside her is husband Lieutenant Colonel Michael Allison and their children, James, 11, and Sophia, 9. The family commemorate the brave men and women who fought for our country.
“Serving our nation is an honour, and I hope that my service today is worthy of those who have come before us and sets an example for those who will follow,” Tracy tells New Idea.
Even before joining the army, Tracy would always go to the Anzac Day march. “It’s always held a special place for me and my family. It’s an Australian tradition,” she says.
Tracy, 44, smiles when she recalls the day she joined the army more than 20 years ago. She was asked to dress in business attire, so she arrived at the Royal Military College at Duntroon, ACT wearing a frock and high heels – the same outfit she was used to wearing to her job in Adelaide.
Tracy soon realised she had made quite the fashion faux pas when her predominantly male intake were handed their first task of hauling heavy suitcases around the camp.
“I’d always loved heels and handbags, so my family were shocked when I told them
I was going to join the army,” recalls Tracy. “I was studying an arts degree and working, but I was feeling a bit bored and wanted something different. I realised I wanted a career that would challenge me, where I wouldn’t be stuck doing the same thing day in and day out.”
After undergoing 18 months of training to become a general service officer, Tracy was posted to Darwin to work in health operations. She has since travelled the country taking on new roles every two years, which have included jobs in logistics, international relations, human
resources and long-term schooling. While her career has been full of highlights, one that stands out was working as officer in charge of the Soldier Recovery Centre in Darwin 10 years ago, where she cared for wounded, injured and ill soldiers, and their families.
“A lot of the soldiers had come from Afghanistan,” she
‘I HOPE MY SERVICE IS WORTHY OF THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE’
says. “It was challenging to manage and advocate for the soldiers with complex physical and psychological recovery needs. It was also incredibly rewarding to support them to find and accept their new normal.”
While Tracy recalls being one of very few women in the defence force when she signed up, she has since enjoyed watching more women rise through the ranks to take on traditionally male roles, from planning and controlling artillery fires to frontline soldiers on the battlefield.
She is now the second woman to be appointed to her role of Commanding
Officer and Chief Instructor at Duntroon since she walked through the gate in her heels two decades ago.
“When I came through, there were limited career choices for women,” says Tracy. “We were limited to logistics roles, but now women can do anything they want, which is great. People say being in the army is a tough gig, but it’s not necessarily tougher than any other career – it has its challenges.”
Recently, Tracy was able to visit the grave of her greatgreat-uncle, George Winter, who fought in the First World
War. His grave is near Villersbretonneux and she attended a Dawn Service at the Australian National Memorial.
“It was extremely moving to be there in the place where he made the ultimate sacrifice,” she remembers.