John Alderton
Palawa Man
Chief Petty Officer
Regional Indigenous Development Coordinator
Royal Australian Navy
Medals and Awards
Australian Active Service Medal with clasps Iraq and ICAT
Afghanistan Medal
Iraq Medal
Australian Operational Service Medal – Border Protection
Defence Long Service Medal with 1st and 2nd clasps
Australian Defence Medal
Born in 1967 in Hobart, Tasmania to a single mum and Aboriginal dad, I was put up for adoption following my mother being sat in a room and not being allowed to see me until she signed the paperwork. I was raised by two loving parents who never concealed the fact that I had been adopted but who were also unaware of my Indigenous heritage. In the early 2000s, following a change to the law in Tasmania, my birth mother was able to locate me and make contact. It was then, in my early 30s, that I was made aware of my ancestry. That is when a period of discovery began; trying to research my roots and the traditions of my people, the Palawa. It has been a long hard experience as the records in Tasmania are hard to access or just purely don’t exist. As part of Navy Indigenous, I have been able to grow in culture and learn from many Elders from around the country and this growth continues today.