Damned Rascals?

Paul Kable AM joined the Royal Australian Naval College in January 1963 from Avalon Beach, New South Wales. As a junior officer he saw active service during Indonesia’s confrontation of Malaysia and in Vietnam; and he undertook two years professional training in the UK with the opportunity for  family history research.

  Commodore Kable served as the Navigating and Operations Officer of the destroyer HMAS STUART from December 1968 until 1971, when he proceeded to HMS DRYAD in England on a year’s warfare course. This gave him additional time for family history research. From April 1972 to May 1974 he was Staff Navigation Officer to Captain Mine Countermeasures and Fishery Protection, based in Scotland where he met his wife Anne. On return to Australia, he taught at the Navigation School, HMAS WATSON, before joining HMAS PERTH as Navigating and Operations Officer. His daughter, born in 1977 and baptised in the PERTH’s ship’s bell, was named Susannah.

  In January 1978, he commenced two years as Head of Professional Training at the Naval College at Jervis Bay. On promotion to Commander in December 1979, he served for 18 months at the Combat Data Systems Centre in Canberra before attending the Australian Joint Services Staff College. He was Captain of the frigate HMAS SYDNEY from commissioning in Seattle in January 1983 until her return to Australia in 1984. In June 1984 he took up a posting in the Naval Manpower Branch in Canberra and in November 1985, was promoted to Captain and joined the Military Staff Branch of the Strategic and International Policy Division in the Department of Defence.

  From January 1988 until October 1989 he was Captain of the frigate HMAS DARWIN and was then appointed the Director of Naval (Budget) Programs on the Naval Staff in Canberra.

  Promoted Commodore in July 1991, he assumed the appointment of Head Australian Defence Staff and Defence Adviser, London, in January 1992 for three years, and returned to Australia to become Director General Maritime Development at Defence Headquarters in Canberra.  His last position in the Navy was as Commodore Fleet Bases, with headquarters at HMAS STIRLING in Western Australia.  He became a Member of the Order of Australia on Australia Day 1999 for his services in London and the development of the surface fleet.  Between 2000 and 2007 he was Manager Naval Requirements for Tenix Marine Pty Ltd.

  Paul is descended from Henry Kable and Susannah Holmes through their son, William Nathaniel, and grandson, Henry Charlton.  Paul has been Vice-Patron of the Fellowship of First Fleeters since 1986.  Paul and Anne have two children, Andrew and Susannah

June Whittaker B.A.,  M.A. (History & Government) trained as a teacher at Wagga Teachers College, and returned to the College in 1959 as lecturer in Education.  She spent 1962 to 1964 teaching in England and Canada. The following year she was appointed lecturer in History and Government at the Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA) on Middle Head, Mosman NSW, preparing Australians for service in Papua New Guinea; or as community advisers for service in Australian Aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory. 

  In 1974 she was appointed Senior Lecturer and Head Department of Development Studies at the International Training Institute on Middle Head, helping to update the professional skills of personnel from Third World countries.  From 1981 until retirement in 1993, she was Director of regional training aid programs for developing countries, and travelled widely as part of her work for AIDAB (later Ausaid) Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 

  June was history consultant for Old Sydney Town for ten years. She has many publications to her credit including major works on Papua New Guinea.  In the 1980s she published two books on Henry Kable “The Raking of the Embers” and a sequel “The Flame in the Morning”. In 2002 she published “Kable. Convict Extraordinaire”, a trilogy comprising a reprint of the earlier books and a third sequel “The Fire in his Eye”. 

  June is a descendant of Henry and Susannah Kable through their son, George Esto, and grandson William.  June and husband Mervyn, have two children, Ingrid and Kristian.