Aunty Lorraine
Lorraine Hatton, OAM (Aunty Lorraine) grew up in an Aboriginal Community on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island). She is formally recognised as an Indigenous Quandamooka Woman and Elder. The Quandamooka people are an Aboriginal Australian group that lives around the Moreton Bay Region in South East Queensland.
Aunty Lorraine is from the Ngughi /Nunukul tribes. She is the youngest of 11 children to William Gardiner, a WWII Returned Serviceman and Aunty Emma Enoch of Minjerribah.
In 1986 Aunty Lorraine embarked on a highly successful military career which spanned over 21 years, providing loyal, dedicated service to the Australian Army, her country, and her people. She is widely recognised as a pioneer for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous female servicewomen, distinguishing herself in peacetime and operations, including peacekeeping, humanitarian efforts, peace-monitoring, and war operations across various theatres and campaigns.
At the time of her promotion in 2003, Aunty Lorraine was the first identified Aboriginal female to be promoted to Warrant Officer in the Australian Army’s history. Her career culminated in yet another first for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous female servicewomen when she was appointed as the Communications Manager to the Australian Army Special Forces Task Group in Afghanistan in 2006. Aunty Lorraine retired from the Army in 2007, after a nomadic career that saw her live throughout Australia and abroad, and settle on the Gold Coast in South East Queensland.
Aunty Lorraine was appointed as the Indigenous Elder of the Australian Army in May 2020. This significant national appointment reports directly to the Chief of Army on a broad range of Indigenous issues and sees her sit on the Army Indigenous Capability Advisory Board. Some of her other responsibilities in this role involve representing serving and ex-serving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island personnel, providing advice to Army’s senior leadership, establishing long lasting and mutually beneficial relationships nationally between Army and communities, as well as participating in representational duties and events of significance.
In another first, she was recently appointed as a council member of the Australian War Memorial as of July 2024.
In January 2019 Aunty Lorraine was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for service to the Indigenous Community.