First woman president of Narrabri Returned and Services League signals a new dawn for Narrabri

After Nicole Gallagher joined the Australian Royal Navy in 1992, she went on to become one of the first women to join the HMAS Canberra warship.

Now, over 20 years later, she has taken on the position as the first female president of the Narrabri Returned and Services League (RSL) sub-branch.

In February, long-standing and respected Narrabri RSL president Gary Mason OAM decided to stand down and elected Ms Gallagher to take his place, a trailblazing decision signaling a new era for women in service, and in the Narrabri RSL Sub-branch.

After a unanimous vote from the club, Ms Gallagher was amazed, and honoured to accept the prestigious position as one of four women presidents in NSW.

“I was overwhelmed and blown away, and I’m just very grateful that our club members have so much trust in me, after the short time I have been here,” said Ms Gallagher.

“I’m very lucky, it’s such a privileged position, and my passion for the RSL is in helping our veterans.

“There are some salt of the earth veterans like Gary Mason and previously Ken Craddock, who’ve put so much passion into running this club, and handed it to me in such great shape and such a solid state, and I’ve got big shoes to fill to make sure I keep it that way.”

Ms Gallagher had only joined the Narrabri sub-branch 12 months before being elected, after moving from Bourke to Narrabri, three years earlier.

An impressive 20-year career, serving in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has prepared the new president for what she considers to be one of the greatest honours of her lifetime, and she is determined to advocate for local veteran soldiers while continuing to grow the club’s legacy, which currently stands at 183 members, making it amongst the strongest clubs in NSW.

“I wrote a speech last night reflecting on how much has changed for women in the ADF, and now my generation and younger generations are coming through to the RSLs.

“It’s been a long time coming but it’s a change of the times, so there will be more women veterans who will be becoming a part of their RSLs.”

Her intentions for the club are to welcome the younger generations of returning members, especially the families of those who have not come home, which the club does through task support and commemoration.

Ms Gallagher didn’t set out to lead a trailblazing career as a woman in the ADF and credits a lot of her career to being in the right place to take an opportunity.

When she signed up for the Navy as a 22-year-old, she joined a category with no women, and just so happened to have finished her training and took up a position as one of 30 of the first women to join the HMAS Canberra when the warship came back from the Gulf War in 1993.

“It was a good integration, which took place quickly,” said Ms Gallagher.

“Some of the soldiers were a bit old school about having girls on the ship, but some were great and I’m still friends with them today.”

When she was 25 years old, Ms Gallagher welcomed her first child into the world, becoming the first woman in her branch to have a baby, and then return to service.

This was a big deal at a time when women were normally discharged after service and encouraged to retire.

Her ground-breaking return to the force turned into one of Nicole’s biggest fights for breaking barriers and creating opportunities for women in the ADF, who were starting families.

“I had to do a preliminary discharge to go and have a baby, then when my maternity leave was over, I had to come and knock on the door and say I was back, sign me back up,” said Ms Gallagher.

“There was this issue with a woman coming back to the Navy – no one knew how to handle it, I used to fight that attitude hard, I always fought for women who were going to be behind me and have the same struggles.”

Ms Gallagher fought many battles for equality with childcare, flexible working hours, and leave arrangements, and as she fought for her country, she also fought for the right to be a woman, and a mother, at work.

“People thought I wouldn’t come back, then they thought I wouldn’t go back to sea, then I got promoted, so, I just kept changing the way that women were forced to do things,” said Ms Gallagher.

“I don’t know if it’s what I set out to do, but I had that fire in my belly, about how we need to change the way we think about women in the military because there were no high-ranking females, senior officers, and senior sailors. So, I don’t know if I subconsciously did it or whether I was just in the right place at the right time.”

After 10 years of service in the ADF, and at the rank of Petty Officer, Ms Gallagher started thinking about a career pivot.

“My time in the Navy had a lot of travel and sacrifice,” said Ms Gallagher.

“My career gave me so much back, and you can’t get something without giving something, but after having my second child, I knew I wanted to be back on the ground with my kids.”

Ms Gallagher trained for the police academy by distance while she was away at sea, then took long service leave to complete the three-month component in Goulburn, NSW.

The day after her discharge from service, she joined the NSW Police Force and went on to become a detective.

Among her many experiences away at sea, Ms Gallagher found travelling to fascinating places all over the world to be the most inspiring and eye-opening; visiting countries like the

Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand, Hawaii (her personal favourite), and South Korea where she visited the Anzac War memorial.

After joining in many Anzac celebrations, from Dunedoo to Dubbo, and marching in the Sydney Anzac march, Ms Gallagher has appropriately reflected on her first big assignment as president of the RSL sub-branch, to plan this year’s Anzac memorial.

Ms Gallagher is focused on upholding the beloved traditions of Anzac’s past, as well as honouring outgoing president Gary Mason.

New RSL Sub-branch president Nicole Gallagher will preside over her first Anzac Day commemoration in Narrabri. Pictured above is the 2023 morning service.

“It’s a big responsibility, and the day means so much to the Narrabri community, my main priority is to make sure it holds all the reverence that it deserves while keeping with the Narrabri RSL’s traditions,” said Ms Gallagher.

“The passion throughout NSW’s regional towns just doesn’t compare to big city ceremonies.

“In a city, the impact of the loss of a soldier isn’t felt as significantly as in a country town, where they may have lost three or four men, but those men knew everyone, they were brothers, uncles, friends, they were a part of a town’s identity.”

Ms Gallagher had the opportunity to witness the community’s commemorations firsthand when she was invited to participate as a guest speaker in Narrabri schools’ Anzac remembrances this year.

“It was unbelievable, I’m a very sensitive person, but going to the schools was beautiful,” said Ms Gallagher.

“Gary Mason does this each year, and this year it was my turn, but seeing the way they showed their respects… I haven’t seen that kind of participation in a long time.”

Ms Gallagher was also particularly blown away, after receiving a drawing that Narrabri Public School student Camilla Kennedy handed her as a thanks for visiting their school, which she intends on getting framed.

For this year’s Anzac ceremony on Thursday, April 25, Ms Gallagher is looking forward to joining the dawn services, and the march to the RSL at 10:30 am, where this year, official guest speaker Chief Petty Officer Mark Gibbs will give an address for his 40th Anzac Day as a serving member.

She will be handing over the reins to outgoing president Gary Mason for his last address, and to give the community the appropriate opportunity to farewell him.

As president, stepping into this new era of representation for incoming RSL veterans, Ms Gallagher will heed tradition but wants to see women shine in their respective fields.

“It’s an evolving time, we’ll see more people coming through to our local RSLs and so many of those will be mothers that go to sea, captains of establishments and control boats – leaders in their own fields.

“They return from service and come back to become leaders in other fields like medicine and business, because women have the opportunity to shine in any field now.”

And what advice does our first female president of the Narrabri RSL sub-branch who has served in the ADF for 20 years, retiring in the rank of lieutenant, want to impart to women, and all members of the community?

“Be passionate about what you do, and find that fire in your belly, or the one thing that gets you out of bed every day and believe in yourself.”

“Trust your gut instincts.

“I’ve been blessed with amazing opportunities, but I don’t think it was about being in the right place at the right time, it was more about deciding which rabbit holes I wanted to go down.”