Anzac Day pride for Market Drayton woman down under
A Shropshire woman who joined the Australian air forces after a distinguished career in the RAF and has since met an Australia PM was given the honour of reading for the Last Post ceremony on Anzac Day.
Her experiences travelling around Australia as a young backpacker sewed the seed of the idea to move down under, but Sergeant Shelby Powell (née Bullough) could not have imagined taking an active part in Australia and New Zealand's national day of remembrance.
Born in Shrewsbury and raised in Market Drayton, she joined the RAAF after an RAF career which saw her given a Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Since moving she has married and had two children with an Australian man who turned out to have Shropshire roots himself.
At the start of her career she enlisted in the RAF in August 2002 as a geospatial intelligence analyst.
“I had an interest in sport and photography. The recruits told me that this would be a great trade for that,” Sergeant Powell said.
“I then joined the RAAF as an air intelligence analyst after having exposure to the Australian lifestyle and culture whilst on exchange with the RAF in 2009 to support military operations.
“On return to the UK, I submitted an ‘expression of interest’ to be a lateral transfer, then three years later I was given my ‘letter of offer’ to transfer.
“I turned down my RAF promotion to come across to the RAAF as it had been a long-term dream to live and work in Australia, and I’ve never looked back.
“Since arriving in Australia, most of my career has been predominantly with the Air Force’s Geospatial Intelligence 460 Squadron in Canberra.
“I had been a backpacker when I was 18, doing all the typical backpacker stuff, which made me fall in love with the country that I now call home.
“I have since set roots by marrying an Australian and having two beautiful children.”
It transpired that her husband Will's ancestors had come to Australia more than 100 years ago from Wellington, part of modern-day Telford and Wrekin.
Sergeant Powell's mother, Ann Bullough, spoke of her family's pride.
"We are really pleased, she has done really well since she's been out in Australia.
"She has been out there around eight years now.
"She was a bit of a tomboy and she was always keen to go into the army. Years ago there was a stall in Market Drayton for the army cadets... she was told she was too young.
"They agreed that she could join in but not go to certain things because of their insurance."
The family keep in touch using Skype and WhatsApp and Sergeant Powell had planned to come back to Shropshire in April for the 96th birthday of her grandmother, before the coronavirus lockdown put paid to the plans.
"We are so proud of all she has managed to do," Mrs Bullough said.
"She has always had her head screwed on, very sensible."
Sergeant Powell was given the honour of doing the reading at the Last Post ceremony at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Anzac Day, April 25.
“Being selected to read at the Last Post ceremony really is a privilege and a career highlight, considering special permission had to be granted due to the cancellation of all services due to Covid-19,” she said.
“Anzac Day to me means the loyalty for the country you love and digging in through the tough times.”
Throughout her military career, Sergeant Powell has deployed to Afghanistan with the Australian Defence Force in special operations task group rotations and is a recipient of multiple UK and Australian awards from her operational deployments to the Middle East region.
Her special operations deployment earned her a Meritorious Unit Citation.
