Excellence in the armed forces
Andrew Clowes attended Caboolture State High School from 1974 to 1979. He was School Captain in his final year. In 1980, Andrew joined the Royal Australian Naval College. In 1984, he graduated from the University of NSW with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and also graduated as Dux of his intake at the RANC, being awarded the RSL Sword of Excellence.
Andrew then served at sea on board HMA Ships JERVIS BAY, STALWART and TOBRUK prior to transferring to submarines, serving on the submarines OTAMA and ORION in operations across SE Asia. He joined the Reserves in 1991, and in 1999, won the Prince of Wales Award which gave him the opportunity to work with the US Marine Corps and the US Amphibious Group. As a reservist, he served on HMAS LABUAN, BETANO, BRUNEI, ARDENT, BALIKPAPAN, TARAKAN and again on the submarine ORION.
In 2005, Commander Clowes was posted to Iraq as the Intelligence Officer on HMAS NEWCASTLE, serving with the coalition forces in the Arabian Gulf. On returning to Australia, he became the Officer in Charge of the Navy’s Geospatial Intelligence Library, supporting amphibious activity in the ADF. Andrew has been awarded the Australian Service Medal (with clasp – Special Operations), the Australian Active Service Medal (with Clasps IRAQ 2003 and ICAT), the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Defence Long Service Medal and the Defence Service Medal.
In civilian life, Andrew is Head of IT in Australia for the international property and investment company, Jones Lang LaSalle. In that role, he is recognised as being responsible for some highly innovative projects in workplace management and technology application.