However, he said “there is a degree of role modelling in this”, showing that no matter where anyone was from, they could still achieve and rise to such positions as head of the Navy, and there were “options”.
Proctor has visited Hawke’s Bay regularly over the years despite a naval career that took him around the world. He was most recently in Napier in 2016 to address the Anzac Day service at the Soundshell, twice in 2019 for the Art Deco Festival and to speak at the college (taking two other naval staff as fellow role models)and in 2020 on the Fallen Comrades Memorial motorbike ride.
His father, who still lives in Hawke’s Bay, was a diver and they were often out in a boat on the bay. As a youngster, he sailed P-class yachts at the Napier Sailing Club.
Joining the Navy straight out of school in 1968, aged 18, Proctor took on logistical and supply roles. He rose through the ranks to become United Nations Chief of Logistics at the UN mission at East Timor. He became Chief of Navy in November 2018, the first officer with a logistics background, the position having typically been held by warfare officers.
He retired by rotation in June, becoming deputy executive director at the Australian Civil Military Centre in New South Wales.
Proctor said ahead of one visit “home”: “I’m proud to be a boy from the Bay, and it’s always nice to get back home two or three times a year.”
He is the second former pupil of Richmond School in a New Year Honours list in the past three years, following the Knighting of former director general of health Sir Ashley Bloomfield at the end of 2023, recognising his service during the Covid-19 pandemic.
