A Daylesford woman has recounted the trauma of being spied on, interrogated and forced out of a job she loved. Why? For being gay.
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Yvonne Sillett is the daughter of two navy officers and always dreamed of following in her parents' footsteps.
After growing up in Oakleigh and signing up to the Australian Army after her 18th birthday, she thought it was the beginning of a long career in the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
Joining in 1979, the self-described tomboy - who was very active and sporty - fit into the army well.
She joined a branch called the Royal Australian Corps of Signals that required a top-secret clearance -she acquired it pretty much straight away.
Working in the Corps for 10 years, Sillett was a valued soldier. But while a respected member of the ADF, for much of that time she was forced to keep a big part of herself secret.
Up until 1985, female recruits had completed their training separately to males. But at this time the Army decided to integrate it.
"I was the first female Corporal to go across to instruct female recruits at the base at Kapooka - the very first time females had integrated with the men."
While still in the Corps of Signals, she loved the two years she spent training the recruits.
"I loved what I did. It was my life and was going to be my career," Sillett told The Courier.
After two years, she left Kapooka and returned to her role as the Corporal in Charge of the Corps of Signals' communications centre - where she was in charge of staff sending and receiving messages to various other centres across the world.
While she had developed a reputation as a hard-working and respected soldier, had accolades and was involved in all different sporting teams she had long kept her sexuality secret after realising she was gay in 1983.
"From 1983 I was always looking over my shoulder. It was dreadful but you just had to keep your head down and do what you had to do."
She knew she needed to keep her sexuality a secret if she was to continue working in the ADF because at that time LGBTQI+ people were forbidden from serving. Separating her private life from her professional career was "very difficult at times", especially when she lived at a base.
Then, in 1988 her worst fear played out. Sillett was based in Watsonia at the army barracks in Melbourne and working in a communications centre on St Kilda Road when she received a call from her boss telling her she needed to see the military police.
Confused, she recalls her fear walking into that room and seeing a member of the military police sitting in the interrogation room, wearing the telltale red beret.
Unbeknownst to her, her partner at the time - who was also in the Corps of Signals - had also been called in and was being interrogated in a separate room.
Sillett remembers the interrogation beginning as a casual chat, though she was very anxious. Then, the military police officer cut to the chase and told her the ADF knew she was homosexual.
Sillett denied what she knew to be true in an effort to protect herself and her career.
"I knew that if I admitted that I was gay that I would be either discharged, lose my security clearance or both," she said.
Then, the military police officer laid all of her cards on the table: Sillett had been followed for some time and the military had photographic evidence of her private life - from where she lived to who her friends were.
"It ended up being what we now call a witch-hunt," Sillett said, adding the interrogation lasted more than three hours.
She was one of four women who were "witch-hunted" at the Watsonia barracks. But while the three others admitted their sexuality and were discharged, Sillett decided to fight what she deemed to be an unfair policy.
"I thought no, I'm fighting this because this is my life, this is my career and this is what I've lived all my life to do and they're not taking it away from me just because I am a gay lady."
I thought no, I'm fighting this because this is my life, this is my career and this is what I've lived all my life to do and they're not taking it away from me just because I am a gay lady
- Yvonne Sillett
She lodged a "redress of grievance" and employed an army lawyer. She battled the policy for months until one day she was informed that her top secret clearance had been downgraded. The move "shattered" her.
"I knew straight away that meant I could no longer work in the Corps of Signals because I no longer had my top-secret security clearance.
"All because I was a gay lady they took away my top-secret clearance which then took away my career within the military."
So she decided to take an honourable discharge.
"For many years I didn't cope very well at all and was suicidal. I loved what I did, I and had been a bit of a trailblazer for women in the army. I was absolutely shattered when I was forced out."
She likened the trauma she experienced at being forced out of her career as similar to when she lost her mother, who passed away as a result of melanoma in 1997. While she knew her daughter was gay, she never knew the true reason she was forced out of the army.
"It was devastating for me. I lived with a lot of anger for many, many years. I have a lot of friends that are gay and are now on a pension for life because they had reached senior ranking officer roles and were untouched.
"There was no continuity with it [the policy] - there was a policy but they only singled out some people."
The ADF banned gay, lesbian and sexual people from serving openly until November 1992 while there were restrictions on transgender service until September 2010.
Sillett's story is one of those uncovered by two historians - Professor Noah Riseman from Australian Catholic University and Dr Shirleene Robinson from Macquarie University, who have written a book titled Serving in Silence.
Sillett described being approached to be interviewed as "cathartic" as someone "finally wanted to hear her story".
She is both proud of her career in the army as well as of her sexual identity. Since the book was released, she has spoken openly about her story.
Professor Riseman and Dr Robinson also curated an exhibition based on the book - it showcases the history of LGBTQI+ military service in Australia since World War II through photos, stories and love letters.
While it has been exhibited at various festivals, this week it will be staged in Daylesford by the newly formed Discharged LGBTI Veterans' Association.
The Association was founded by Sillett and another ex-veteran in Daylesford, Danny Liversage, to support and advocate for ADF personnel, their family and friends who were adversely impacted by the Defence's historic anti-LGBTI policies.
Liversage had been a young driver in the RAAF and had also planned to make the military his career. But after just three years he was called into an interrogation room and presented with photos of himself with other gay men outside gay bars. At just 21 and with a whole career ahead of him, it all came crashing down - but he elected to leave willingly.
Professor Riseman said the project highlighted the importance of historical research in giving a voice to unrecognised groups and individuals.
"For some of the veterans I interviewed, it was the first time they had spoken about what happened to them and it was so emotionally significant that their stories were being told.
"They talk about degrading practices including intense questioning that could go on for days, interrogation about graphic details relating to their sex lives, secret searches of their homes and sending undercover police to follow or photograph them," he said.
"There is a lot of post-traumatic stress and knowing their stories matter can be healing."
Professor Riseman said there had been a "radical transformation" of attitudes to LGBTQI service people in the ADF.
"The ADF has gone from persecuting, hunting and discharging LGBTQI members to embracing them as valued members who enhance the Force's capabilities," he said.
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