CHIEF RADIO ELECTRICIAN RONALD ERNEST HOTCHKIS S/10048 / R34883 RANR/RAN
Ron Hotchkis was born in Helensburgh NSW in July 1927 and he enlisted in the RANR on the 1st of February 1945 as a 17 year old Ordinary Seaman 2nd Class. Ron was the son of Joseph and Ivy Hotchkis of Bexley and his occupation on entry was listed as being a Fitter and Machinist. As Ron entered as a Ord, and not as a artificer it is assumed that he was not trade qualified.
After training at HMAS Cerberus, Ron posted briefly to HMAS Penguin in Sydney during which time he was advanced to Ordinary Seaman on his 18th birthday. On the 1st of September he joined the establishment HMAS Gilolo on Morotai Island, in what is now known as the Halmahera Island group in Indonesia. He would spent seven months on the island, before returning to Sydney again nominally posting to HMAS Penguin but employed on the Harbour Defence Motor Launch HMAS Jabiru. Whilst in Jabiru he was advanced to Able Seamen in July 1946 on his 19th birthday.
At the end of 1946 Ron was posted to HMAS Kuttabul for duties on the sloop HMAS Warrego which was in refit and a state of “Special Reserve”. He would spend four montgs working on Warrego before posting to the Melbourne establishment HMAS Lonsdale in April 1947.
The reason Ron posted to Lonsdale was that he had been approved to transfer from the RANR to the RAN in the category of Radio Mechanic. He would train at HMAS Torrens in South Australia for six months before posting to HMAS Platypus in November 1947.
In 1947, Platypus was one of the oldest ships in the RAN. She had been ordered before the Great War as a Submarine Depot Ship and had more recently been employed as a Maintenance Ship in Darwin and New Guinea. When Ron Joined her she was in the twilight of her career, tied up in Watsons Bay in Sydney maintaining a collection of ships in reserve.
Ron was rated Radio Mechanic Mate 1st in January 1948 and he returned to Lonsdale for ten months. In early 1949 he posted to the UK for courses, presumably on aircraft radios as his rating changed to Radio Electrician Air (Petty Officer) on his return to Australia in 1950 and he posted to the naval air station HMAS Albatross. In 1952 he married Jill Beckinsale in Kogarah NSW.
The final seven years of his RAN career would be in the Fleet Air Arm, including 18 months at HMAS Nirimba in 1953-54 on his promotion to Chief Radio Electrician. On his return to Albatross in 1954 he became a maintainer on 808 Squadron which operated the Sea Venom jet. He deployed with the squadron on the carrier HMAS Melbourne briefly in 1957 before discharging end of engagement in July 1957.
On leaving the navy Ron worked as a Technical Officer and he and Jill lived in the Sutherland Shire in Sydney’s south where they raised their daughter Alison. They eventually retired to Valla on the mid-north coast of NSW.
Ronald Ernest Hotchkis passed away on the 23rd of June 1984, he was cremated and his ashes are interred in Wall 4 at Lavertys’ Funeral Home in Macksville NSW.
Sources
Service Record - Australian National Archives
Nominal Roll - Department of Veterans Affairs
