The Queen’s Gold Medal is one of the oldest and most prestigious training awards in the Royal Australian Navy and was first awarded in 1916.

In his citation for the award, Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Mike Noonan praised Sub Lieutenant Whitfeld’s drive and enthusiasm.

“His professionalism and conduct on course was exemplary. I commend him for attaining his Bridge Warfare Certificate and posting to sea for consolidation more than seven weeks ahead of his cohort,” VADM Noonan said.

SBLT Whitfeld attended North Sydney Boys High School, before joining Navy in 2016 as a 19-year-old and credits his mother with instilling his strong work ethic and desire to serve.

“My mum is a nurse and as such I have always grown up with the desire to help others, something I picked up from her, and I thought a career in the Navy was something that would help me achieve that,” SBLT Whitfeld said.

“I wanted a career where I was part of something more, making a difference not just locally but on a larger, more global scale.”

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His career to date has already taken him on two north-east Asia deployments, in HMA Ships Gascoyne and Hobart, and a south-east Asia Deployment in HMAS Diamantina.

SBLT Whitfeld has been posted to Hobart since October 2019 and is once again looking forward to being at sea and helping control one of the Royal Australian Navy’s most modern warships.

“It is quite a challenging and rewarding job, definitely not something many people can say they’ve undertaken in their life either," he said.

“However the best aspect is the people I get to work with, I’ve made so many close and strong friendships with people since I’ve joined - something that will carry on regardless of how long we stay within the Navy."