Julie Hammer

Air Vice Marshal Julie Hammer, (born 17 February 1955) is an Australian engineer and a retired senior officer in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). She was the first woman to be promoted to one-star rank, and also the first woman to be promoted to two-star rank, in the Australian Defence Force. She was also the first woman to command an operational unit in the RAAF.

Early life Julie Margaret Hammer was born in Brisbane on 17 February 1955. She was educated at Brisbane Girls Grammar School. Graduating in 1971, she was placed eighth in the State of Queensland in the Senior Public Matriculation Examination. She attended the University of Queensland where she majored in Physics, graduating with a Bachelor of Science with Honours.

Service history In 1977, Hammer joined the RAAF as an Education Officer, serving in the engineer cadet squadron at Frognall, Melbourne until 1979, and then Instructor at the RAAF School of Radio at Laverton.

In 1981, the Engineer Branch was opened to women and she transferred to the Electronics Category. She was also the recipient of the 1996 Association of Old Crows (Australian Chapter) Award for Distinguished Service to Electronic Warfare.

She assumed duties as Director General Information Services, responsible for the operations and support of Defence's fixed communications networks and computer systems throughout Australia. In December 2001, she became the first woman Commandant of the Australian Defence Force Academy. That year she was awarded the Sir Charles Kingsford Smith Memorial Medal by the Royal Aeronautical Society to recognise her contribution to Australian aerospace, and she delivered the Kingsford Smith Memorial Lecture.

She was appointed by the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women to be one of Australia's Honouring Women Ambassadors in 2002.

Later career Retiring from the RAAF in 2005, Hammer became the National Vice President of Engineers Australia, and its president in 2008. She is a director of the .au Domain Regulator, auDA. In 2008 she was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering,

Hammer has been married to fellow RAAF officer, Air Vice Marshal David Dunlop, since September 2000.