Paul Couvret

Immigration to Australia Upon being liberated by sailors of the US Navy on 11 September 1945, Couvret returned to service with the Dutch Navy, this time as a pilot in the Netherlands Naval Aviation Service. Couvret eventually rose to be Deputy Shire President in 1978 and then Shire President in September 1979, where he presided over long-term planning for the Warringah area and various projects, including the Glen Street Theatre and the Oxford Falls Peace Park. He served as president until 1983. In 1993 Couvret returned to Nagasaki to attend a conference of Mayors for Peace. He met a Japanese woman who as a child had been forced to work in the same shipyard.

Remaining on Council, following the proclamation of former A Riding as Pittwater Council, his D Riding was renamed 'C Ward', and served until his retirement in 1995 (following the passing of the Local Government Act 1993, Warringah Council dropped 'Shire' and Shire Presidents became Mayors).

Later life In 1998, he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) "for service to local government through the Warringah Shire Council, to veterans, and to the community" and is also on the Order of Australia Medal Committee. Couvret also received the Centenary Medal in 2001. He was also the President of the Dutch Australia Association and the Netherlands Ex-Servicemen & Women's Association and the President of Wakehurst Public School and Davidson High School parents and citizens associations. Couvret died aged 91 on 5 July 2013. In June 2014, Warringah Council voted to commemorate Couvret's service by installing a plaque in his honour, to be placed at the Oxford Falls Peace Park, of which Couvret had been a driving force in its establishment and conservation of the historic one-room school. The plaque was unveiled on ANZAC Day 2015. In August 2014, the Dutch Ambassador to Australia, Annemieke Ruigrok, launched the publication of Couvret's memoirs: "Memoirs of Paul Couvret: A story of colonialism and war, peace and reconciliation in the Pacific", compiled by historian Edith van Loo.