Alison Creagh
{{Short description|Retired Australian Army officer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Use Australian English|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Alison Creagh
| image = Alison Creagh.jpg
| image_size =
| alt = Headshot of Creagh in a white and green jacket
| caption = Creagh in September 2024
| nickname =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1962}}
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| placeofburial =
| allegiance = Australia
| branch = Australian Army Signal Corps
| serviceyears = {{ubl | Australian Army Reserve 1981–1984, 2015– | Australian Regular Army 1985–2015 }}
| rank = Brigadier
| servicenumber =
| unit =
| commands = 145 Signal Squadron
| battles = {{ubl | Cambodia (UNTAC) | East Timor (INTERFET) | Iraq (Multi-National Force) | Afghanistan (ISAF) }}
| awards = {{ubl | Member of the Order of Australia | Conspicuous Service Cross | NATO Meritorious Service Medal }}
| relations =
| laterwork = President of Paralympics Australia
}}
Alison Margaret Creagh {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100%|AM|CSC}} (born 1962) is a retired Australian Army officer. After seeing active service with the Australian Army in Cambodia, East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, she was involved in the creation of the Australian Peacekeeping Memorial on Anzac Parade, Canberra. She was appointed president of the Australian Paralympic Committee in September 2023.
Biography
File:SJIOAC 12B group photo 120417-F-EX201-003.jpg
Alison Margaret Creagh was born in 1962.{{cite web |title=Q+A – Brigadier Alison Creagh |publisher=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/qanda/brigadier-alison-creagh/10643988 |access-date=7 September 2024}} She moved to Canberra a few years later after when her father became a member of the academic staff at the Royal Military College, Duntroon.{{cite web |title=Creagh, Alison Margaret – ACT Memorial |website=www.memorial.act.gov.au |url=http://www.memorial.act.gov.au/search/person/creagh-alison-margaret |access-date=7 September 2024}} She was educated at Canberra Girls Grammar School and the Australian National University. Creagh joined the Australian Army Reserve in 1981, followed by the Australian Regular Army four years later. She graduated from the Officer Cadet School, Portsea, in Victoria, and was commissioned into the Australian Army Signal Corps.{{cite web |title=Creagh, Alison M. |publisher= Australian Rowing History |url=https://www.rowinghistory-aus.info/rower-profiles/creagh-alison-m#gsc.tab=0 |access-date=7 September 2024}} She served in Cambodia in 1993 as the quartermaster of the Force Communications Unit with the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), for which she was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross.
In 1999, Creagh became the second-in-command of the 1st Joint Support Unit and commanded the 145th Signal Squadron in East Timor as part of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET). She served in Iraq in 2006 and with the headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan for nine months in 2008 and 2009, for which she was awarded the NATO Meritorious Service Medal.{{cite web |title='It felt like you were moving through a ghost town' |publisher= Australian War Memorial |url=https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/alison-creagh-on-peacekeeping-in-cambodia-and-east-timor |access-date=7 September 2024}} She was the Director-General of Public Affairs in 2010, the Director-General, Strategic Communication, from 2011 to 2013, and the Director-General, Australian Defence Force (ADF) Theatre Project, from 2013 to 2014. She retired from the Australian Regular Army with the rank of brigadier in 2015, and became a reservist once more.{{cite web |title=Our Board |date=September 2015 |publisher=Paralympics Australia |url=https://www.paralympic.org.au/about-us/our-board-2/ |access-date=7 September 2024}}
Creagh became a non-executive director and chair of the board of governors of The Road Home, Veterans' organisation, in 2014. She was a council member of the Australian War Memorial from 2015 to 2018, and the executive director of the Spirit of Anzac Centenary Experience in 2015. She was vice-chair of the Australian Peacekeeping Memorial Project from 2016 to 2019, which resulted in the creation of the Australian Peacekeeping Memorial on Anzac Parade, Canberra, which was inaugurated in 2017. She was chair of the ACT Ministerial Advisory Committee for Veterans and their Families and was a Defence Ambassador for the ACT Government. She was a strategic adviser at the Defence Research Institute at the University of New South Wales in Canberra from 2018 to 2019, and has been an adjunct lecturer there since 2017.
A founding member of the ADF Rowing Association, Creagh became president of Rowing ACT in 2019, and was the ACT councillor for Rowing Australia. She was the assistant indoor rowing coach of the Australian Team at the 2018 Invictus Games. She is a Level 1 rowing coach and an accredited national and international para-rowing classifier.{{cite web |title=Alison Creagh |website=rowingaustralia.com.au |url=https://rowingaustralia.com.au/alison-creagh |access-date=7 September 2024}} She became a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours "for significant service to veterans and their families, and to rowing."{{cite web |title=Queen's Birthday 2020 Honours List |date=8 June 2020 |publisher=Governor General of Australia |url=https://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-07/QB20%20Gazette%20-%20O%20of%20A%20V6.pdf |access-date=7 September 2024}} In June 2022, she was appointed to the board of Paralympics Australia, and became its president in September 2023.{{cite web |title=Paralympics Australia Announces New President |date= 11 September 2023 |publisher= Paralympics Australia |url=https://www.paralympic.org.au/2023/09/paralympics-australia-announces-new-president/ |access-date=7 September 2024}}{{cite web |title=Paralympics Australia appoints new President after voting out O'Callaghan |first=Duncan |last=Mackay |date=13 September 2023 |website=www.insidethegames.biz |url=https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1140737/paralympics-australia-alison-creagh |access-date=16 October 2024}}
References
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Category:Australian brigadiers
Category:Australian military personnel of the International Force for East Timor
Category:Australian National University alumni
Category:Date of birth missing (living people)
Category:Graduates of the Officer Cadet School, Portsea
Category:Members of the Order of Australia
Category:People educated at Canberra Girls Grammar School
Category:Recipients of the Conspicuous Service Cross (Australia)