Hydrographer of Australia
Commodore Robyn Phillips joined the Royal Australian Navy as a Maritime Warfare Officer in 1990 and graduated from the Australian Defence Force Academy in 1992. After consolidating her bridge watch-keeping certificate in the guided missile frigate HMAS Darwin, she specialised in meteorology and oceanography. During her career as a Maritime Geospatial Officer, she has supported maritime and aviation operations, and has been the officer in charge of both the Naval Air Station Weather and Oceanography Centre at HMAS Albatross and the Operational Meteorology and Oceanography Centre at HMAS Kuttabul.
In 2008, Commodore Phillips attended the Australian Command and Staff College and was awarded the Chief of Navy prize for the Navy single service component of the course. Since then she has completed a one-year secondment to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet as a Defence Liaison Officer, worked at the Navy People Career Management Agency in Canberra and been the Commanding Officer of two establishments, HMAS Waterhen and HMAS Albatross, where she was awarded a Navy Gold Commendation for her exemplary performance during the 2019–20 bushfires. In August 2023, Commodore Phillips was appointed as the Director-General of Maritime Geospatial Branch with the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation, and holds the role of the Hydrographer of Australia.
Commodore Phillips holds a Bachelor of Science degree with First Class Honours in Computer Science and a Master of Science with Distinction in Physical Oceanography. When not at work, she is a keen woodwind musician and enjoys ocean swimming and sewing clothes.