Born in 1939 in New Guinea, Mr Dowsett grew up in Geelong and enrolled in the Navy cadets during his time at Geelong Grammar School. He went on to join the Royal Australian Navy in 1956 as a 17-year-old recruit, reaching the rank of Chief Petty Officer by the time he was 28 years old. Photo: Supplied. More than a century since the end of the First World War, Mercy Place Mandurah residents ...