Born in Clyde and educated at St Gerard’s and Dunstan High School in Alexandra, Colonel Kelliher is now based in Canberra, where she is the newly appointed New Zealand Defence Force adviser to Australia.
"I think coming from a farm has actually given me such resilience and drive," she said.
"You know farming is very similar like ... [in the military] we talk about season, weather or terrain; farming’s the same. It doesn’t matter what’s occurring. You’ve got to commit yourself to it and I think that’s the same in this role."
While she may have people saluting her at work and be addressed as "Ma’am", back home on the farm no concessions are made.
She said her brother, Otago regional councillor Gary Kelliher, always made sure there were jobs waiting for her.
"I still continue to come home and be very grounded when I come home ... you know, there’s nothing like going home to the family farm and getting the tasks. I keep saying to [Gary] ‘I missed the meeting which gave me these tasks’."
Joining the military was not originally on Col Kelliher’s radar when she was at high school.
She had intended to go to university
but an opportunity arose when a friend "was going to do the testing for the military and so a group of us went down and we all got in".
She joined the New Zealand Army as an officer and attended the Australian Defence Force Academy, in Canberra, for three years, then studied for a bachelor of arts degree in English and management.
The military was a great career path for a wide range of people, she said.
One of her recent highlights was commanding alongside fellow Dunstan High School graduate Colonel Mike van Welie, who now commander of 1st Brigade at Linton Military Camp.
"I had the training element, he had the operational element and we were able to command together, which was very amazing from a small place like Alexandra."
In Canberra, Col Kelliher’s role is to keep information flowing between defence partners.
"It’s about continuously engaging with the Australian Defence Force and Department of Defence and other agencies and keeping the information exchange going, [and] looking at how we co-ordinate and operate together across multiple domains. It’s a fantastic role to have the opportunity."
Col Kelliher expects to be in the role for two to three years.
