10 April, 2026

Navy veteran and Devonport RSA leader sails off to retirement of fishing and diving in Whitianga

Muzz Kennett arrived in Devonport as a Navy trainee in his teens and leaves after a long career and a stint with the RSA which has had its frustrations. He talks to Helen Vause.

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“This is really our time now. We have been working for 50 years.”

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Man and boy… Muzz Kennett was accepted for the Navy while at high school

As Muzz and Gail Kennett unpack and settle into their Whitianga house for the next chapter in their lives, they’ve made a promise to each other: They won’t be putting their hands up to volunteer for anything in their new hometown – yet. Or for as long as this departing Devonport couple can resist the temptation, given their long track record of community service here.
But Muzz (Maurice) Kennett has already made one exception to the vow of no public service while he’s settling into life in seaside Whitianga – happily accepting an invitation to be the guest speaker for the Anzac Day service this year.
As a retiring commander in the Navy and retiring president of the Devonport RSA, he had lots of ends to tie up and a lot of people to say goodbye to as he packed boxes in the last Navy house he’ll live in. He notes that he and Gail started out in Devonport in a Navy home and began to raise their children, Gareth and Kylie-Anne, there.
After they recently sold their own home, his lifelong employer again put a roof over their heads for their final days here.
The farewells went on for weeks, with a formal exit from the Navy and a handover in the RSA rooms. And then a big party at home one Saturday night.
The party was one the Kennetts and their friends will remember, he says. “What a night. After so many years here we had people from play centre, school, sports clubs, the Navy and across the generations. It was fantastic.”

That party turnout reflected the many parts of the community the couple were active in, whether coaching, taking a lead or just showing up to help out.
But although the local roots run deep, it was time to move on to their next chapter.
“It does feel a bit surreal. We have had a great life here but we’ve been planning to move to Whitianga for a while and now it’s time,” says the 67-year-old.
Their first months in the house will be spent morphing a holiday home into a permanent retirement home, getting things shipshape for whatever is next.
Muzz leaves big shoes to fill. He turned up in Devonport as a boy, not yet 16, but keen to join the Navy. Even as a Boy Scout he’d been thinking of joining the services and then one day the Navy recruitment team came to Whangārei Boys’ High School. He was a fifth former and the opportunities he was hearing about that day struck the right note with him. He sat the entrance exam, was accepted by the Navy as a weapons electrical mechanic and pretty shortly thereafter he was off on the bus to the big city.
Young Muzz Kennett presented himself at the Navy training establishment HMNZS Tamaki just two days before his 16th birthday. And in those days, he couldn’t qualify to start counting days in service until he was over 17. But he’d come, just the same.
Fifty years on, there is a photo of him at the Devonport RSA taken in February last year, cutting a cake with another member of his intake. Muzz was the youngest of that group of 180 boys.
Kennett says the Navy gave him a good career and by taking opportunities he’s had broad experience, from servicing electronics to teaching, training and management roles.
Later he took the path of a seaman officer career, with commands of two craft, HMNZS Kahu and then HMNZS Manawanui, the Navy’s diver tender for 30 years.
A highlight on that ship was a 2016 expedition to the Solomon Islands for Navy divers to remove explosive war remnants.

Closer to home, whenever Manawanui docked at her official home port in Whitianga, Kennett’s affections for that town grew.
With a life story with the theme of service and community running through every chapter, Kennett leaves the local RSA after five years as president, and with a hint of frustration about what could be achieved for veterans, but has yet to be.
While he says the core pillar of the organisation is the concept of serving all the veterans who have served us, he’s found it hard to reach them or to be able to meet the level of need he thinks could be out there unheard somewhere in the community. He notes that this is an issue for the RSA in many regions.
“We have now buried our last two World War II veterans, but there are lots of all ages who turn up at the Anzac commemoration but then we don’t see them again. Many of them we cannot get to join.
“We are trying to break down the image of being a bunch of old vets sitting around having a beer and talking about the war. ”

He points out that although the perception may be that veterans are old men, there are in fact many younger men and women who qualify for the term because they have served.
Last year he says this branch of the RSA spent about $26,000 on support to veterans and also stepped up with practical support when asked.
Although that figure is typical of the annual spend, Kennett feels frustrated that they are not doing enough for the veterans or their widows.
“Times are tough out there but they are not looking for help from us.”
He was disappointed that a combined initiative last winter between North Shore RSAs to provide a drop-in centre at the Takapuna Library didn’t thrive because only a handful of veterans came forward.
At the time the drop-in centre was set up, he was quoted as saying “we want families to say, ‘Dad, have you thought about asking for help?’”

He believes families and veterans in the region may not be aware of what they could be entitled to by way of support. Kennett and his team, including Gail, have been ready and waiting to step up and help veterans, whether they’re RSA members or not.
They’re offering mentoring, useful contacts, advice and financial assistance. For some, that could just come in the form of taxi fares, for example.
“Maybe people around here don’t really need any help but it’s hard to believe that none of the veterans or their widows could do with a helping hand from time to time.”
Where veterans have been able to benefit from the assistance of the Devonport RSA, Kennett says it’s definitely a case of “bravo zulu” (well done, in naval signals) to Gail, who has been in the role of support advisor for the organisation.

“She has been totally devoted and everyone knows she has done a brilliant job. And the good work won’t stop just because Gail and I have gone.”
Kennett is heartened that a youth group has been getting established on his watch, looking for opportunities to volunteer and provide support in the community.
He’s hopeful the youth initiative will grow and bring in more young members. He hopes they will help to refresh the image of the RSA and start to show what it could become.
“The youth membership will grow in time. I think we have made progress but the wheel turns slowly and it will take time.”
The Kennetts’ last weeks in Devonport were busy days. In Whitianga, the newest RSA member in town is unpacking those boxes, but the ocean beckons.
Kennett is swapping duty for the fishing and diving, and getting out on the boat that drew him down there. “This is really our time now. We have been working for 50 years.” It’s time for a change of gear.
The Navy era is not quite over, however. Kennett is a Navy reserve for the next two years and could be called on to help out at any time. “It also means I can still wear my uniform.”