Ivy May (Pearce) Hassard (1914 - 1998)

Born 10 Jun 1914 in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia

Wife of Ernest Jason Hassard MBE — married 12 Jun 1937 (to Feb 1946) in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Died 26 Apr 1998 at age 83 in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia

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Biography

Ivy (Pearce) Hassard is Notable.

✯ "She was amazing, an extraordinary person who was completely fearless — a daredevil who loved aerobatics."

✯ "Prior to 1927, Australian women were not allowed to hold a pilot's licence."

Aviator, Ivy May Pearce Hassard, dressed in overalls and goggles, taken in the cockpit of an aeroplane for the front cover of The Queenslander Pictorial (1936).

✯ "Ivy May Pearce was one of the first female pilots in the Southern Hemisphere, as well as one of Australia's first aerobatic pilots."

✯ "Ivy May Pearce felt a rising sense of panic as the aircraft she was flying kept rising and falling without her changing altitude.
She had no idea why it was happening until her male passengers later confessed to running up and down the aisle to mess with the young pilot, so surprised were they to see a woman behind the controls in the 1930s."^[1]

Life Events

Ivy May Pearce was born on the 10th June 1914, at Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, the eldest daughter of George Pearce and Sarah Johnson. ^[2]

Ivy and her younger sister, Merle, lived in the St Columba's Convent at Dalby, and while there she began piano lessons, at which she excelled. After returning to Brisbane she attended All Hallows Catholic School where she also learnt the cello and the violin.

It was after she left All Hallows that Ivy developed an interest in flying, due to her father giving her a Tiger Moth.

Ivy May Pearce and Ernest Hassard before taking off for the Brisbane to Adelaide air race, 1936.

In 1934 Ivy was runner up in The Courier-Mail Flying Scholarship, but found it difficult to find passengers to put their trust in an 18-year-old female pilot. Eventually Brisbane's Catholic Archbishop James Duhig became her first passenger, followed by her father as passenger for her second flight.

On the 16th December 1936 Ivy competed in the Brisbane to Adelaide air race — making national headlines as the youngest entrant recording the fastest time of any woman pilot, heavily handicapped, and just two seconds behind the eventual winner; and beating Reg Ansett, founder of Ansett Airlines (1936).^[3] Her navigator for the race was her eventual husband, Ernest Hassard, a nephew of aviator Keith Virtue.

Their wedding cake was surmounted by a tiny replica of the groom's monoplane.

Ivy married Ernest Jason Hassard on the 12th June 1937, in St John's (Church of England) Cathedral, Brisbane.^[4]

SHOWERED CONFETTI FROM 'PLANES

MELBOURNE, Sunday.

When Captain Jason Hassard, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Hassard, residents of New South Wales, married Miss Ivy May Pearce, elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Pearce, of Brisbane, yesterday, three women pilots circled over St. John's Cathedral and dropped confetti on the bridal party as they entered their car.^[5][6]

Ivy and Jason had three children.

Sadly, the marriage was not to last.
As reported in the Brisbane Telegraph on the 26th October 1950, Ivy obtained a divorce from Hassard, on the grounds of desertion.

AIR PILOT DIVORCED

Ivy May Hassard nee Pearce of Appel Street, Surfers' Paradise, was granted a decree nisi for divorce in the Supreme Court today from Ernest Jason Hassard, airline pilot, of Corio Street, Glen Roy, Melbourne. Mrs. Hassard alleged that Hassard deserted her without cause in or about February, 1946. They were married in Brisbane on June 12, 1937, and had three children, she said. Finding the desertion proved Mr. Justice Mack gave judgment nisi for divorce and ordered Hassard to pay the taxed costs of the action. Mrs. Hassard was awarded the custody of the children. The action was not defended.^[7]

According to her daughter, Ivy designed many of her own flying outfits and opened the first fashion boutique on the Gold Coast in 1946, after running a pub in Toowoomba.

"Her designs appeared in Vogue and her collection was showcased in the Middle East, Hong Kong and the USA. She was successful, but was always proud of being a pilot."

Ivy May Hassard née Pearce passed away on the 26th April 1998, at Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, only a couple of months before her 84th birthday, from the lung condition from which she had suffered when she was a child of three.^[8][9]

Sources

1. ↑ ABC Australia News: Queensland pilot Ivy May Pearce made history as an aviation pioneer, now other women are being urged to follow her lead — written by Anna Hartley on the 11th September 2020
2. ↑ Queensland State Government Births, Deaths, Marriages Birth Registration details: Ivy May Pearce, Event date: 10/06/1914, Event type: Birth registration, Registration details: 1914/C/6689, Mother: Sarah Ann Johnson, Father/parent: George William Pearce
3. ↑ "BRISBANE TO ADELAIDE AIR RACE" The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946) 26 December 1936: 25. Web. 13 Dec 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141783884>.
4. ↑ Queensland State Government Births, Deaths, Marriages Marriage Registration details: Ivy May Pearce, Event date: 12/06/1937, Event type: Marriage registration, Registration details: 1937/B/28348, Spouse: Ernest Jason Hassard
5. ↑ "SHOWERED CONFETTI FROM 'PLANES" The Labor Daily (Sydney, NSW : 1924 - 1938) 14 June 1937: 7. Web. 13 Sep 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236446334>.
6. ↑ "GIRLS FLY OVER CATHEDRAL WEDDING" Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1926 - 1954) 13 June 1937: 21. Web. 13 Sep 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article97886343>.
7. ↑ "AIR PILOT DIVORCED" Brisbane Telegraph (Qld. : 1948 - 1954) 26 October 1950: 16 (LAST RACE). Web. 13 Sep 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article212066039>.
8. ↑ The Ryerson Index to death notices and obituaries in Australian newspapers Surname: HASSARD, Given Names: Ivy May, Notice Type: Funeral notice, Date: 26APR1998, Event: Death, Age: -, Other Details: -, Publication: Gold Coast Bulletin, Published: 28APR1998
9. ↑ The Ryerson Index to death notices and obituaries in Australian newspapers Surname: HASSARD, Given Names: Ivy May, Notice Type: Probate notice, Date: 13JUN1998, Event: Publication, Age: -, Other Details: late of Surfers Paradise, Qld, Publication: Gold Coast Bulletin, Published: 13JUN1998

• BDM registrations, National Library of Australia, State Library of Queensland.

See also:

• Wikipedia: Ivy_May_Pearce
• Wikidata: Item Q16014157