Joyce Clare (Hamilton) Blay (1915 - 1969)

Born 18 Aug 1915 in Casino, New South Wales, Australia

Ancestors

Wife of Reginald Harmony Blay — married 1952 in Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia

Died 13 Jan 1969 at age 53 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Kenneth Evans [send private message] and Mark Hanlon [send private message]

Biography

Joyce (Hamilton) Blay was born in New South Wales, Australia

Joyce Clare Hamilton was born on 18th August 1915 in Casino, on the Richmond River in the Northern Rivers Region of New South Wales, Australia. She was the third of four daughters of Scottish-born Thomas Hamilton and Marion Powell, a great granddaughter of First Fleet convicts, John Small and Mary Parker, Second Fleeter George Patfield, and 1793 convict arrival, Mary O'Brien. ^[1] She also had three older brothers. The family had recently settled in Casino from nearby Ballina and Bangalow. ^[2] They soon after settled nearby, on the coast, in Ballina, situated at the mouth of the Richmond River. Her young age may have saved Joyce from knowledge of The Great War (later known as the First World War).

Joyce was certainly aware of the Second World War, 1939-1945, especially from late 1941 to late 1943 when Australia was experiencing the very real threat of invasion by the Japanese Empire. Joyce's next older brother, Thomas (but known as Pat) (1913-2000), served as a Lieutenant with a small (2 officers and 43 soldiers) Australian team providing military assistance to the Chinese Nationalist Army in their resistance to the Japanese occupation of China. The team, highly trained in demolition, ambush, engineering reconnaissance, and commando tactics, trained the Surprising Battalions, some of China's crack guerillas, and operated with them in war-torn provinces. He returned home 'safely' after the war. ^[3]

Joyce married widower (previously married from 1941 until his wife's death three years later), Reginald Blay in early 1952 in Sydney's northern suburbs, New South Wales. ^[4] She was then 36 years of age and Reginald 51 years. Reginald had served part-time in the Australian Army's Volunteer Defence Force, 17th Battalion, from 8th June 1942 to 10th August 1943. ^[5] The couple made their home in Chatswood. Chatswood was then developing (from a village on Sydney's lower North Shore surrounded by orchards and dairy farms, and home to an abattoir, several tanneries and the Three Threes Pickle Factory) into a major business and residential district, connected to Sydney by both rail and the twenty year-old Sydney Harbour Bridge. They had a son, Michael.

Joyce lost her father in 1956 and mother in 1966, both in or near Chatswood. Reginald also passed away in 1966, in December.

Aged 53 years and having been widowed for two years, she passed away on 13th January 1969 in Sydney's northern suburbs and her ashes are placed in East Terrace 2 Wall 19 at the Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Crematorium. ^[6][7]

Sources

1. ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #34152/1915
2. ↑ see older siblings' profiles for sources
3. ↑ Australian War Memorial: NX67855 Thomas Russell 'Pat' Hamilton as a Lieutenant, Mission 204 'Tulip' Force and 2/20 Battalion, interviewed by Don Wall; accessed 24 Jan 2019
4. ↑ New South Wales Mariage Index #4107/1952; registered at Chatswood
5. ↑ Department of Veterans' Affairs nominal roll: N383446 Private Reginald Harmony Blay; accessed 20 Mar 2023
6. ↑ New South Wales Death Index #10496/1969; registered at St Leonards
7. ↑ Australian Cemeteries Index: Joyce Clare Blay; accessed 20 Mar 2023