Jessie Mary Vasey (19 October 1897 – 22 September 1966) was the founder and President of the
War Widows' Guild of Australia.
Early life
Jessie Mary Vasey was born on 19 October 1897 in
Roma, Queensland
Roma is a rural town and locality in the Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Maranoa Region. The town was incorporated in 1867 and is named after Lady Diamantina Bowen (née di Roma), the wife of Sir ...
, the eldest of three daughters of Joseph Halbert, a farmer and
grazier, and his wife Jessie, née Dobbin. Young Jessie attended
Moreton Bay Girls' High School. The family moved to
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
in 1911, where Jessie attended
Lauriston Girls' School
(Holiness, Wisdom, Strength)
, established = 1901
, type = Independent, single-sex, day school
, denomination = Non-denominational
, slogan = A school for life
, principal ...
.
In 1913, she became a border at the
Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne
("For God and for Home")
, established =
, type = Independent, single-sex, day and boarding school
, denomination = Uniting
, slogan = "MLC girls become world-ready women" (MLC).
Jessie continued her education at the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...
living at
Trinity College Hostel. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in April 1921.
While at MLC, Jessie became friends with a fellow boarder, Marjorie Vasey, although the latter was seven years her junior. Later the Halbert family moved to
Kew
Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...
, just around the corner from the Vasey family. On 17 May 1921, she married Marjorie's brother,
George Alan Vasey
Major General George Alan Vasey, (29 March 1895 – 5 March 1945) was an Australian Army officer. He rose to the rank of major general during the Second World War, before being killed in a plane crash near Cairns in 1945.
A professional soldie ...
, an
Australian Army
The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), wh ...
major at St Matthew's
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
,
Glenroy, Victoria
Glenroy is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Merri-bek local government area. Glenroy recorded a population of 23,792 at the 2021 census.
Glenroy is locate ...
. (Like his family, she called him by his middle name.) When a friend asked Alan how he was going to get on married to a
blue stocking, he replied "Don't worry – I'll soon have the blue stocking off her".
Army wife
![George and Jessie Vasey AWM000304-09](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/George_and_Jessie_Vasey_AWM000304-09.jpg)
Alan and Jessie bought a house in Kew with a War Service Loan.
Their first child, a son called George Halbert Vasey was born on 31 January 1925. A second son, Robert Alan, was born in 1932. Alan's military career was stagnant, and he remained a major for twenty years. It also forced a number of moves, and the family resided in India from 1928 to 1929 while Alan attended the
Staff College
Staff colleges (also command and staff colleges and War colleges) train military officers in the administrative, military staff and policy aspects of their profession. It is usual for such training to occur at several levels in a career. For e ...
at
Quetta
Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of ...
and again from 1934 from 1937 while he was on exchange with the
British Indian Army. The Vaseys sold their house in Kew and Jessie even sold some of the period furniture that had been a wedding gift from her father to pay for expenses involved in the second posting to India.
After Alan was posted back to Melbourne in 1938, they bought a 5.65 Ha property at
Wantirna, which they named 'Tiltargara', where they intended to retire. The house was a white
weatherboard
Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping.
''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...
cottage with a wood stove and no sewage or electricity, requiring kerosene lamps but probably all that they could afford. Alan commuted to Army Headquarters at
Victoria Barracks by bus.
Alan sailed for the Middle East in December 1939 as commander of the advance party of the division. Vasey became involved in the
Australian Comforts Fund
Australian Comforts Fund (ACF) was an Australian umbrella organisation for voluntary bodies set up after the outbreak of World War I. Many men and women worked at the ACF, including Alice Berry and Cyril Docker in WW2.
World War I
The Australi ...
.
In May 1940, she became secretary of the AIF Women's Association, a body which sought to help soldiers' wives. Her work with this body drew her attention to the plight of war widows. In a society built around couples, they were single, having lost not only their husbands but also their social status. As such, they were often rejected by their married female friends. Many found themselves facing the awesome responsibility of raising children without fathers. Some found themselves faced with having to make decisions independently for the first time in their lives. They also faced real financial hardships and a cold and seemingly uncaring government bureaucracy.
Alan was supportive of this work. "They come to me... time and time Jess," he told her in 1945, "especially before a show, and say: 'Sir, if anything happens to me you'll see that my wife and kids are all right?' And I tell them... yes, you know bloody well I will."
On 5 March 1945 – just a few days later – Alan was killed in an air crash near
Cairns and Jessie became a war widow herself.
War widow
![Jessie Vasey AWM121946](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Jessie_Vasey_AWM121946.jpg)
In October 1945 Vasey sent a letter to all Victorian war widows proposing the formation of a craft guild. Weaving was chosen as there was a post-war textile shortage and it be undertaken in the home while children were at school or asleep. Money earned would supplement the niggardly pensions of the war widows.
Some 300 war widows showed up for an inaugural meeting. A constitution was drawn up and office holders were elected, with Vasey being elected the first president. The War Widows' Craft Guild officially came into existence on 21 January 1946. The AIF Women's Association provide space in its building in
Collins Street, Melbourne
Collins Street is a major street in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was laid out in the first survey of Melbourne, the original 1837 Hoddle Grid, and soon became the most desired address in the city. Collins ...
and the
Australian Red Cross
The Australian Red Cross, formally the Australian Red Cross Society, is a humanitarian aid and community services charity in Australia. Tracing its history back to 1923 and being incorporated by royal charter in 1941, the Australian Red Cro ...
opened a nursery nearby for war widows' children.
Vasey travelled around Australia organising guilds in other states. The Guild was established in
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
in June 1946, and by early 1947 there were Guilds in every state. This enabled the formation of a federal organisation, with clubs operating at the local level, autonomous state branches, and a national council for liaising with the
Commonwealth government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...
and federal organisations, such as the
Returned and Services League of Australia
The Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) is a support organisation for people who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force.
Mission
The RSL's mission is to ensure that programs are in place for the well-being, care ...
. Vasey was elected founding president of the new national organisation at its first conference in 1947.
Vasey set out to obtain an increase in the War
Widow's pension
A widow's pension is a payment from the government of a country to a person whose spouse has died.
Generally, such payments are made to a widow whose late spouse has fulfilled the country's requirements, including contribution, cohabitation, and l ...
. This had originally been introduced during the
Great War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. A review of pensions in 1920 had set the war widow's pension at
£1/2 per week at a time when the basic wage was £3/13 a week. Although war widows were fortunate to avoid a pension cut during the
Great Depression, the pension remained unchanged until 1943, when it became £2/10 a week. By this time post-war inflation had eaten away much of its value, leaving many war widows in financial hardship.
Vasey resolved that the war widow's pension should be raised to the basic wage, which by 1947 was £5/9 per week.
There were also some anomalies in the pension structure. For example, a serviceman was paid an allowance of 21/6 for the first child and 17/6 for the second; but if he died, the orphan's allowance was just 17/6 and 12/6 respectively.
There was a stigma associated with collecting the pension. "They gave you this £2/10, and you had to go to the post office and get the money handed to you over the counter. And if they were busy at the post office they'd say, 'Just stand aside.'" Vasey argued that the pension was not charity but a statutory right, being compensation for the life of a serviceman. Vasey's attitude would bring her into conflict with charitable groups like
Legacy Australia
Legacy is an Australian non-profit organisation established in 1923 by ex-servicemen. Legacy provides support to the families of Australian Defence Force men and women who have lost their life or health in conflicts such as World War I, World ...
.
In May 1947, the government announced an increase in the widow's pension of 5s per week, but this fell far short of what Vasey was asking for. An ill-timed increase in parliamentary salaries help mobilise public opinion and Vasey held lunchtime rally at
Melbourne Town Hall
Melbourne Town Hall is the central city town hall of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and is a historic building in the state of Victoria since 1867. Located in the central business district on the northeast corner of the intersection between ...
that attracted over 3,000 war widows.
As a result, the
Minister for Repatriation,
Claude Barnard
Herbert Claude Barnard (16 October 18906 December 1957) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and represented the Division of Bass in federal parliament from 1934 to 1949. He served as Minister for Re ...
, agreed to meet with representative of the War Widows' Guild. But while he was prepared to discuss anomalies in the educational and medical benefits to which war widows might be entitled, and to look at the situation of widows with children, he remained unmoved on the question of an increase in pension be paid to childless widows.
Barnard was reported as saying that:
The Prime Minister,
Ben Chifley
Joseph Benedict Chifley (; 22 September 1885 – 13 June 1951) was an Australian politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1945, follow ...
attempted to defuse the situation by claiming that Barnard had been misunderstood. He refused to budge on the basic wage, but granted some concessions: war widows with
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
were granted treatment in repatriation hospitals, and accrued leave owed to deceased soldiers was paid to their widows. The campaign to bring the war widows' pension into line with the basic wage would continue for many years.
Perhaps the most controversial clause in the Repatriation Act was Section 43 which stated that a pension could be refused or terminated if the Board felt that the grant or continuance was undesirable. Any widow who remarried could expect to have her pension terminated. Section 43 was wielded as a
morality
Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of co ...
clause against those found to be
living in sin. Any widow suspected of having an affair was liable to have her pension terminated. To Vasey, this was an intolerable intrusion on the privacy of war widows, stripping them of their dignity. Vasey and Barnard publicly clashed over the issue between May and September 1949 and the offending clause was ultimately removed from the act.
In 1949, Vasey embarked on her most controversial campaign, to provide housing for elderly war widows. Starting with a £5,000 donation from Sir
William Angliss
Sir William Charles Angliss (29 January 1865 – 15 June 1957) was a butcher, pastoralist, pioneering meat exporter, businessman, and politician in Melbourne, Australia.
Biography
He was the eldest son of William Angliss, tailor, and his wif ...
and the proceeds from raffling a car, she obtained a loan to purchase a property. The scheme grew from there. In 1954, the government offered to match pound for pound money spent by voluntary agencies on housing for the elderly, a subsidy which was doubled in 1958. The War Widows' Guild formed a subsidy, Vasey Housing, with Vasey as its managing director. By 1965 it was housing 250 widows in Victoria alone.
Conflict over the scheme arose from the considerably different needs of the elderly widows of previous wars and of the younger, more recent war widows. This would recur when they were joined by war widows from the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
and
war in Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to:
*Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC)
* Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709)
*Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see al ...
. Matters came to a head in 1968 when the War Widows Guild formally severed its connection with Vasey Housing.
In recognition of her work on behalf of war widows, Vasey was appointed an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the
1950 King's Birthday Honours, and a Commander (CBE) in the 1963 Queen's Birthday Honours. In 1953 she was sponsored by the Australian government to attend the
Coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of ot ...
of Queen
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
.
Vasey died of
cerebral thrombosis on 22 September 1966 at
Grafton, New South Wales, while on her way back to Melbourne after visiting guild members in Queensland. She was buried with
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
forms in
Lilydale cemetery. She was survived by her younger son Robert, George having died from an
aneurysm
An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also be a nidus ( ...
on 5 November 1960.
Robert Alan Vasey died on 21 September 2008.
Awards
Jessie Vasey was inducted into the
Victorian Honour Roll of Women
The Victorian Honour Roll of Women was established in 2001 to recognise the achievements of women from the Australian state of Victoria. The Honour Roll was established as part of the celebrations of Victoria's Centenary of Federation.
Public no ...
in 2001 and 2008.
Popular culture
The photograph at the top of the page of Vasey farewelling Alan was used at the conclusion of episodes of the 1980s TV series ''
The Sullivans
''The Sullivans'' is an Australian period drama television series produced by Crawford Productions which ran on the Nine Network from 15 November 1976 until 10 March 1983. The series tells the story of a fictional average middle-cla ...
'' and came to symbolise loss to a generation of Australians. The photograph is held by the
Australian War Memorial, and a copy is on display there.
Vasey's story was chosen by the
National Museum of Australia
The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...
as one of fifty "stories from the emotional heart of Australia". Her photo-portrait forms part of the display.
Postage stamp
She was on one of 1995 Australia Remembers 45c stamps.
Notes
References
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External links
Vasey Biography at Australian Women Biographical entryVasey Housing Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasey, Jessie
1897 births
People from Roma, Queensland
Australian women in World War II
Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
1966 deaths
Deaths from cerebral thrombosis
People educated at Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne
19th-century Australian women
People educated at Lauriston Girls' School