Jessie Vasey
Encyclopedia
Jessie Mary Vasey CBE
(19 October 1897 – 22 September 1966) was the founder and President of the War Widows' Guild of Australia.
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, 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
in 1911, where Jessie attended Lauriston Girls' School. In 1913, she became a border at the Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne
(MLC). Jessie continued her education at the University of Melbourne
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
, just around the corner from the Vasey family. On 17 May 1921, she married Marjorie's brother, George Alan Vasey, an Australian Army
major
at St Matthew's Church of England
, Glenroy, Victoria
. (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".
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
at Quetta
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 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. 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.
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
and the Australian Red Cross
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
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
and federal organisations, such as the Returned and Services League of Australia
. 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
. This had originally been introduced during the Great War. 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
.
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
that attracted over 3,000 war widows.
As a result, the Minister for Repatriation
, Claude Barnard
, 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
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
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
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
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
and war in Afghanistan
. 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
of Queen Elizabeth II
.
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 forms in Lilydale
cemetery. She was survived by her younger son Robert, George having died from an aneurysm
on 5 November 1960. Robert Alan Vasey died on 21 September 2008.
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
as one of fifty "stories from the emotional heart of Australia". Her photo-portrait forms part of the display.
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
(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, QueenslandRoma, Queensland
Roma is a town in the western Darling Downs area of Queensland, Australia, by rail WNW of Brisbane. It is situated at the junction of the Warrego and Carnarvon highways...
, 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
Moreton Bay College
Moreton Bay College is an independent Uniting Church, day school for girls, located in Manly West, an outer suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, AustraliaEstablished in 1901 as the Moreton Bay Girls' High School, by Alice J...
. The family moved to Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
in 1911, where Jessie attended Lauriston Girls' School. In 1913, she became a border at the Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne
Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne
Methodist Ladies' College is an independent, non-selective, day and boarding school for girls, located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...
(MLC). Jessie continued her education at the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
living at Trinity College Hostel
Janet Clarke Hall (University of Melbourne)
Janet Clarke Hall is an Anglican residential college of the University of Melbourne.- History :Established in 1886 as a residential hostel for women students of Trinity College, the College was named after a significant benefactor...
. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
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, Victoria
Kew is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Boroondara. At the 2006 Census, Kew had a population of 22,516....
, just around the corner from the Vasey family. On 17 May 1921, she married Marjorie's brother, George Alan Vasey, an Australian Army
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
at St Matthew's Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, Glenroy, Victoria
Glenroy, Victoria
Glenroy is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Moreland...
. (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
Command and Staff College
The Command and Staff College was established in 1907 at Quetta, Balochistan, British Raj, now in Pakistan, and is the oldest and the most prestigious institution of the Pakistan Army. It was established in 1905 in Deolali and moved to its present location at Quetta in 1907 under the name of Quetta...
at Quetta
Quetta
is the largest city and the provincial capital of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Known as the "Fruit Garden of Pakistan" due to the diversity of its plant and animal wildlife, Quetta is home to the Hazarganji Chiltan National Park, which contains some of the rarest species of wildlife in the...
and again from 1934 from 1937 while he was on exchange with the British Indian Army
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
. 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
Wantirna, Victoria
Wantirna is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 23 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Knox. At the 2006 Census, Wantirna had a population of 13,978....
, which they named 'Tiltargara', where they intended to retire. The house was a white weatherboard 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
Victoria Barracks, Melbourne
Located on St Kilda Road in Melbourne, Australia, Victoria Barracks Melbourne is of architectural and historical significance as one of the most impressive 19th century government buildings in Victoria, Australia.-Pre-World War II:...
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. 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
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, Melbourne
Collins Street is a major street in the Melbourne central business district and runs approximately east to west.It is notable as Melbourne's traditional main street and best known street, is often regarded as Australia's premier street, with some of the country's finest Victorian era buildings.The...
and the Australian Red Cross
Australian Red Cross
The Australian Red Cross is one of the many national Red Cross societies around the world. The Australian organisation was established in 1914, nine days after the commencement of World War I, by Karen Tenenbaum, when she formed a branch of the British Red Cross.the organisation grew at a rapid rate...
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
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
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
Government of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
and federal organisations, such as the Returned and Services League of Australia
Returned and Services League of Australia
The Returned and Services League of Australia is a support organisation for men and women who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force ....
. 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
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 satisfied the country's requirements, including contribution, cohabitation, and length of marriage.-United States:In the United...
. This had originally been introduced during the Great War. A review of pensions in 1920 had set the war widow's pension at £
Australian pound
The pound was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 13 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. It was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.- Earlier Australian currencies :...
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
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, 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 Australia
Legacy is an Australian organisation, established in 1923 by ex-servicemen. The organisation has the aim of caring for the dependents of deceased Australian service men and women. The dependants of World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Malayan emergency and Vietnam War deceased are cared for...
.
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
Melbourne Town Hall is the central municipal building of the City of Melbourne, Australia, in the State of Victoria. It is located on the northeast corner of Swanston and Collins Streets, in the central business district. It is the seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Melbourne...
that attracted over 3,000 war widows.
As a result, the Minister for Repatriation
Minister for Veterans' Affairs (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Veterans' Affairs oversees income support, compensation, care and commemoration programs for more than 400,000 veterans and their widows, widowers and dependants....
, Claude Barnard
Claude Barnard
Herbert Claude Barnard was an Australian politician and government minister.Barnard was born at Mole Creek, Tasmania and was educated at Invermay State School, but left school at 14. In 1909 he began working for Tasmanian Government Railways, first as an engine cleaner and eventually as a driver...
, 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
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
, Ben Chifley
Ben Chifley
Joseph Benedict Chifley , Australian politician, was the 16th Prime Minister of Australia. He took over the Australian Labor Party leadership and Prime Ministership after the death of John Curtin in 1945, and went on to retain government at the 1946 election, before being defeated at the 1949...
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
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
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
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
clause against those found to be living in sin
Cohabitation
Cohabitation usually refers to an arrangement whereby two people decide to live together on a long-term or permanent basis in an emotionally and/or sexually intimate relationship. The term is most frequently applied to couples who are not married...
. 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
William Charles Angliss
Sir William Charles Angliss was a butcher, pastoralist, pioneer meat exporter, businessman, politician and philanthropist in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He was knighted in 1939....
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
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and war in Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
. 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
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(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
Coronation of the British monarch
The coronation of the British monarch is a ceremony in which the monarch of the United Kingdom is formally crowned and invested with regalia...
of Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
.
Vasey died of cerebral thrombosis on 22 September 1966 at Grafton, New South Wales
Grafton, New South Wales
The city of Grafton is the commercial hub of the Clarence River Valley. Established in 1851, Grafton features many historic buildings and tree-lined streets. Located approximately 630 kilometres north of Sydney and 340 km south of Brisbane, Grafton and the Clarence Valley can be reached...
, while on her way back to Melbourne after visiting guild members in Queensland. She was buried with Presbyterian forms in Lilydale
Lilydale, Victoria
Lilydale is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 35 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district situated in the Olinda Creek valley. At the 2006 Census, Lilydale had a population of 13,887...
cemetery. She was survived by her younger son Robert, George having died from an aneurysm
Aneurysm
An aneurysm or aneurism is a localized, blood-filled balloon-like bulge in the wall of a blood vessel. Aneurysms can commonly occur in arteries at the base of the brain and an aortic aneurysm occurs in the main artery carrying blood from the left ventricle of the heart...
on 5 November 1960. Robert Alan Vasey died on 21 September 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 SullivansThe Sullivans
The Sullivans is an Australian drama television series produced by Crawford Productions which ran from 1976 until 1983. The series told the story of an average middle-classMelbourne family and the effect World War II had on their lives...
and came to symbolise loss to a generation of Australians. The photograph is held by the Australian War Memorial
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...
, and a copy is on display there.
Vasey's story was chosen by the National Museum of Australia
National Museum of Australia
The National Museum of Australia was formally established by the National Museum of Australia Act 1980. The National Museum preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation....
as one of fifty "stories from the emotional heart of Australia". Her photo-portrait forms part of the display.