Pearson, Joan Daphne Mary (1911-2000)

Field of activity
Photographer, Researcher and Horticulturalist
NLA Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-775057

Biographies

Pearson was the first women in Britain to be decorated (received the George Cross) for saving a pilot from a burning plane.

Born: 26 May 1911. Died: 25 July 2000. In 1939 Pearson joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. It was while stationed at an RAF Bomber Command at Detling Kent, in 1940 as a radio operator, that she noticed an engine on an aircraft was "coughing" as it approached the landing strip. The aircraft, which had a full bomb load, crashed and Pearson helped rescue the crew, covering the pilot with her own body, when the first of the bombs exploded. After the war she worked as a civil servant for ten years and then as an assistant with the Royal Botanic Gardens UK for three years. Pearson came to Australia, in 1959, on the inaugural flight of the Comet IV from Heathrow to Darwin. She worked as a horticulturist, first with the Department of Agriculture in Victoria and from 1968 to 1976 the Commonwealth Depatment of Transport. Pearson was a member of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association (London), Australian Red Cross Society (Victorian Division), Women's Royal Air Force Officers Association (UK), she was a Life Member of the Royal Air Force Association (UK) and Honorary Life Member of the Returned Services League (RSL), Royal Air Forse Club (UK) and the British Legion (UK). Her interests included: gardening, writing and reading.

View the full record at Australian Women's Register

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Resources for Joan Daphne Mary Pearson

Selected resources (3)

Australian Women's Register

  1. Daphne Pearson HeroineThe Age : Daphne Pearson Heroine
    Telegraph
    [2000]
  2. State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection: Papers of Daphne Pearson (1958 - 1980)
    Papers of Daphne Pearson relating to the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association. Includes letters frm V.C. and G.C. winners and other notable persons; copies of minutes; re-unions; photographs and disc.
    MS 10934
  3. State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection: Papers of Edna Walling (1962 - 1970)
    Letters, 1962-1970, to Mervyn T. Davis and Daphne Pearson; press cuttings concerning landscape designer Edna Walling; and photographs and slides of Edna Walling and garden designs, 1966.
    MS 10408

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  1. The Pearson Family
    Created by RMWilliams, 80 items.

    Thomas PEARSON, christened 18 October 1807, Ashendon, Buckinghamshire, arrived Port Adelaide, South Australia, 17 July 1847, aboard the ‘British Sovereign’, died 14 April 1884, Reed Beds, South Austra...

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    Descendants of George Thomas SMITH, born c1832, died 29 September 1903, Fulham, SA, married Thirza PEARSON, daughter of Thomas PEARSON and Hannah DEAN (nee WATSON), born 9 October 1837, Ashendon, Buck...

  1. Pearson, Joan Daphne Mary (1911-2000)
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  1. Website: Australian Women's Archives Project
    www.womenaustralia.info
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    www.womenaustralia.info
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  1. Priest, Ivy Baker
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  1. Daphne Pearson, GC; Obituary.(Features)
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    The Australian (National, Australia)
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  1. WOMAN WINS AWARD FOR GALLANTRY
    Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954) Monday 2 September 1940 Edition: LATE NEWS EDITION p 6 Article Illustrated
    ... WOMAN WINS AWARD FOR GALLANTRY Corporal (now Assistant Section Officer) Joan Daphne Mary Pearson, ... crashed near her headquarters, Corporal Pearson rushed to it and assisted the stunned pilot from the ... yards away a bomb ex ploded, and Corporal Pearson threw herself on him to protect him from the blast ... 114 words
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  2. EXAMINATIONS IN FIRST AID V.A.D. 600 Pass List
    Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954) Friday 11 April 1941 Edition: LATE NEWS EDITION p 8 Article
    ... Misses Noreen Lyne, Margaret Tay lor, Joan Thompson, Audrcy Ilay, Mary IHughes. Joan Hart. Yvonne ... Daphne Ball, Jean Balin, Marion Bewglass, Jean Crawford, Nola Crawford, June Dulling, Joan English, ... April 1, 2 and 9, have been released by Drs. R. J. D. Turnbull. I. Pearson and J. G. McMahon. Dr. Ida ... 165 words
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