Ivy May Pearce

Ivy May Hassard (née Pearce) (10 June 1914 – 26 April 1998) was one of the first female pilots in the southern hemisphere and a pioneer of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Pearce and her younger sister, Merle, lived in the St Columba's Convent at Dalby, as this was the only place their parents could find for them to stay.

Gloria resided in Coronado, California until she died in 2008.In 1934 Pearce was runner up in The Courier-Mail Flying Scholarship behind the winner Harry Poulsen.

Pearce "was the only female among five males who scored free lessons and a year's membership to the Aero Club" (Clare Mackenzie, 1993).

[5] Afterwards Duhig reported that Pearce had handled the plane admirably and that the machine was perfectly steady through the flight with the turns almost imperceptible.

Pearce made national headlines as the youngest entrant who recorded the fastest time of any woman pilot, heavily handicapped and just two seconds behind the eventual winner.

Pearce's navigator in the Brisband to Adelaide race was Ernest Jason Hassard (nephew of aviator Keith Virtue).

On 26 April 1998 Ivy Pearce died, the lung condition finally claiming her life, leaving behind three children and numerous grandchildren.

[12] In 1997, a strip of land on the corner of Ferny Avenue and Thomas Drive in Surfers Paradise was named Hassard Place in her honour.

[14] In 2020 the State Library of Queensland produced an episode on Ivy's achievements both in flying and fashion for their Dangerous Women Podcast series.