Ivy Hassard

Australian, 1914 - 1998

BiographyIvy Hassard (nee Pearce) was born in Ipswich, Queensland, and raised in hotels until the age of six. She was educated at a convent in Dalby and then continued her education in Brisbane where she excelled in piano and also studied the cello and violin. After leaving school she developed an interest in flying and gained her A-class pilot's license by the age of 18. She was one of Australia's early aerobic pilots and in 1936 competed in the Brisbane to Adelaide air race, beating Reginald Ansett, founder of Ansett Airlines, and finishing just two seconds behind the winner.

Hassard opened what is believed to be the Gold Coast's first retail outlet for women's fashion at Surfers Paradise in 1946, selling her own designs and organising fashion parades for the region.

In the late 1950s she opened a beauty salon called Jollie Madame and in the 1960s opened Ivy Hassard Fashions. She died in 1998.

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