Northampton’s Mary Hasleby to celebrate 100th birthday with paddock picnic

A much-loved lady will today celebrate a century of life with a picnic in a paddock. Only a few will be there physically, but hundreds will be there in spirit as Mary Hasleby hits 100 in Northampton. Siblings Jen and Chris Hasleby will take their mum from her retirement home for two hours so she can have a cuppa and a chat with a handful of relatives. “There’s restrictions and distancing, but it will be great to see her,” Jen Hasleby said. Born near Buln Buln, a button-sized town in Gippsland, Victoria, World War II nurse and matron of Northampton Hospital are just two of the many things on Mary Hasleby’s resume. Only 13 when her father died, Mary Gray was 21 when she boarded the Queen Mary in Sydney as part of the voluntary aid detachment to work as a nurse in Palestine. “For two years, Mum worked in field hospitals, including the 7th Hospital, which looked after men who were Rats of Tobruk,” Jen Hasleby said. “She was discharged in 1943, returned and did more nurse training in Melbourne, graduating on the day peace was declared. “At the end of 1947, Mum came to Perth and did midwifery at King Edward Memorial Hospital. A year later she arrived in Northampton as the relief matron, met my dad (Arnold), and they married in 1949. “They bought a farm at Nolba, east of Northampton, and later shifted to a farm at East Bowes, which their son (my brother) Chris now works.” Arnold Hasleby was killed in a road accident in 1975. It shook Mrs Hasleby to the core, but it didn’t stop her giving more to the people and place where she lived. “Mum did charity work and community service until she was 90, only stopping after having a major stroke,” Jen Hasleby said. “She did a refresher course in nursing, lived in Geraldton for a while, but did most of her work in and around Northampton. “She worked for the local hospital, the Anglican Ladies’ Auxiliary, the Country Women’s Association, Meals on Wheels, the Red Cross and more.”