WEIDENHOFER, Ray Thiselton

1910 - 1984  (73 years)

• Name	WEIDENHOFER, Ray Thiselton
  Born	4 Mar 1910	Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
  Gender	Male
  Died	5 Feb 1984	Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
  Person ID	I4877	My Genealogy
  Last Modified	16 Sep 2023

  
  

  Father	WEIDENHOFER, Walter Wallace,   b. 16 May 1875, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia ,   d. 9 Dec 1946, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia  (Age 71 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Mother	DYER, Jessie May,   b. 18 Aug 1879, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia ,   d. 27 Sep 1957, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia  (Age 78 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Married	1 Feb 1905	St George's Church, Battery Point, Tasmania, Australia
  	St George's, Anglican Church
  Family ID	F3192	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	STEVENS, Joan Selena,   b. 18 May 1913,   d. 26 Sep 1981  (Age 68 years)
  Married	2 May 1940	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  Last Modified	16 Sep 2023
  Family ID	F1304	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  A History of the Weidenhofer Families in Australia 1846 - 2004. Written by Wyn Allen (née Weidenhofer) 2004 ©. Reproduced with permission of Stewart Allen, Barry Malcolm and Carlien Melrose. Reay Thiselton Weidenhofer 1910 - 1984 Born 4 Mar 1910 Hobart, Tasmania Died 5 Feb 1984 Hobart, Tasmania Married Joan Stevens Born 18 May 1919 Hobart, Tasmania Died 25 Sep 1981 Hobart, Tasmania Reay was the third son of Walter and May and was born in Hobart in 1910. It would seem that he inherited his father’s courage and determination to succeed in whatever he attempted. In about 1925 he had joined the Royal Australian Naval Reserve in Tasmania and during twelve years in this service,must have learnt, amongst other things, discipline and the skills of a signalman. In 1939 he joined the New Guinea Administration, being stationed at first at Rabaul. Early the next year, he married Joan Stevens (a Tasmanian girl) in Queensland, but when Reay returned to New Guinea, Joan was not permitted to travel with him because of the war. Reay was transferred to Wau, where as a member of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, he was caught up with the Japanese bombing of Wau. (The New Guinea Volunteer Rifles was formed by a group of residents who were aware that war was imminent.) Reay was one of a group of men who attempted to reach Port Moresby by crossing, on foot, the Owen Stanley Range. They often trudged through unbelievably difficult mountainous terrain shrouded in hot, steamy rain. Finally, after several months, Reay and one other member of the group reached Port Moresby, resembling walking skeletons. Recovering from this ordeal, Reay was transferred in 1944 from the Australian Army to the American Headquarters in the Pacific. Meanwhile, Joan and Reay’s daughter, Margaret, was born in Brisbane, and they later returned to Hobart, as there was no chance of returning to New Guinea. After the war, Reay worked with the Treasury Department at Madang from 1946 to 1952, with his wife and daughter and son Walter able to join him. He then moved to Port Moresby, still with the Treasury Department, and later, joined the newly established Department of Posts and Telegraphs in 1955.At the time of his retirement in 1967 he had been the Executive Officer of the Forestry Department.Whilst in Port Moresby, Joan became well known for pioneering and compering the Australian Broadcasting Commission radio “Women’s Session” from about 1952. Returning to Tasmania, Reay was welcomed home by his mother (his father having died in 1946) and other members of the family. He and Joan settled back into their home which they had named “Avalon Gates” (near Hobart) so many years earlier. Johann Weidenhöfer 59 In 1981 Joan was seriously ill with cancer and Reay began having a series of minor strokes.He was very distressed when later in that year Joan died. Reay continued to live a semi-dependent life for another three years, dying the day before he had hoped to go yachting with his son,Wally. Reay’s father would have been proud of his son’s many achievements in the face of so much adversity. Reay’s daughter, Margaret, who now lives in Melbourne with her husband, Bryan Reid, has written very detained and graphic accounts of her life in New Guinea, and kindly submitted information for this book.