Life Story of Joan Heather Easton

The events of this year are still a source of great pride and amusement for Joan and her family. In 1945, the first Miss Australia Quest was held in order to raise money for returned soldiers to build an ‘Anzac House’ in the Brisbane City-Centre, as well as in many of Australia’s capital cities at the time. The competition was held in stages, as it still is to this day, starting from town-based, ‘Miss’ competitions all the way through to Miss Australia. Given that Joan was both a beautiful young lady at 24 years old, and also someone with a keen interest in helping the war effort, she was eager to enter her local Miss Toowoomba competition. And of course, Joan would never miss the chance to be in the limelight. In order to raise more money, local businesses were expected to sponsor one of the girls in the competition. On his return from the war, Joan’s father had opened a sports store in town, and thus it was Joan’s assumption that her father’s business would sponsor her. She was therefore shocked and upset when she discovered that Duncan had in fact decided to sponsor another girl from the town. In the end, however, that did not matter, as Joan was ultimately awarded the prize of Miss Toowoomba 1945. Given her bright and infectious personality today, and her beautiful smile, it is easy to see why Joan was the winner. This success ultimately led to another, as she then went on to become Miss Darling Downs 1945 as well. With two sashes collected, Joan was deemed to be a strong forerunner for the crown of Miss Queensland. Unfortunately, that prize went to the lovely Rhonda Kelly, a University Graduate who went on to become the first Miss Australia. Despite coming second place, Joan was happy to have not won, as she did not want to travel overseas at the time. Despite their rivalry, Joan and Rhonda became lifelong friends, with Rhonda attending Joan’s 70 th birthday celebrations in 1991. This event is a very fond memory of Joan’s and she and her family still like to say that, “she was runner up to Miss Australia!”

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