Joseph Wright Timelime 1928-1982

 

  Joseph Wright Timeline 1928-1982 

The following is a Timeline that has has been put together by Raine, 

Raine is the daughter of Iris. 

Iris was the biological daughter of Les and Anne Wright who Adopted Joseph Wright.

Raine thought there may be more to uncover about Joseph and she was certainly right and so ever kindly put a huge  amount of information under  "Joseph Unknown k.a. Wright (Adopted)" on Ancestry. 

Joseph Wright – Timeline 1928-1982

Born 11 September 1928, Carlton,

Victoria (Royal Women’s Hospital?).

Melbourne babies are mostly born at

RWH Carlton. Could Joe have been

born elsewhere; Yarrawonga?

Joe was not registered as Joseph

Wright in 1928.

Was Joe’s birth mother a Catholic. He

was later sent to a Catholic private

school.

In 1928 the Wright family was renting

at 38 Deakin Street, Brunswick. Les

was listed as a Farrier (on some lists,

it was shown as ‘farmer’).

The family lived there until around

1931 when they moved to 31 Albion

St, Brunswick.

Joseph, aged 14 months old – blond

hair. Joseph was obviously adopted by

Anne and Les Wright by this time.

Photographs were not easily copied/

shared at the time. Likely taken by

Anne or Les. ... ca November 1929.

He is wearing a bib and holding a toy

of some kind.

Young Joe in oversized hat, ca 1931,

aged about 3. Hair now dark. He

appears to have something in his

mouth

In 1931, the family was living at 31 Albion St, Brunswick West, where Iris attended school.

The house was been pulled down and replaced by the brick-fenced place at right.

The Wrights rented here until the next electoral roll shows Anne living at 96 Park St, St Kilda West where she remained until her stroke in 1975. Around the mid-1950s, the owner wanted to sell. Anne bought it.

Joe with Anne and Iris. Iris needed black glasses to correct a vision problem. Joe wanted black glasses too

Iris and Joe – probably taken at Kinglake, ca. 1931-1932.

Les regularly went rabbiting at Kinglake.

Anne

Anne Wright (née Armitage) with Iris; Aunt Polly and Joe. Taken at Kinglake, ca 1931-1932

A damaged photo of Les, Anne, Iris and Joe ca 1931-1932. Photo taken by Polly.

Wright Falls at Kinglake National Park. The land once belonged to the Wright family who were forced to sell it at a penny an acre during the 1930s Depression.

Iris in school uniform (after school), Joe on a (new?) bike. Possibly a present from Polly? Ca 1931-1932.

Studio portrait of Joe and Iris. Joe about 4 years old, ca 1932

Taken at Ranch Kinglake, ca 1932 – Anne (holding a baby – Polly’s?), Iris holding a doll and Polly ‘holding’ Joe.

This photo was – presumably – taken by Joe at Sassafras. Les and Anne honeymooned at Sassafras in the Dandenong Ranges. Ca 1935? Iris looks to be about 11. Joe would have been 7.

Photo colourises poorly. Les, Anne and Joe (and dog) ca 1939. Photo taken by Iris. The family used to go camping. The pale colour at right could be a tent rather than a tree.

This may be around the same time as the below photo. The dog is also pictured with Polly and Joe some years later at Assumption College. Was it Polly’s dog?

The Wright family – Iris, Joe, Anne and Les. Photo taken by unknown person (Polly?). Gundagai, 1939

It is possible that the family travelled to Gundagai in 1939 via Yarrawonga.

Photo taken at the Victoria/New South Wales border, 1939 – on the same visit to Gundagai – possibly via Yarrawonga. Taken by Anne. Iris, Les and Joe.

Joe and Polly at Station Pier, ca. 1938? Who was travelling. Not a troop shop ca 1939?

Joe in school uniform. Joe attended Assumption College, Kilmore. It is likely this was paid for by his birth mother or her family.

This ad appeared in the Kilmore Free Press, on Thursday, 18 January 1940. This could have been around the time Joe started school there.

Was he too much of a handful for the local Catholic school that Iris attended?

“You want your boy at a home away from home – Assumption College, Kilmore, is all that!”

The school was on a 100-acre block in the Kilmore hills – idyllic.

“Very big numbers in the college often make military discipline a necessity. Such discipline is unknown here. You are anxious that your son should associate with good refined boys. No College can boast of a better lot of boys!”

www.assumption.vic.edu.au/about/marist-story

Joe obviously had the best educational opportunities available to him at the time. He must have been a poor scholar. Upon leaving school, he entered the Navy and later worked as a labourer.

Joe would have attended classes similar to that at right at Assumption College.

Polly visited Joe at Assumption College, Kilmore. NB: the dog. This could have been ca 1941-42, Joe looks to be 13-14.

Did Joe wonder why he attended a private college?

Joe on the front steps of Assumption College, Kilmore, ca 1941, aged about 13 years.

Iris and Joe in the Assumption College grounds, ca 1939-40.

Christmas Day ca 1940 at 96 Park Street, St Kilda West. Joe home for the holidays from Kilmore.

By 1942, Les was living with his de facto at 26 Oswald St, Elsternwick. No occupation was listed

When Joe left Assumption College he worked as a Machine Attendant until he joined the

Navy on his 18th birthday – 11 September 1946. What sort of education did he get at the College??

WRIGHT JOSEPH: Service No - 31244: DOB - 11 Sep 1928: POB - CARLTON VIC POE - MELBOURNE : Next of Kin - ANNE

Series no A6770

Control symbol WRIGHT J

Date range 1939 - 1948

Access status Open

Location Canberra

Barcode 523175

View digital copy

He listed Richard L Wright of 96 Park Street, St Kilda as his father and Anne Kathleen Wright of the same address as his mother. His trade is Machine attendant. Description: height 5’10½”, brown hair, hazel eyes. Photo at right taken on his wedding day in May 1948.

His character is listed as ‘VG’ and his conduct as ‘satisfactory’. He was in the Navy for two years and would have left on 10 September 1948.

This photo was likely taken before Joe marked Joyce Greig, five weeks after Iris married, on 15 May 1948. He was just 19. Joyce was 20.

Joyce was a recent arrival to Melbourne, having emigrated from Lancashire.

Was Joe attracted by her strange accent; not her looks??

Wedding day – Joe Wright to Joyce Elaine Greig, 15 May 1948. Who paid for the wedding? Joyce was newly arrived in Australia. Joe was on 19

Joyce and Joe Wright were living at 11 Harold Street, Essendon North in 1954. She was a clerk and he was a miller.

The photo depicts the location in 2023, obviously a new build.

After 1954, Joyce does not appear on the electoral rolls again until 1972, living at 95 Corinella Cres., Broadmeadows where she and Joe eventually died.

Did Joyce purchase the home when Joe was living in NSW with various other women?

After the war, Joe worked for Harry Tyrrell, whom he served with on the Cerebus, Penguin and Lonsdale, at National Cans. Michael Tyrrell is the current Managing Director (2009). The business opened in 1954 in North Fitzroy.

10 March 1956 – birth of daughter Marlene Lee Wright.

Dorothy (Dot) Topp née Burns.

The story goes that Joe was transferred to Sydney with his work at National Cans and that Dot followed him there. They must have been having an affair in Melbourne for Jo-Ann Lee was born only 12 months after Marlene-Lee. After his two daughters were born in NSW, Joe moved on to Robyn Russell and had two sons with her.

At the time of Jo-Anne’s birth in February 1960, Joe was a listed as a Foreman Can Maker and lived at 111 The Boulevarde, Dulwich Hill, NSW.

By 1972 – Joe finally returned to Melbourne to Joyce and Marlene-Lee and on the electoral roll in 1972 was at 95 Corinella Crescent, Broadmeadows West with Joyce.

Joe worked at National Cans until 1979 (he was 51 years old).

6 March 1982 – Joe died from “Brainstem infarct – 9 days; Hypertension – years; Arteriosclerosis – years; Diabetes mellitus – years”

Joe gave in to all his wants – food, alcohol, cigarettes and women and paid the cost at the end, dying at only 53 years of age.

A  MassiveThanks Raine for your awesome work on the Timeline