The Wray Family from Beecroft

Hornsby Shire Recollects would like to thank the generosity of Gosford Library for sharing part of their Wray Family Collection with the people of Hornsby Shire.

The story behind the collection:

In 2014 a group of community members purchased an album of photographs for Gosford Library. The primary attraction of the album were a selection of Woy Woy area holiday photographs. The family in the album were unknown at first, but research has revealed that the album is significant in several unexpected ways. The album belonged to the family of Arthur Gore Wray of Beecroft NSW. The images appear to have been taken by Arthur and his son, John Ludley Wray who became a well-known photographer, exhibiting his works with the likes of Max Dupain. 

An intelligent, free-spirited and imaginative girl, pictured in many of the album's photographs, has been identified as Elinor Caroline Wray, who went on to become Australia's first Speech Therapist, studying in London and returning to found the Royal Alexandra Hospital speech therapy clinic in Sydney in 1931. The unit now operates as part of Westmead Children's Hospital. In 1981 the Elinor Wray award was instituted to honour her name for excellence in Speech Pathology in Australia. Elinor was awarded an OBE in 1982 for her services to Health, and in particular Speech Therapy.

Thank you to those community members who made the gift of this extraordinary reminder of an extraordinary family possible. The full collection can be viewed on Gostalgia https://www.flickr.com/photos/gostalgia/albums/72157645434731660 

The Wray Family

Arthur Gore Wray was born in 1871 in Bathurst NSW. His parents were George Albert Wray, a Yorkshireman, and Anna Maria Wray nee Breathour, who was born in Parramatta. George and Anna Maria married in Sofala NSW in 1866 and had 8 children in 14 years. George died in 1891 at the age of 50 while Anna Maria went on to live a long life dying in 1922 at the age of 81. From the photographs in this collection we can see that Anna Maria was highly involved with Arthur and his family.

Arthur married Charlotte Ann Macdonald in 1897. Charlotte was known as Annie Charlotte Wray throughout her married life. Arthur and Annie had two children, John Ludley Arran Wray born in December 1897 and Elinor Caroline Wray (also known as Ellie Wray) born in October 1899. Arthur worked as a Draftsman for the NSW Tramways-Maintenance Branch in Sydney. The family lived in 'Derry' Sutherland Road, Beecroft while the children were growing up and from all accounts the children had a happy childhood with many Summer holidays enjoyed at Manly, the Central Coast and South Coast of NSW. John who was a military cadet as a boy, was interested in photography and entered competitions from a young age. Ellie was interested in singing and drama and there are many accounts of her productions and performances found in TROVE.

Annie Wray died in May 1936 at the age of 65 and was buried in Parramatta. By the 1940s Arthur had left Beecroft and was living with his sister Minnie Wray in Boundary Street, Roseville. He died in June 1956 at the age of 85 and he was buried in Ryde.

John Wray married Jean Victoria Alice Hancock in 1936 in Chatswood. They had one child, Mary, and for most of their marriage they lived in Sutherland Road, Beecroft, although John later moved to Gordon in the late 1960s. John was a Commercial Traveler and a talented photographer winning many competitions with his work featuring in The Australian Woman's Weekly and other newspapers. Jean Wray died in 1968 at the age of 67 and John died in 1977 at the age of 79.

Elinor, or Ellie as she was known in her younger days, was educated at Miss Long's Academy, Beecroft. She was active in local theatrical, dramatic and elocutionary productions. Many photographs in this album reflect these interests, which Elinor continued into later life, and which helped with her career in Speech Therapy. Elinor remained single and after a full and happy life, died on December 4, 1992 at the age of 93.