Their son David was born after the war – a baby boomer. She married Colin Hunter in 1942 and gave birth to daughter Diane in 1943 while her husband was in England with the Royal Australian Air Force. Arrangements had been made for Valma to continue her ballet studies and career in London, but those plans were dashed by the death of her mother and, in 1939, the outbreak of World War II. She also taught under her own name and was the first teacher of four-year-old Garth Welch, who progressed to become the principal male dancer for The Australian Ballet, and a noted choreographer. In her late teens she was appointed assistant teacher at the city’s premier dance academy.
At nine, she herself danced professionally on the same stage. Valma studied piano, violin, elocution, and ballet (her real love).Īt age six, Valma watched the famed Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova dance at His Majesty’s Theatre in Brisbane. To that end, she took them periodically to Brisbane – 470 miles away (17 hours by train) – to further their education. Future scholarships will be offered and awarded in her memory.)īorn in Brisbane, Australia, on Novemto Joseph and Catherine Lock, Valma spent her early years in the outback of Queensland on her father’s sheep and cattle station, “Alice Downs.” Valma’s mother was a cultured English lady who wanted her son George and daughter Valma to be accomplished in the arts. Hunter passed away in December 2020, shortly after her 100 th birthday. The Alice Downs Scholarship for Young Violinists was established in 2010 in honor of Valma Hunter on the occasion of her 90th birthday.
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