Born: Bunbury, W.A.
12 February, 1944
Western Australian country districts have a reputation for producing outstanding hockey players and the tradition was maintained when Mavis Gray, born and bred in the South West, reached the pinnacle of her career in 1975 by being named captain of Australia. She took up hockey as a nine-year-old at Cowaramup, progressed through teams at Margaret River High School and from there into club teams at Busselton, playing her first Country Week Carnival in 1959.
It was from one of theses Country Week appearances that Mavis Gray was first chosen in 1963 to represent W.A. Indeed, she never played in the metropolitan club competition. She represented W.A. until 1978, apart from occasions when she was unavailable for selection, being appointed vice-captain in 1969 and captain in 1974-75.
In those days the Australian team came together every fourth year for the World Championships and after each annual interstate carnival a “blue ribbon” team was named. Mavis Gray holds the distinction of having been chosen in the All-Australian team after every interstate carnival in which she played.
A full-back as the start of her career, she moved to centre-half, where she was noted for her excellent skills and anticipation in reading the play and accurate distribution of the ball to her forwards.