Born in India, Joan Harvey was the daughter of Colonel Alexander Cox and Georgina Kate Butler, both of Tasmania. She spent her early years in Hobart but completed her education in Switzerland and England during 1898 and 1901. On returning to Hobart, she developed her talents for writing and for painting in water colours.
In 1914 she again sailed for England where she married Adelaide engineer Ronald Harvey. She moved with her husband to Melbourne in 1919, and as well as bringing up a family of five children she continued to paint and to write stories, poems and plays. Her greatest love was writing plays, many of which were produced by repertory groups in Melbourne. Two were broadcast by the ABC. Most of her plays have been deposited in manuscript form with the State Library of Victoria.
In the 1960s, when nearly blind with glaucoma, she began writing her memoirs. These were subsequently published for family distribution under her chosen title, The Shadow of the Guns.
Her son Jim Y. Harvey has also published several books.
