Meet our Alumni

William Joynt was a distinguished military officer who received the Victoria Cross and later became a successful businessman. Joynt initially studied accountancy before turning to farming. He grew cotton in Queensland, then tried his hand as a pastoralist in Western Australia and as a wheat farmer in Victoria and at Flinders Island.

In the First World War he was commended in Divisional Orders for a successful night raid on enemy trenches on the Western Front, during which he was also wounded. Joynt proved his leadership when his Battalion repelled a German advance upon Hazebrouck, a defensive action that helped save the Channel Ports of northern France.

After his Company Commander was killed during an attack on Herleville Wood in 1918, Joynt led the Company on a frontal bayonet charge under heavy machine gun fire. The attack saved a critical situation and Joynt was honoured with the Victoria Cross for his “most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty”. He was wounded by a shell three days later and saw no further action in the war.

In 1923 he established the successful printing firm W.D. Joynt & Company, which by the 1980s employed over 150 people. Joynt was also a founding member of the ex-servicemen’s organisation Legacy.

A strong advocate for the construction of the Shrine of Remembrance, he was also influential in broadening Legacy’s charter to care for comrades’ widows and dependants. During the Second World War he served at home, reaching the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Joynt was later President of The Old Melburnians.