“In about 1958 I had a friend Teresa, he was just a boy, a gay boy. We were so sick of life. You have no idea what the Police were like, they were so cruel. We both decided to end our life, so across the road from The Chevron Hotel was this old mansion. I lived in the Cross in its heyday when there was so many beautiful buildings around before the developers tore them down and put high rise everywhere. Anyway, we went into the coal cellar in this old mansion. We had a blanket each to lie on, we lit candles and we were so determined to go we bought a large bottle of coca cola, a carton of apricot nectar each and we had a soup bowl full of sleeping capsules. Teresa cut my vein in my arm because I couldn’t do it myself. I went into a coma but Teresa vomited everything up and was staggering all around. Meanwhile an old homeless lady who slept there every night came in with her flagon, saw me, the candles and Teresa staggering around. She’s yelling Murder! Murder he’s murdered her! She flew over to the Chevron screaming Murder! Murder! So Teresa took off. I knew nothing about this.
They rushed me to St Vincents Hospital and a woman called Mrs Chalmers who was my neighbour saw them bring me in so she hung around to see what happened. Apparently a nurse and a Nun pushed me into this room. When they undressed me and saw what I had the Nun screamed and fainted and the Nurse started hyperventilating. Anyway, they transferred me to Sydney Hospital where I was put on a Dialysis machine as I was still in a coma. I woke up 6 days later having survived it all. I had beautiful, long red hair and they had shaved it all off. It was a terrible time but I eventually got myself together.
I worked in a drag show at the Jewel Box for a while and a few other places. Around the age of 26 I became a stripper. I surprised myself because I was so good at it. I had a Greek boyfriend and we saved our money and left Australia in 1969. I got a job in a drag show in Hong Kong, George couldn’t get work which broke us up in the end. He couldn’t cope with me being the money earner. Eventually I was working in all the nightclubs in Hong Kong as a stripper. I had started the hormones back in Australia but when I got to Hong Kong I had breast implants. From there I worked in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand saving money to have the operation. I went to England and in 1970 I had the first operation. It’s called Gender Reassignment surgery now. I don’t really know all these new terms. It was tough but I never looked back.
I worked at Cafe de Paris in London and I had the next part of the operation. I worked successfully as a woman all the time but when I was allowed to leave after the op I couldn’t wait to get back to Hong Kong to work. I made a fantastic living.
I decided to move to Penang where I lived for 2 years and worked all through Malaysia. In 1974 I worked in Italy for 4 months and landed a contract in Amsterdam for a month but stayed for 14 months. I loved Amsterdam. During that time I worked in Berlin and Belgium. I went back to London in 1976 and performed at clubs like Miranda’s. I got a contract for 4 months in Spain and from there I worked in Nigeria which was terrible. I had a month in Egypt where a very handsome young man rowed me in a boat across the Nile.
March 1977 I came back to Australia and had a farm rent free in Kyogle. Before I went to Spain I had planned to migrate from Australia. The politics here at the time were disgusting, especially with what happened to Gough Whitlam. I was thinking of moving to South America. Long story but I received messages from friends who were mugged in the 2 places I intended to move. I was a bit depressed so I got into bed with a hot water bottle and I had this vision. I saw this man with long ginger hair down to his bum with just a pair of shorts on selling herbs across a counter.
I came back to Australia and was staying with my brother in Nambucca Heads. I was telling some friends about my vision. They said, You should go up to Lismore. All that stuff’s happening in the Northern Rivers and you won’t believe this… A friend and I hitched up to Lismore, we got to Goonellabah and this guy put us up on his verandah overnight with mozzie nets. The next morning we hitched into Lismore and in those days there was a big market with a roof over it. I walked in and there was Mick with long ginger hair down to his bum, selling herbs across a counter in just a pair of shorts. He asked what I was after and I said a place to rent. He said, Come and stay at my farm in Kyogle while you look for a place. We were asking around and these 2 old dairy farmers came along. His name was Vic Copper and her name was Alice Cooper…they were the most beautiful people. We asked if they knew of a farm to rent. Vic was really gruff. He said … I know where there’s 2 farms, one is $15 a week and I think that’s too much to pay. The other is rent free. It’s run down and needs work. He said, What have you come here looking for? I said, Well Vic, I think I’m up here looking for the truth. He said, Good answer and took us to the rent free farm. We had to walk 6 miles up this road and we had this old farmhouse for 3 1/2 years. It was between Kyogle and Cawongla. So that’s how I ended up making this area my home..having that vision way back.”