I chatted with Maude Boate today in her home about her life and how she came to be so fabulous. Over the last few years I have documented her colourful life through photographs at different events here in Lismore so I will share her story in 3 parts. This photo was taken this afternoon having a cuppa minus the Spring frock and the wig.
Maude Boate AKA Michael Gates (Part 1/3)- “ I’m a local, fourth generation Lismore local. Dad was Mayor and Mum was a beauty queen in 1962. I have the photo on the wall there, still have the sash. My grandmother went to Lismore High which is now Richmond River High, my father went to Lismore High which is now the Conservatorium and I went to Lismore High which is still Lismore High. My great grandparents lived in Ballina.
My grandfather had a jazz band in town, very well known. Poppy was always on the piano and he taught me to play which I do every now and then. I grew up in the 70’s in Lismore which was when the Aquarius Festival in Nimbin was happening and I think that really changed this area from being sort of dairy country, farmy place to something a bit more colourful, bit more mind expanding. That put this area on the map in other ways. I remember growing up, the larger community would poopoo the hippies in Nimbin which I’m sure still happens to this day. There will always be conservative people but I think that was a precurser to what we have now in Lismore. Yes, some can still be conservative but they still appreciate other people’s lifestyles and beliefs.
Our towns Christmas tree was a made up of old bicycles, that was the quintessential moment that Lismore was more about recycling and community rather than the commercial hoo ha, hulabuloo of Christmas. I’ve seen Lismore come in leaps and bounds with diversity, inclusion and all those words that people love to use these days, but it means so much.
I went away to Sydney for 20 years when I finished school to become a drag queen. I was 19 and Mum and Dad put me on the train to the Art Instiute in Paddington, Sydney. I couldn’t do the colour wheel any longer. I’d been in art classes since I was 10 and it was like..’Are you for real? I’m not doing another friggin’ colour wheel or tonal chart.’ I wanted to do what I wanted to do and they wanted to change me so I left after a year.
I came out as it were, while living in Bondi with some people from school in Lismore, family friends I suppose. I was always teased at school, you know, gaylord and the rest of it and it still kept happening in that household in Bondi. When I actually came out they threw me out on the street with all my belongings. That was in the 80’s and luckily at that time in Bondi, there were a lot of gays and there was a beat. I had a friend who lived a couple of blocks away who had a pair of high heels in his wardrobe which was totally fascinating to me.
I had all Mum’s clothes here in Lismore. Her 60’s wardrobe was in my wardrobe in my room, her hair pieces were the same colour as my hair. It wasn’t her fault, I just gravitated towards it. They tried to stop it by giving me a clown outfit…’If you want to dress up, dress up as a clown, not as a pretty girl!’ That was them trying to steer me in a different direction, God love them.
Mum and Dad were great parents but it was my Nan and Pop that really nurtured me. I had more affinity with my grandparents as a lot of gay kids have. It was always sport, sport ,sport with my parents! My second brother was the sporty one and the attention was definitely on him. When Dad was alive the favourite was the sporty one. They loved me and they cared for me. They put me in art class but at the same time I felt a little brushed under the carpet. That was a long time ago…and 50 years later I’m still dressing up in women’s clothes, making them myself from scratch.