LIFE STAYS A DRAG

What I once believed to be a deadend has now opened up itself to a brand new tunnel of light.

In Goodwill, at the beginning of the year, I happened to stumble upon a small collection of photographs featuring drag entertainers, found to be a queer vacationer’s trip to Sydney, Australia.

Unfortunately, reverse image searching these pictures left me with little to no information, other than an entry from a showgirl’s (Colleen Windsor) documentary-esc blog, detailing King’s Cross, Sydney, and “The Drag Queen Scene” of the 1970s. We had published an article with what I was able to scrounge, learning of the social phenomenon that created a spike in trans women working in the area at the time, but the individualized stories of these entertainers were thought to be completely lost.

This was, of course, until I received a direct message, in August, from an Australian LGBTQ+ historian by the name of Darian Zam. At the time of writing the article, I had left a comment on Windsor’s blog post asking if there were any more information, but it was to no avail until it captured the eye of Zam. After forwarding over the photos, we now have names, dates, and further documentation on the incredible queens of Kings Cross.

Zam immediately recognized two of our entertainers, on the left, with flowers in their hair, was Sigourney (Stuart Farrance) and to the right, a spiked “androgynous crossdressing-boy” by the name of Lady Bump, or Bumpie (Stuart Garske). Zam had actually been an integral part of Bumpie’s drag journey, stating that he had discovered the boy at 16 or 17 years old, and got him into drag. After a performance to “Bad Girls” at Studio50Whore, in which Zam shares that he did not know all of his words, the audience was “mesmerized.” This soon gave Lady Bump a title as one of Australia's "Entertainers of the Year.”

Darian Zam shares, with the help of fellow Australian historian, Nick Henderson, that these postcards were sold at a print shop called Tudumo. There were a few shops that sold these types of photos as a “money-maker” for tourists at the time, and even now, one of these types of shops still stands. Our original point of reference was Darlinghurst Rd, but Henderson and Zam take us a bit down the street to “the corner of Llankelly Place, officially Potts Point.” The historian share that this was a “real bohemian spot” from the 1950s to the 1960s, however, we came to find that this postcard in specific actually came from the 1990s, estimated to be from Mardi Gras of 1995. Both were able to help us name each performer, “occasional drag performer Corabeth (Corby Beard) on the far left, who actually worked for SGLMG at this time, Gil Douglas from 'Dance Camp' a well known Sydney alt dance group of the era which developed out of '78 Tourette', one notable person to emerge from this was Vanessa Wagner whose celebrity was bolstered by being cast on the first Australian 'Big Brother.' Then Sigourney, Bumpie and Tony Christie.”

Zam shares with me that the marching song for this queer parade of queens and dolls was “Lady Marmalade,” and for a moment, I’m back inside of the image. Now, with the clacking of fans, there is song. There is dance, booze, and beads. The ever-present disease of tourism feels much less heavy here, knowing that if it were not for those visitors, these stories would have remained untold, at least in our hemisphere.

Zam still keeps in contact with Lady Bump today, and was even able to share with me a color photograph of the same outfit in the postcard, a bright and bold yellow in comparison to the sepia print. I am unable to share that photo, as the photographer is unknown, and the image were cut from an entertainment magazine of its time, but the energy of connection should still be felt. To remember these stories some 30-odd-years later has been an immense privilege. Edgewood Magazine is, and always will be, Documented Queer Existence, and it will continue to do so without borders. Though the information remains scarce, it is important that we carry the identities of this “motley crew” within us moving forwards. They may not know us, and we may not truly know them, but through community, and through love, they have become our family.