Dawn O'Donnell

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Dawn O'Donnell (1928-2007), was a prominent Sydney lesbian, lesbian and gay rights campaigner, and entrepreneur.[1] She is often credited with starting the gay and lesbian club scene in Sydney's Oxford Street and Newtown.[2]

[edit] Biography

Born in the Sydney suburb of Paddington in 1928, Dawn O'Donnell's career began as an international ice skater when she was a teenager. It was while touring Paris as a performer in the Puss In Boots on ice show, she had her first romance with another woman.[2]

After her promising skating career was cut short by injury,[3] Dawn O'Donnell ran a butcher shop in Double Bay and a parking lot in Ultimo, before opening her first gay bar, The Trolley Bar off Broadway in 1968. Next she opened a lesbian bath house (above a cake shop in Bondi), followed in 1969 by Capriccio's, a gay night club on Oxford Street famous for its drag shows.[2]

She was the first to recognise the gay and lesbian potential of Oxford Street.[4] During this time, homosexual acts between men were still illegal in New South Wales, and Dawn O'Donnell was known to pay the bail money to release gay men from police custody.[4] Her gay and lesbian venues gave many "a place to come out".[1] In 2001, Dawn recounted: "The most fascinating thing in the world for me was eventually to see the New South Wales Police Force have a gay public relations officer. I never thought to my dying day I'd ever see that."[5]

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Dawn O'Donnell controlled a string of lesbian and gay venues in East Sydney, including Jools on Crown Street, Patches nightclub on Oxford Street, Flo's Palace, The Exchange hotel, and Sydney's first lesbian bar Ruby Reds on Crown Street. Some of the ventures were run in partnership with the late French restaurateur Roger Claude Teyssedre and controversial Sydney businessman Abe Saffron.[2] The clubs attracted gays and lesbians from across Australia and around the world.[6]

During the 1980s, Dawn O'Donnell began to shift her focus from Oxford Street to the inner-west suburb of Newtown. She bought the Newtown Hotel and The Imperial Hotel in nearby Erskineville, transforming the Newtown area into a gay precinct to rival Oxford Street.[4] The Imperial Hotel featured in the opening scenes of the movie, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

According to Graeme Browning (a.k.a. Mitzi Macintosh) who performed drag shows at Dawn's venues for ten years, "She made the Sydney drag scene what it is, but our gay scene wouldn’t be what it is without her either."[4] Another drag performer, David Williams (drag name Beatrice) said "she invented the idea of Oxford Street", helping to make Sydney one of the gay capitals of the world.[1]

In 1977, O'Donnell met her long-term partner, Dutch-born Aniek Baten. At the time Aniek was 26 years old, Dawn 49.[2] Their relationship continued until Dawn's death from ovarian cancer at the age of 79 in 2007.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Gay Sydney says goodbye to one who made it so. Sydney Morning Herald (2007-06-16). Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
  2. ^ a b c d e Obituaries: A leading lady of Sydney's gay club scene. Sydney Morning Herald (2007-06-13). Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
  3. ^ End of an era. SX News (2007-06-13). Retrieved on 2007-06-18.
  4. ^ a b c d Farewell Dawn O'Donnell. Sydney Star Observer (2007-06-14). Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
  5. ^ Exhibition reveals a century of gay life. ABC News 'Lateline' (2001-02-23). Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
  6. ^ Mother of gay Sydney dies at 79. The Australian (2007-06-12). Retrieved on 2007-08-03.