Moira Claux

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Moira Claux was an Australian model and dancer.

Her father Kleber Claux had emigrated from France and was known in Sydney as something of an eccentric. He is credited with establishing the first nudist colony in Australia, and was known for wearing shorts and sandals right through winter at his fruit stall in Liverpool St.

Moira Claux first came to prominence in 1947 at age 16 when police found nude pictures and a short film of her being shown at a fun parlour on Manly Wharf. The film was of her diving into a forest pool and the pictures were stills from that, and of her dressed as Salome. She'd happily agreed to them, regarding (as her father did) nudism as entirely healthy. She explained that only the Salome pictures had made her feel uncomfortable, those having a sexual edge.

She'd been working as an artist's model from age 14, with her parents approval, and was even known by her school friends for it. She continued to model in later life, including for Max Dupain and Laurence Le Guay. Dupain's portrait photograph Moira is highly regarded.

She became an accomplished dancer in the expressionist style and toured internationally with the Bodenweiser ballet company.

[edit] References

James Cockington, Banned: Tales From the Bizarre History of Australian Obscenity, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2005, paperback ISBN 0-7333-1502-X, chapter 3.