Miss Australia

Miss Australia
Formation 1908–2000
Type Beauty pageant
Headquarters Sydney
Location
Official language
English

Miss Australia was the title for the winner of the Miss Australia Quest or the Miss Australia Awards, which ran from 1954 until 2000, when the last Miss Australia was named. From 2002, the Miss World Australia contest has been held, and the Miss Universe Australia contest has been held since 2004.

The title of Miss Australia had existed since 1908, although it was not until 1954 that it became associated with the Spastic Centres of Australia.[1] The Miss Australia Quest was sponsored and organised from 1954 until the early 1960s by the lingerie manufacturer, Hickory, until Dowd Associates transferred the ownership to the Australian Cerebral Palsy Association in 1963.

From 1926 to 1991 the program operated as the Miss Australia Quest, after which the name was changed to the Miss Australia Awards to reflect changing community attitudes.

Miss Australia raised money for the Spastic Centres of Australia through her family and friends. She was judged on merit, as well as raising the monies for children and adults with cerebral palsy.

The pearl-encrusted Miss Australia crown, worn by titleholders from 1965 to 1991. The crown was hand-crafted in silver and blue velvet, and decorated with more than 800 pearls. Designed by Melbourne artist Ernest Booth and manufactured in Japan, the crown was presented to the Miss Australia Quest in 1965 by Toyomoto Australia Pty Ltd. The crown was last used in 1991,[2] and is held at the National Museum of Australia.

History

The first Miss Australia contest was held in 1908 as a one-off event sponsored through the Lone Hand, with entrants from New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. The winner was Alice Buckridge from Victoria.[3] The primary purpose of the contest was "to attract customers: whether they were newspaper readers, patrons at an amusement venue or visitors to a country fair" (Saunders and Ustinoff, 2005:4)

The Miss Australia contests of 1926 and 1927 were sponsored by Smith's Weekly magazine and Union Theatres, with heats from each State, and were straightforward beauty contests, judged by an anonymous panel from the staff of the magazine and associated publications. Miss Australia 1937 was again sponsored by Smith's Weekly and again had heats in each State, but judging criteria were far broader, and the judging panel comprised prominent women.[4] The prizes for the first two centred around film tests and an escorted trip to the movie capitals of America. The 1937 prize was a chaperoned first-class travel world tour which included London for the Coronation season. Smith's Weekly was not involved in later Quests.

Titleholders

Rhonda Kelly in 1945
Margaret Hughes in 1950
Jan Taylor, Miss Australia 1964 in Egypt
Suzanne McClelland, Miss Australia 1969 in the Netherlands

Miss Australia at International pageants

Australia is now represented by either Miss Universe Australia or Miss World Australia:

Famous Miss Australias

One of the most famous Miss Australias was Tania Verstak. She was born in China of Russian parents, and when she won Miss Australia in 1961, she was the first woman of an immigrant background to win the award. Verstak's daughter is the actor Nina Young.

The 1960 Miss Australia, Rosemary Fenton, became the second wife of Ian Sinclair, former leader of the federal National Party and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The 1960 "Miss Darling Downs" was Gay Kayler, a multiple beauty quest title holder, television personality, award-winning country music entertainer and recording artist.

The 1973 Miss Australia, Michelle Downes, was the second wife (1974–75) of Peter Brock.[7]

The first Aboriginal woman to win the Miss Australia title was Kathryn Hay in 1999. Hay subsequently became a Cabinet Secretary in the Tasmanian government.

The 1994 Miss Australia Universe, Michelle van Eimeren, became a household name when she stayed in the Philippines, became an actress and married a Filipino comedian-actor-singer, Ogie Alcasid.

Stories from the people involved

In 2007, a National Museum of Australia exhibition, Miss Australia: A Nation's Quest, told the stories of titleholders, volunteers, fundraisers and sponsors involved in the Miss Australia Quest. Historic dresses, trophies and crowns were also included in the exhibition.[8]

Miss Australia in International Beauty Pageants

There are now multiple competitions using Miss Australia in their title. To differentiate amongst the official national preliminaries to international competitions, the franchise name is added to Miss Australia.

For example, Australia's Miss Universe contestants never came from The Spastic Centres Association Miss Australia. A local modelling agency selected representatives through small beauty pageants and screenings.

In 2002 Jim Davie revived Miss Universe in Australia by setting up the Miss Universe Australia organisation. This contest, which exclusively sends contestants to Miss Universe, was made famous by Jennifer Hawkins's victory in the 2004 Miss Universe pageant in Quito, Ecuador. Jennifer became only the second Australian woman ever to win the international title, following Kerry Anne Wells who won the pageant in 1972.

For the Miss World contest, a Miss World Australia is chosen through screenings. In previous years, titleholders from the original Miss World Australia contest were sent to Miss World. However, this was not the case in 2006, when the national contest was cancelled and Sabrina Houssami was controversially crowned the winner. Penelope Plummer became Australia's first Miss World in 1968.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cerebral Palsy Alliance. "Miss Australia".
  2. ↑ Miss Australia crown, National Museum of Australia
  3. ↑ Schmidt, Christine. The Swimsuit: Fashion from Poolside to Catwalk. p. 48.
  4. ↑ "Miss Australia, 1937". The Times And Northern Advertiser, Peterborough, South Australia. South Australia. 25 September 1936. p. 1. Retrieved 9 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ http://oliviastratton.com/ Olivia Stratton
  6. ↑ Erin Holland wins Miss World Australia. news.com.au. 21 July 2013.
  7. ↑ Brock beat me, claims ex-wife. smh.com.au. 17 November 2006
  8. ↑ "National Museum of Australia – Miss Australia: A Nation's Quest".
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